Remote dredging Help

[Gringo72]

Hi I am looking for information that has worked best for you in the field any info would be a great help . I will be working in wet jungle area of South America using a 8 inch dredge. I will transport most of my supplies with a Rocon trailbreaker with a trailer. Any new ideas on food storage hammocks clothing safety tools what ever has been a true benefit to your dredging life your experience will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[arizonaames]

Carry a Taurus, The Judge revolver for the very dangerous snakes that you will encounter and hope you see them before they see you. The 410 shotgun shells with appropriate shot will be more than adequate. I would even put 45 shells....every other one...for the 2 legged snakes you will encounter.

 

[Gramps43]

Gringo,

I've never done any camping in a jungle situation but I think a little common sense will hold you in good stead. For food I would consider dehydrated foods, if you keep them in tightly sealed containers they should keep well.

In fact for all your needs at a reasonable cost I would suggest www.sportsmansguide.com they should have nye on to everything you need and if you join their buyers club you get a nice litte discount.. Should anyone think it's the case may I say I am in no way connected with Sportsmans Guide, I am simply a satisfied customer.

Gramps

PS: Take plenty of insect repellant. a good medicated foot and body powder and a well stocked tropical first aid kit.

 

[shamaalah]

I would hire an expert hunter and have him forage food. he can hunt and prepare the days meals.

Next best thing is homemade vacuum-packed high protein high carbohydrate granola bars and forget everything else. This will reduce utensils gas weight etc etc.

Bring a water purifier as you have endless water.

Satellite phone.

 

[2cmorau]

Hey Gringo
as Shamaalah mention, do have someone to share in chore, firewood,cooking,hunting even finding fruits on the trees

First aid kit, you can build one up at the local pharmacy ( i did this in Bolivia )don't need a prescription for any of the stuff, just ask the pharmacists to help with putting one togeher, it makes for good relations when helping people in the villages you are bond to pass by, activated charcoal, penicillin are two things i remember being useful

buy a .22 cal rifle i found this to be very useful for small game, turkey, deer, capybara

T.P. lots of it

huge tarp, I had one that was 30 X 60

bug juice, there are so many insects down there that want to eat you and inject poisons, there horse fly is the worst
stuff off the top of my head
hope this helps

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

Hey Gringo. Where in South America are you working? I am guessing Peru or Ecuador. I have been in Ecuador for 6 months now and we are starting a river mining project and packing in fuel is probably the biggest pita when it comes to remote dredging. I am an experienced jungle camper and can probably offer you some advice. I was camping alone out in one of the more rugged areas of the country. Where I am at, mosquitos arent an issue at all, though the 1019312903192831 ants are a real pita. If you are in malaria country, bring some mms(miracle mineral supplement). It is an actual proven cure for malaria and has been proven thousands of times. I have met the inventer and he is a genius.

I used to a Clark's jungle hammock and found it to be quite effective. Even though whatever hammock or tent you may use says it is waterproof, it isn't with the heavy tropical rains. One night my hammock starting leaking, but it was raining extremely heavy outside. It was one hell of a miserable night. Some useful jungle camping tools:

1. GPS
2. Satelite phone(some of the canyons we work in can block out the signal though)
3. A good hammock and some heavy plastic to rig above your camp, below as well. The only negative of the plastic below your tent/hammock is the rain makes it hella slippery. Generally the area i have been working is at a slope, so stepping out on that plastic can be a real disaster.
4. Lots of rope. One good system is to tie some rope in a tree and make a sling to prevent ants from getting into your food. Use a chunk of the plastic.
5. If you are crazy like me, and like to work at night if it is not pouring rain...a good headnet is best. Moths are a pain when they fly around your head and enter your mouth. They are attracted to your headlight.
6. A gun is not a bad idea, though in most SA countries they are illegal to have outside your house. It is better to have a gun and be alive, than not a have gun and get murdered. Hand over $20.00 or so for an easy way out, lol. I had a near death experience when i got attacked and thrown off a cliff. It was at that point i really wished i had a gun. Never travel alone...i found out the hard way and got lucky.

