I'm Bear Grylls. Whoo!
I'm gonna show you what it takes to get out alive
from some of the most dangerous places on Earth.
I've gotta make it through a week of challenges
in the sort of places you wouldn't last a day
without the right survival skills.
Now I'm in North Africa on the edge of the Sahara Desert.
I'll be going deep underground to find a drop of water,
battling the sea of sand and the wild Atlantic,
putting mind and body through the ultimate test.
Very...hot.
I'm gonna show you how to escape with your life
from the mother of all deserts.
Heading to the western part of the Sahara Desert.
It's the hottest, largest desert in the world,
and one of the wildest ways of crossing the vast distances here
is like this.
The Sahara's vastness covers 3.5 million square miles
and it's 3,000 miles across.
It's the equivalent of mainland America.
You do not want to get stuck in a place like this.
But every year, hundreds of people do get lost here -
tourists, adventurers and off-roaders.
If things go wrong, getting out alive is gonna be a tough challenge.
Oh, I love a gentle drive in the countryside.
My mission is to show you how to survive long enough
to make it back to civilisation.
All I'm taking are a few basic tools.
My camera crew are coming with me.
If we slow down in the hot sand, more
than likely gonna sink or get stuck.
So when the driver gives me the nod, I'm gonna have to jump.
What a great way to start - with a mouthful of sand.
That's the car gone.
Let's get into it.
It's still early and the day has yet to heat up,
so it's a chance to cover some ground
and get to where the terrain can give me a little help.
The higher I can get, the further I'm gonna see.
And I'm looking for signs of the most
precious thing in a desert - water.
Even though I'm feeling strong,
the truth is the battle with dehydration has already begun.
The sand dunes like this bring that battle right to you.
Just like syrup, all this stuff.
Take two steps forward...
..and then you slide back for one.
Everything about the desert wants to suck you dry.
But without exertion there can be no progress.
That's the constant battle here.
(STRONG WIND BLOWS)
Right, in my search for water, I'm not much better off, you know.
No sign of any rivers.
No little patch of green that might indicate an oasis.
There's just a lot of sand.
But what I do know is that
the prevailing wind here comes from the north-west.
The steep slope of a desert dune faces away from the prevailing wind,
so I can read these to get a bearing.
I know that to the west is the Atlantic,
and that's where I want to head.
Gonna make a bit of arrow here,
just indicate the direction I'm travelling.
If someone's looking for you and they come across a sign like this,
it could make that critical difference to their search
and to your survival.
Let's go.
Temperatures here can soar to 120 degrees,
and the only way to keep cool is to sweat -
up to two litres an hour.
Out here dehydration is your worst enemy.
Water's your best friend.
That's the bottle empty.
Look, there's a lizard.
Shot under here.
Very nearly got him.
You know, I could try and dig him out.
To be honest, it's not really worth
the energy and the sweat it would cause.
You need to conserve both of those.
So it's his lucky day.
Come on then.
Very...very...hot.
It's just draining, sapping.
But, like so many difficult things,
it's just about putting your head down and keeping focus,
reach that dune, reassess,
and heading for the next one.
Just break it down to small bite-size chunks.
Bottom line is it doesn't matter how good or smart or clever you are,
without water you're dead.
A vital part of survival
is always trying to remain alert to what's around you.
That's unusual.
See that mound of earth?
There's a well.
Here, let me take the camera.
OK, I've got it.
Actually, you can't even see the bottom there.
Just count this down.
One, two... (THUD!)
Two seconds. Yeah, it's a good 50 foot down there.
But it's also dry.
Now, this could be long-abandoned, this well.
But, look, there's trees over there.
And these wells are dug down to the water table.
I can almost guarantee if I can get down there, dig into the sand,
there's going to be water somewhere.
It's just trying to work out
how the hell to get down this thing without a rope.
Acacia trees surviving off the deep underground water
could provide the materials I need.
Need a couple of long, straight branches.
Actually, look, this one would be nice.
As long as these poles are longer than the actual width of the well,
I can then use them to get down.
Well, should be able to. This is something I've never tried before.
Just dry off all the sap...
..then we're good to go with it.
OK.
Now, with the second one...try and get it into one of these cracks.
There we go.
