Now...where do I strand my characters?

[Red^star]

Basically, I need somewhere to qualify as a deserted island. Now it doesn't have to be an Island...stretches of coastland, rainforest, etc. All qualify too. The only requirement is thus; it needs to be somewhere a group of 12 people could easily, beleivable be lost even if someone was looking for them in that general area (my first idea was part of the Brazilian rainforest...good luck searching THAT!) and it has to be somewhere where you could survive.

Ideas?

[Tundra]

Hmn. I'm not sure about 'survival' places. that's my problem with trying to answer this.

[MichaelB]

any of the North American pine forests, Australian forests and rainforest, anywhere with lots of cover and uneven ground, really. If you have lots of trees in a wide area with hills all through it, you'll be hard pressed as a search team to find someone even if you knew where theyw ere seen last or what trail they took.

[Tundra]

Could you survive in an Australian forest/rainforest?

[Red^star]

Could you survive in an Australian forest/rainforest?

I don't see any reason why not. I mean, they have the Walkabouts in Australia...if you can survive that...

[AXJ]

Nearly anything is survivable if you have the will and the know-how. Consider the men of the Endurance: those guys were stranded in the antartic from Jan 1915 until August 1916 - including 11 months after losing the shelter of their ship and a great deal of their supplies. And most of their artic supplies were highly primitive by modern standards, anyway, plus it's not like food for 22 full-grown, freezing-to-death men is easy to come by down there. And yet, not a single soul lost. 8)

Luku, how are they getting there? And do you have any specific needs as to how you want to rescue them (if applicable)?

[MichaelB]

It's actually not that difficult to survive in Australia's forested regions. No really extreme temperatures for most of the year round, plenty of cover, usually a stream or a creek of water close by (we have lots of little streams, but most of them are starting to dry up...) if not a river or pond, lots of native birds and/or animals that if you can catch you can eat, and plenty of dry, flammable bark and wood for fires.

also various species of 'bush tucker' plants like australian native tomatoes, yams, witchetty grubs (Yes, they're not that bad), tubers of many varieties and lots of grasses.

If the aborigines did it, you can too.

[Tundra]

Well, if they're not Australian, would they even think of looking for that sort of stuff? And it's not like it'd be that easy to find water... it would depend on how experienced these characters are. And how long they have to survive for. And if they have weaponry (of some sort) to try and kill some animals.

[Red^star]

Luku, how are they getting there? And do you have any specific needs as to how you want to rescue them (if applicable)?

Boat. S'why I wanted it near the coast.

Basically, it's a game-show (survivor-esque) gone wrong, and the contestants become ACTUALLY stranded on the way home. Like I said in the origional post, it needs to be somewhere with enough coast that they could have landed anywhere for X miles therefore making it feasable that they won't be found.

That also answers Tundra's point about training, etc. Everyone participant in the show undertakes basic survival training (6 weeks of it) as well as a sort of military basic training to toughen them up and test their physical limits. They're also taught about their location and what sort of preditors they'll find there, where the water is, etc. They're allowed to take food, weapons, blankets, maps, etc. In accordance.

Basically, everything's laid out for them, preditors (remember, my origional idea was Peru, so there would be a LOT of them) are kept out by electric fencing (or something similar) around a large perimiter, everything's recorded on hidden cameras, etc. But when they're actually wrecked, they loose most of their supplies, they loose the security of the compound and the camera's, and they loose the food that was provided for them. Origionally, they were given training they didn't need; then they get thrown in at the deep end.

[Tundra]

Thanks for that further info!