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

If you are working on a river/alluvial gold, be wary of potential flash floods. I have witnessed a couple already, and they can be horrific. It doesn't have to be raining where you are working for it to occur. Imagine if the area you are working, the weather is beautiful, but it is pouring rain 50 miles up the river. All these tiny tributaries add up. Now imagine a landslide occurring upriver, damming up the river. The water level builds up until the pressure finally opens up the landslide. Now a huge wall of water is rushing towards your clueless self. If you are working near a canyon, be even more wary. The water would be condensed and would be even more powerful. These are things that occur on occasion and i have heard and been warned about.

Having locals with you goes a long way as well. If you are alone, or with just gringos...you will be targetted. We have a cook at our camp, which saves a lot of time throughout the day. She also does our laundry. Don't listen to others about hunting etc. It is much more difficult to hunt/wildcraft for food in the rainforest than people think. Best thing is to get a dehydrator and do mass dehydration. Your food will last much longer, and it is much lighter. Add whatever spices you want and make soup. You can dehydrate meat as well. Another awesome snack throughout the day is to make smoothies at home, and dehydrate it...place on wax paper or Saran wrap and you now have fruit rollups. Various kinds of butters, like almond butter and peanut butter are great as well. Bread is a bit of a pain in the rainforest due to the humidity. It always molds on me after a day or two and the ants love it.

Don't expect to easily build fires in the rainforest. Best method is to bring a good campstove or two and use them. If you are going to be in one area for a long time, you can collect firewood and put some plastic over it. Over time it might dry out a bit. We don't make fires because it can draw attention to us, which we definitely don't want.

Venomous snakes do exist of course, but we haven't encountered a single one. Seen a few grass snakes etc, but they shoot off as quick as possible. I did find a half dead baby bushmaster here in town, it had been ran over. If you see a snake, don't approach it. Slowly back away from it. The best gun vs a snake is not a pistol, but some kind of shotgun. A .410 works wonders, as well as a 12 gauge lol.

I really love camping in the jungle. There is so much life around you, it is absolutely wonderful. Common sense goes a long way. Keep in mind, even though it seems warm out...hypothermia can be a real problem if you are soaking wet. Due to the high humidity, it takes a long time to dry out.

You probably already know a lot of this, but i am sure some of the things might help you.

 

[2cmorau]

Alaskan where r you located? must be next to a 7/11 or a main road or the town itself, you say there is no game, bull
hunting was easy where i was at, but then i was deep in the jungle 7 days hard hiking from the nearest road which was almost impossible with a 4x4
I had 17 people i hired to haul my equipment in along with burros, Balsa wood rafts, a 6x6 truck, la paz to apallo, apallo to santa rosa then on to Tabacuni on foot Mojos region
give them $20 how dumb, they respect courage stand up to them and give them a cig
clear your base camp down to the ground, i mean clean it out, me and my crew did the whole thing with Machates, then dig a large trench around the large tarp that is hung up to keep everybody dry when the rainy season shows up, snake love tall grass, thick brush, also look for snags this will let you build fires even in November, camp stoves LOL fuel is priceless learn to cook with wood
sorry Alaskan your nowhere near a remote spot your in a populated area so don't miss lead this guy

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

Alaskan where r you located? must be next to a 7/11 or a main road or the town itself, you say there is no game, bull
hunting was easy where i was at, but then i was deep in the jungle 7 days hard hiking from the nearest road which was almost impossible with a 4x4
I had 17 people i hired to haul my equipment in along with burros, Balsa wood rafts, a 6x6 truck, la paz to apallo, apallo to santa rosa then on to Tabacuni on foot Mojos region
give them $20 how dumb, they respect courage stand up to them and give them a cig
clear your base camp down to the ground, i mean clean it out, me and my crew did the whole thing with Machates, then dig a large trench around the large tarp that is hung up to keep everybody dry when the rainy season shows up, snake love tall grass, thick brush, also look for snags this will let you build fires even in November, camp stoves LOL fuel is priceless learn to cook with wood
sorry Alaskan your nowhere near a remote spot your in a populated area so don't miss lead this guy

If you do a little search on the Llanganates mountain range, you will realize just how "near a city" this place is. It is one of the most rugged areas of the world. My area is remote, but there are still occasional people living within 5-10 kms of where we are at. They have a tendency to drive game away via hunting etc. Yes, cops in South America are so admirable. That is why after my very near death experience, they did absolutely nothing to catch the would be murderers.