OK, that shouldn't be able to slip out, you know.
Not sure whether that's a good or bad thing
that I can't see the bottom through all the dust.
Falling 50 foot into a hole in the desert will most certainly kill you,
so you have to get this right.
My leg's shaking.
But with the base of the pole in position,
your body weight jams both ends in tight, creating a kind of bridge.
Alternate this from pole to pole and you can make your way slowly down.
You know, this is working!
Even when you think things are going well and the temptation is to hurry,
you've got to stay focused.
Concentrate only on the next step.
You can't afford a mistake here.
(ROCK CLATTERS)
Oh! Wow.
(PANTS)
Oh. Dan?!
I definitely feel quite vulnerable down here.
Not a good place to be stuck with no way out.
OK.
Get digging so I can get some water.
(SQUELCHING)
You hear that? I'm hitting water here.
A darkling beetle.
Another one there trying to climb up the walls.
And that's gonna be a long journey.
And probably one he's not gonna make.
The foul taste of this guy could mean he's not what I think he is.
He could even be toxic.
The rule is if in doubt, spit it out.
Do you know what, there's no point
trying to get a load of these down me.
And then you got throwing up, it's just gonna dehydrate me more.
Mud like this can be up to 50% water
and is actually a neat way of getting yourself a drink.
Gonna wrap all of this up...
..and try and squeeze the moisture out of it.
That's a little bit of water.
I was kinda hoping for more, to be honest.
I need to get outta here.
The technique for going up is just a reversal of the way I came down.
But way harder.
Bad.
I'm climbing out of a dried-up well in the Sahara Desert.
And a pole has given way, leaving me dangling above a lethal drop.
Bad.
If this pole gives way, it's a 50-foot plunge to the bottom.
Give us your hand. Give us your hand.
That'll do.
Closer than I like.
Whew.
I hate that feeling.
Let's just move on, hey?
Beating the heat isn't just about finding water,
it's also about making the most of what you already have.
Hang on. I'm just gonna have a pee.
Always feels wasteful to lose good fluids straight into the sand.
But you can recycle pee to help me survive.
Take your T-shirt.
And then just pee on it.
Try to capture as much of that fluid as you can...
..while you wring it through the shirt.
And then I'm not wasting any of this to the sand.
And even just, you know, a little bit of pee into the mouth
is just gonna help moisten it, take the edge off the thirst.
And you're not drinking it.
It's just to wet your mouth a bit.
And actually even just wiping on my face
is cooling my face down.
In fact, you'll see that on the thermal image if we put that on.
You can see what a difference that fluids on the face make...
..as the pee just evaporates and cools me.
You see the dark of it is where it's all much cooler
than all of this that's gonna be bright and hot.
So if I then put this T-shirt on, that's gonna keep me even cooler.
As the fluid evaporates from the shirt,
it will draw heat from my body.
(GRUNTS)
Not gonna win me any dates, that's for certain.
But you see how much cooler that is.
OK, you'll see as soon as I put this on,
over the the top of it you'll see the heat again.
Cooler, smellier, but better off for it.
As I get nearer to the coast, the sea breeze actually helps me.
This could be 10 degrees cooler than the air inland,
and it's a welcome relief.
(SOFT ROARING)
That sound of the surf is just unmistakable.
You also smell the sea air.
Come on, let's go then.
Whoo!
Finding the coast at least gives you a fighting chance of survival.
You know, you got food in the sea.
You got the chance of finding rubbish on the beach,
but also the likelihood of coming across people
either on the beach or the ships out at sea.
See, it's a long way down there.
Look. You see right there?
See where the edge of the cliff is cracked?
Get into that, chimney my way down it.
Let's try that.
Because the weathered limestone is loose and crumbly,
the safest way down is to do a chimney climb.
By putting opposing pressure on both walls with my arms, legs and back,
I can descend safely and quickly.
Well, nicely wedged in here now.
From here, though, I'm seeing the crack
run straight under that overhang.
The coast is some relief but it's still tough going here.
The Atlantic is brutal,
and when storms hit they can unleash their fury on unwary shipping.
It's not unexpected to spot a wreck on this forbidding coast.
And finding one could help you in your fight for survival.
