Man vs. Wild“Jungle Swamp (Part 1 of 2)”
Original Air Date: May 16, 2008
Jeff P. – Two Cents Reviewer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com
This week on Man vs. Wild we’re going island hopping. But island hopping with Bear Grylls is not the type of island hopping your travel agent will book for you. You might say he roughs it. Welcome to part 1 of Bear’s Indonesian adventure.
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Man vs. Wild
ReplyDelete“Jungle Swamp (Part 1 of 2)”
Original Air Date: May 16, 2008
Jeff P. – Two Cents Reviewer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com
This week on Man vs. Wild we’re going island hopping. But island hopping with Bear Grylls is not the type of island hopping your travel agent will book for you. You might say he roughs it. Welcome to part 1 of Bear’s Indonesian adventure.
Bear is going to the west coast of Sumatra this week. He doesn’t fully know what to expect, knowing that Sumatra and the region was ravaged by the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. He drops out of a helicopter right into a large swamp. He makes a plan to head east to higher ground and the deep jungle. As he does, he already sees the leftover damage from the tsunami. He starts churning through these long, thick reeds of vegetation and it’s a very claustrophobic experience watching him go through it. He grabs a centipede for a quick protein intake. He tells us that insects offer more protein than beef, making them the perfect survival food. Wow. I did not know that. And I’m not sure that I want to know that.
Later Bear gets a hold of a Monitor Lizard. This little carnivore quickly becomes Bear’s victim and future meal by getting whacked against a tree. He finds a river clearing and decides to start a fire and eat. He cooks up the delicacy of Monitor Lizard tail and it’s liver. (Less the bile sack, of course). He pokes some holes in his boots to avoid Trench foot, and elects to follow the river. Eventually he ends up at a 40’ drop as the river turns into a waterfall. He makes himself a knot harness and starts to repel down the falls. About 3/4 of the way down, his harness snaps and he drops into the water! Fortunately he comes out unscathed. It starts raining and Bear comes up with a clever way to grab a drink of water. He chops away a piece of bamboo and drinks right out of the side of it.
Night falls fast at the Equator, so Bear needs to build a camp just as fast. He wants to make a camp high up from the ground like Orangutans do to stay away from predators. He cuts off some large leaves to use as a cover for his shelter for the evening. After all, it’s rain season and he’d rather not be swimming in his bed for the night. He starts up a fire and dries out his socks and feet. Other than some creepy crawlie insects, he should be able to get some rest up here.
The next morning he acquires a Beetle larva for breakfast. Here we are 40 minutes through part 1 and he ALMOST didn’t eat the larvae of an insect. I was worried there for a while. He gives us a scare when he lifts up a long, black millipede. I thought that the millipede was going to be a chaser for the beetle larva, but Bear warns us that this one was poisonous. The smell of almonds usually gives you a clue that its skin may secrete cyanide. He doesn’t have to wait long for brunch because he finds a Mangrove snake, which he dispatches and eats. Later, he finds this pool of water that was most likely an old volcanic vent. He creates a makeshift way to fish by using his trousers and some vines. Unfortunately for Bear it starts raining, which tends to scare fish to the bottom of the pool.
Finally he finds an open ridge to get his bearings. He sees some paddy fields and some life down from the cliff that he’s on, so he shimmies his way down vines to get to them. It’s a precarious climb down the sheer face but his vast climbing skills help him make it to the bottom. Reaching the paddy fields is a great sight for Bear, because he’s that much closer to his family. And so ends part 1 of his Indonesian trip.
Personally, the jungle episodes may be my favorites. This episode harkens back to his sojourn through the Florida Everglades back in season 2. And there was his trip to the Amazon, of course. I’ll be looking forward to seeing Bear’s antics in part 2. What is your favorite climate that Bear travails? I’d like to get your two cents on this. It’s more interesting to me than the protein value of a centipede.