Due to the El Nino affect, there is no true rainy season in this area. It rains frequently, but very unpredictable. It generally rains at night though, so that aspect of it is predictable. Yes, try to stay low key....and build a fire...brilliant. Due to the terrain, and some of the mini canyons you have to scale in this area, mules are impossible. So you hunted for your food and fed 17 people? Gotta call bs on that one. Besides, I love the rainforest for its natural beauty. We do things as eco-friendly as possible.

Bolivia isn't too far from Ecuador...come on by...oh wait, you are probably back in the US now, right?

Why?

 

[2cmorau]

said i hired 17 people to haul my equipment nothing about feedin them
only had three people stay with me to help dredge and stuff, this was back in 95
sounds like your the one that's causing problems with the locals eco-friendly my arse
that's why i said bring in a first aid kit a large one u dip, treat all the locals with respect
in my eight and half months in Bolivia i did not have any trouble's and was invited back twice
each village i came too i stayed for a week average and treated the people for health problems the best i could. the worms under there skin from moths seemed to be the most common
my base camp was 4 hours walk from a small village, its where i would get fresh vegetable and trade gold maybe on a weekly base's
a burro trail not far from camp was used my coca peddlers going to Venezuela, i would buy a sack from them for my workers, u know what to do with coca leafs right its great for high altitude
you say u have cops that tells me everything i need to know your too close to town
we didn't have cops, no law for days, it was military and they would not come in unless i was willing to pay them and that was still a seven day pack out to get to a SAT PHONE

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

said i hired 17 people to haul my equipment nothing about feedin them
only had three people stay with me to help dredge and stuff, this was back in 95
sounds like your the one that's causing problems with the locals eco-friendly my arse
that's why i said bring in a first aid kit a large one u dip, treat all the locals with respect
in my eight and half months in Bolivia i did not have any trouble's and was invited back twice
each village i came too i stayed for a week average and treated the people for health problems the best i could. the worms under there skin from moths seemed to be the most common
my base camp was 4 hours walk from a small village, its where i would get fresh vegetable and trade gold maybe on a weekly base's
a burro trail not far from camp was used my coca peddlers going to Venezuela, i would buy a sack from them for my workers, u know what to do with coca leafs right its great for high altitude
you say u have cops that tells me everything i need to know your too close to town
we didn't have cops, no law for days, it was military and they would not come in unless i was willing to pay them and that was still a seven day pack out to get to a SAT PHONE

Even in South America quite a bit changes in 16 years. Things become more dangerous due to the price of gold rising. The locals are much more knowledgeable about the price of gold and security is needed 10 times what it was in 95. Things were less developed as well. El Nino changed weather patterns, in the Amazon, there is no real wet and dry season now. Nice job being a smartass about my attack. It was a random act of violence and they simply wanted my backpack. I am a polite person when it comes to dealing with the natives. Generally, they deserve my respect. Do you even know what i mean by being eco-friendly? You seem a bit confused on that. How does asking how i deal with the locals even related to being eco-friendly?

The guy asked for information reguarding remote dredging and i offered advice from experience. I will say it again, make a trip to Ecuador and i will show you my day to day life. You will see how "close-to-a-city" we are.

PS. We can safely drink the water where we work...how is that for being close to a city?

 

[bill-costa rica]

AA
glad to hear you. you are moving forward with your mining project. good luck to you and good advise you gave. I don´t know how things have changed in south America, but I can say that things in central America have changed a lot and not always for the better. sounds like the other fella is a little envious he is not there mining.

bill-cr

 

[Alaskan Adventurer]

AA
glad to hear you. you are moving forward with your mining project. good luck to you and good advise you gave. I don´t know how things have changed in south America, but I can say that things in central America have changed a lot and not always for the better. sounds like the other fella is a little envious he is not there mining.

bill-cr

Hey Bill, nice hearing from you. Yeah, things are moving forward smoothly so far and we leave sometime next week. Let me know when you come to Ecuador, and I will buy you a beer. Lots of potential here.

 

[russau]

a word to the wise!! dont use the sat. phone on the exact location you find gold or even close to it! there are people that can find where your at and END your "rich" adventure by zeroing in on your cell phne/computor. dont use them untill you get back to a hotel or a location away from your gold!using locals i allmost a must but can be risky when carring out all the gold without another to watch your back! it could be very costly if you make a mistake and trust the wrong person! good luck on your trip!be safe!