Every person that works in the Rain Forest, especially if not native from the area, is subject to a series of circumstances, which can sometimes even lead to his death. These circumstances may be a result of getting lost in the Rain Forest when opening trails or simply by entering the Rain Forest, since it is much easier to enter the Rain Forest than finding your way out of there.

The first recommendation that should be given to any worker when starting to work in a Rain Forest area should be that he should not enter the Rain Forest without a real reason, because he is exposing himself to what is a difficult experience, even for locals from the area. The only ones that really know the Rain Forest well are the so called " montaraces ", who are people that are capable of finding their way around, find food and drinking water, avoid unpleasant encounters with wild animals and to recognise those snakes that are venomous from those that are not, who are capable of avoiding insect bites and build a make shift shelter to hide from the rain or for to spend the night safely.

Another case could be that in the case of an aircraft or helicopter accident, the survivors may have to face not only the problem of how to get out of the Rain Forest but there will also probably be wounded people that have to be attended to, and that may have difficulties in getting around or move; there is also the possibility of the case of losing a boat engine on the river and being obliged to return by foot along the river bank, well, there are many possible situations that can arise and the only solution is to try and survive and to reach a settlement with people where one can find help.

In this handbook we will try to give a series of pieces of advice for those people that have been forced to enter the Rain Forest and need to get out of there with as fewer injuries or hurt as possible.

This handbook is divided into chapters and in each of them we will focus on a different problem, starting out with how to determine your position in the Rain Forest, how to find food and water the least contaminated as possible, how to ford a stream or a river, how to recognise venomous snakes and how to build a make shift shelter in the Rain Forest. We hope it will be useful if ever needed.