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Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Murdered in the Amazon: When Survival Fantasy meets Survival Reality



Emma Kelty, a former headteacher from London, was  murdered during a solo kayaking trip in the Amazon jungle.

Ms Kelty had posted frequent updates on her journey in northern Brazil on Facebook.
‘In or near Coari (100km away) I will have my boat stolen and I will be killed too. Nice,’ she wrote, joking about the danger she faced.

You see, this is what many people in developed countries don’t understand. Even in our community, many preppers don’t understand this either: The difference between fantasy and reality. A little tip people. When someone in the Amazon jungle is out there to kill you and steal from you, you take it seriously. You don’t assume its some empty threat and carry on.

For example, if you have half a dozen guns and over a thousand rounds of ammo “for when SHTF” and you don’t have body armor, then my friend you’re living in a fantasy world. No one shoots a thousand rounds of ammo at an enemy without getting returning fire. Heck, if you empty a full mag its probably because you’re in a fight for your life too.
Bug out bag with snares “for trapping” but no cash? Nope, not realistic.

This woman had lived a sheltered life. She had gone on adventures in the 3rd world before, she hadn’t lived in them though. For her it was living out what she otherwise saw in Discovery Channel. She saw the amazing jungle (and it is amazing) but she didn’t see the drug smugglers, slavers, pirates, the illegal gold miners, the jungle natives that have a VERY different concept of right and wrong. Not to mention the dangerous animals and diseases.
The danger in these places is extremely real. They are places of amazing beauty and fantastic people too, but also very dangerous.

I don’t mean to insult the memory of this poor woman. In fact I congratulate the courage to go live life in her own terms. But these are the kind of mistakes you only get to make once in those parts of the world. They don’t care about political correctness. They don’t care if you mean them no harm. All they care about is that they have someone to steal from, rape and kill, and some of the most brutal people will do all three without a second thought.
In preparation for this dangerous trip, Emma Kelty had taken self defense classes in London. She wanted to learn to fight and “disarm” potential attackers.

How can anyone possibly think this prepares you in any way to deal with people that live in the jungle, swinging machetes all day, stronger, tougher in every way, not to mention armed?
We need to keep it real folks. Not doing so gets you killed.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Strongly agree!

DL said...

I agree with you. "Keep it real folks". Thinking that you have the skills necessary to disarm an attacker by practicing the skills in slow motion for an hour or so is simply delusion hubris. It is sad, but foolish.

Anonymous said...

It is sad. I live in the third world. When I saw the news I was shocked by her naivete. Kayaking alone in such a place? Many men in such places don't see women as people, just beings who can be used.Sorry. But education and environment are the things which civilize a man.This undoubtedly nice lady could never have been prepared to deal with a place where all the rules of modern life can safely be ignored,and sometimes are. Hubris? Perhaps. Ignorance? Certainly.She was so sheltered she could not imagine danger. So sad and unnecessary.