Even though I'm not exactly gonna be sailing away in that wreck,
in many ways, these wrecks act as like a magnet for sea life.
Almost like an artificial reef.
So it's definitely worth exploring.
Need to be a bit mindful getting out to the wreck.
Lot of surf coming in here.
On a coastline long like this, you're
gonna get a lot of currents as well.
Especially rips -
that's where the water comes in, the waves come in.
and as it leaves it often gets funnelled.
If you get caught in that funnel,
it's just gonna take you straight out.
The way to get out of a rip current is to swim across it.
Not against it.
The raging Atlantic storms have pummelled this hulk.
The ship looks ancient but she's actually a modern-day trawler,
fishing gear still hanging off her.
Get this rope. Look.
See that rope?
There's quite a current pulling us along this,
so not gonna stray out too far.
Look under.
We're getting dragged away from the boat.
Swim against it. See if I can get up on that rope.
The strong currents swirling around a massive object
can try and drag you out to sea.
Exhaustion can be upon you in minutes and then panic can set in.
The ocean is a very dangerous place for the inexperienced.
I'm on the wild Atlantic coast of the Sahara Desert.
Whoo!
Battling through currents,
fighting to board the wreck of a fishing trawler.
But the rip currents here are vicious
and I'm at risk of being swept out to sea.
Gonna have to ride the next wave.
Yeah, going up.
Stick on the metal bits.
So wanna watch out - all of this is rusty and sharp.
I'd like to think the sailors from
this vessel got away with their lives
but not everyone is so lucky.
There were some American sailors in the 1800s
got shipwrecked on this coast,
and you imagine how terrifying it must have been
just to be shipwrecked in a storm, washed up here.
But they survived it and made it ashore.
But if they thought their problems were over, they were wrong.
They got taken as slaves by local tribesmen
and almost all of them died under the weight of that slave labour
in this, the Sahara Desert.
But to a desert survivor, discovering a wreck like this
can mean hope, possibility and opportunity.
That's where we wanna to go down to get into the hold.
See what's down there.
Let's get this out of here.
OK, it's good. Come on down.
Give us that.
Oh, something...
Something just swam past me here.
This would have been the hold for the ship.
But today with the sea washing in and out,
it's effectively created a giant aquarium,
a haven for sea life.
Quite an eerie feel to it, this place.
That's a crab. Look at him.
Try and get him out.
There'll be loads of these living down here.
But, you know, I don't wanna eat this raw.
Done that before, ended up sick. It's gonna be full of parasites.
Finding something alive in the engine room
is a good indicator that the water's not polluted.
There's an octopus clinging on to the hull.
Let's see if we can get him out of here.
There we go.
Look, you see he's clinging on with all his tentacles.
And that's how he grips.
But he's got a beak just in the centre bit, there,
you wanna watch out for - can give a nasty, nasty bite, that.
But this is gonna be good to eat.
You see the two eyes there?
A quick way of killing this,
bite straight between them, sever the nerves.
OK.
You know, you can just munch just on
the tentacles of this just like that,
it's gonna be tough as hell.
Better on a platter in a nice seaside resort
with family around and a bit of mayo
than like this.
But when needs must, that's gonna keep you alive.
Still gripping on,
but that's just nerve reflex there.
See, even on my lip. Look.
The problem is that the sucker sticks to your throat.
(GAGS)
Look, it's still got a lot of suction power.
That's what's gripping on down my gullet.
But this is a good find for me.
Get all the guts out of it as well.
Because really this bit of the hood
is the bit that's really nice to eat.
Raw octopus is extremely nutritious
but it's vital it's eaten only when very fresh.
Save some for later
and bacteria thriving on the dead flesh can make you so sick.
Worth coming in this rust bucket just to get that.
But the tide is coming in fast, and it's time to get out of here.
Now, this might work.
There's gonna be loads of buoyancy in this.
Gonna be able to lie on it
and then use the power of the waves to take me through the current.
OK.
Try and get this one coming in.
OK.
Sometimes in survival, it's all about thinking smart.
Well, that worked.
I've had something to eat.
And really the priority now for me is water.
As I continue my desert journey, I take what little it has to offer.
I've really learned to hate that taste.
On the edge of the Sahara Desert
I've come face to face with an ocean of water
but not a drop that I can drink, so I've gotta step up the search.
This looks like a tidal estuary.
And a tidal estuary can mean fresh water.
But not here.
An estuary is where a river meets the sea.
But it hasn't rained for a long time so the river isn't flowing.
However, you can track the fresh water down.
Come on, let's pick it up a bit now.
Even a dry riverbed is worth following.
Look at all of this stuff. It's all samphire.
And it might not look like much
but this stuff can keep you alive.
Got enough moisture in it to help hydrate you.
Get this all along the coast on estuaries.
Put it in my pockets, OK.
Keep munching on it.
The dried-up riverbed may not have seen rain for some time
but it still sustains life.
As long as I can get up high, it's a good place to set up camp.
There's some acacia trees, and these are always good in the desert.
They give you good shade,
also for shelter, means you can get off the ground
away from all the insects and animals
that give you grief in the night.
Some bigger ones over here, actually.
Go right up into this one.
Use some of these parallel limbs as well.
The Sahara is home
to some of the deadliest snakes and scorpions on the planet,
plus there are hyenas and even leopards,
so I'm gonna do my best to keep out of their reach.
Another one across here and then just interlace it with smaller ones.
Just use my paracord to tie all of this.
But you can really use anything -
shoelaces or webbing from your rucksack, belt, you name it.
Pretty rough and uncomfortable
but at least I'm off the ground and away from most dangers.
Just use some of these grasses as a pillow.
And I always reckon 10% more effort gives you 100% more comfort.
OK. Fire.
What I'm doing now is making a bow but this isn't for hunting,
it's for creating fire.
Its magic is in how efficiently it can create friction
by turning a spindle at high speed.
It takes a little perseverance
but once you've mastered it, it's as good as having a box of matches.
Look at the smoke starting.
Need enough of that to make an ember
to then drop into the tinder.
Here we go.
OK, then the ember I wanna tip carefully into the tinder.
And then just nurture it.
There we go. We've got flame.
Building a campfire is a huge part of sleeping wild.
It's not just something for cooking on, it's morale boosting.
It's like an old friend.
As soon as that sun went,
the temperature stared to drop dramatically.
And this fire is gonna give me a nice bit of warmth.
I've got it directly under my bed platform here.
And also it's gonna keep away any predators.
(CRICKETS CHIRP)
Look, it's a locust.
Just there.
Got him.
That's a good thing about the fire, actually -
some insects are gonna be attracted to the light.
Stick him in a bottle, sit around a bit longer,
see how many of these I can collect.
And this is gonna be a much more efficient way for me, getting food.
Rather than going out hunting
I'm gonna sit here and let the light bring the food to me.
Cool.
Keep your eyes open for them.
Many insects are attracted to a light source
like moths that buzz around a lamp.
It's the same with the firelight.
They simply can't help themselves, whatever the cost.
There's no doubt that a big part of survival is physical, you know.
You've gotta have that strength to keep going.
But the truth is that the real strength comes from your mind.
It'll keep you going even when your body wants to stop.
And having a good night's sleep and something to eat and a warm fire
definitely goes some of that way to winning that battle.
In my next challenge, I'll be tucking
into this - breakfast bug burger!
Oh, my God.
After enduring everything the Sahara's thrown at me,
I desperately needed rest.
But while I had some sleep, it just never feels enough.
Well, a very cold night.
Very pleased to see the sun come up finally.
Strange thing about the desert, though,
you spend most of the day wanting the cool of the evening,
then most of the night longing for the heat of the sun again.
And there I've got breakfast.
Probably the easiest way of eating this
is to make a bug patty out of all of these things.
See what we've got in here.
A couple of locusts.
Don't want those spiny legs.
Big beetles.
A couple of moths as well.
Even got a praying mantis.
Ooh!
Quite a diverse breakfast menu.
Squidge all that up together.
There's gonna be masses and masses of protein in this.
Oh.
Just gotta keep thinking of the energy and the protein.
What's that?
A rogue leg in there.
Oh, God, I've really learned to hate that taste.
It's like cold and sandy, crunchy goo
with a very, like, off-mustard taste.
Try always not to think of the taste, I wanna just get it down.
The thing is you gotta keep chewing it to get the stuff down.
Come on.
Truly terrible way to start the day.
But it's gonna give me some energy.
Breakfast done. Let's go.
In self-rescue situations you have
to keep moving and cover those miles.
Early morning is perfect for this
when temperatures can be between 10 and 20 degrees cooler.
Really, we wanna stick with this dry riverbed.
You know, I'm confident there is gonna be water here somewhere.
You know, a lot of trees growing.
It's just a question of keeping going and finding the right place.
It's probably worth a little look here, actually.
Outside bend of a dry riverbed,
under overhanging rock
and it's always the last place that the water is left.
You can see it's getting a bit damper here.
See the different colour of the sand.
But not...
really enough to get any water out of.
We can find a better one than this. Come on, let's keep going.
As the base of the dry riverbed
changes from sand to impervious bedrock,
the chances of finding standing pools of water become far greater.
There's water.
And that is not gonna be saltwater. Come on. Let's get down there.
It's like striking gold.
In an arid wilderness of baking rocks,
a pool like this would be a lifesaver to the desert survivor.
So probably about 20 foot down there.
But it's quite clear. I can see the bottom.
It's about 6 foot.
Just a shallow jump - we'll go in, shoot my legs out horizontal.
OK, let's get in.
Since diving headlong into the middle of the Sahara Desert,
it's been a wild ride.
From miles of baking sand and an abandoned well...
..to the fury of the Atlantic Ocean...
..and a truly indescribable breakfast...
..this place has tested me to the limit,
while simply showing you how to survive
in one of the harshest environments on Earth.
So probably about 20 foot down there.
Now I've reached the most precious thing
any desert survivor can ever find - water.
Whoo!
Totally smacked into the bottom.
But that is so nice.
You cannot underestimate the feeling for the survivor
to come across water like this.
Just so nice.
You know, if your mouth's parched, you're dry,
it's like liquid gold.
You know, there's nothing you'd trade for this.
In the desert, water really is the difference between life and death.
This water is fresh, but there's no guarantee it's clean.
Look at all of this...
black, stinking goo.
But there is a way of improvising a filter.
You can just come up the slope a bit,
start digging down and dig what's called a gypsy well.
And it's just a very simple way of filtering the water.
And you see the water beginning to seep in.
Look, you see, pretty murky, the water it's filled up with.
I'll clear all of that out now
and then let it fill up again.
The sediment and sand acts as a fine filter...
..helping to remove debris from the water
as well as some other impurities.
And, look, you see this is much clearer now the second time round.
And that's gonna be OK to drink.
It's always gonna be hard mentally leaving a water source like this
but if you're not gonna be found and you're gonna self-rescue,
you've got no choice.
You gotta resupply and then you gotta move on.
Come on.
Water is the key to all life. Without it you die very fast.
Sources of fresh water in the desert
have helped people carve out their lives here for centuries.
Look - some sort of old settlement.
It's just whether it's gonna have people or not.
Come on, let's get out there.
I've seen a few tyre tracks in the sand, but the place looks deserted.
The only thing that's gonna be living here now -
snakes and scorpions are gonna love all of this rubble,
shelter to hide in.
Let's get down and have a look.
The top of the walls allow me to make a rapid initial assessment.
Yeah, there haven't been people here for a long time.
But it's the new inhabitants I'm after -
any of the scorpions, snakes, creepy-crawlies
that might be living amongst all of the rubble.
And for the desert survivor, you've gotta have energy,
and that means you've gotta find food.
You often get condensation, a bit of damp, under metal like this,
but that's basically dried out.
Let's try here.
We got a scorpion.
See this guy?
Let's get him up. Look at his tail, right up.
It's a deathstalker.
And it's got one of the most deadly toxins of any scorpion, this guy.
Get hit by that, you could be dead in 24 hours.
I'll just pin him down.
The lethal sting is in that tail
so he needs to be disarmed before he's safe to eat.
It is also good food.
Not very tasty food but...
That sounds like a vehicle.
Truck!
Come on!
Come on, we'll cut him off, cut him off.
The Sahara has claimed many lives,
and going head to head with it
is a formidable challenge.
But with the right skills and attitude
it really is possible toendure.