Traveling the world is one of the best experiences that life has to offer. Through travel you can learn more about the world and various cultures. However, one adventurer quickly learned that sometimes traveling explorations can lead you into a world of trouble. His survival skills were put the test when he got lost in the jungle and you won’t believe the journey he embarked on…
20. World Traveler
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Yosseph or “Yossi” Ghinsberg was born in Tel Aviv in 1959. As a young boy, Yossi had no idea that he would grow up to be an avid world traveler. However, he also had no idea that he would be faced with a life-or-death situation on one of these travels.
19. Israeli Military
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As a young man, Yossi joined the Israeli military where he learned a lot of survival tips and tricks. While a part of the navy sector, Yossi also enjoyed the perks of being able to travel around frequently. Soon enough he became stronger, leaner, and managed to save quite a decent amount of money.
18. Venezuela
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Eventually, Yossi became even more interested in travel and knew that he wanted to see the world. He quickly decided to visit Venezuela after being inspired by Henri Charrière’s book Papillon. In the autobiography, Charrière writes about being wrongfully convicted of murder in France, being kept prisoner in French Guyana, and eventually escaping to Venezuela.
17. Travel Buddies
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As Yossi was backpacking his way through Venezuela into Colombia, he met man named Marcus Stamm, a teacher from Switzerland. The two of them wanted to continue exploring South America and they agreed it would be better to do so together. So the two of them immediately became travel buddies and headed over to La Paz, Bolivia.
16. Bolivia
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As soon as the two men arrived in La Paz, they knew that they wanted to further explore. They decided that they would embark on a hiking trip through the Amazon. While planning out their trip, they came across another explorer, Kevin Gale, an American wildlife photographer that wanted to take photos of the Amazon.
15. Another Encounter
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However, before they finally embarked into the Amazon, the men came across one other person. They met an Austrian man named Karl Ruprechter who claimed to be a geologist that was looking for a gold quarry. The men immediately trusted him and followed him into the jungle.
14. Ominous Warning
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The men began their journey toward the gold quarry in the small village of Asariamas. The locals in the village were incredibly kind and they opened their arms and homes to the men. However, they also gave the men a stern warning about the jungle and how dangerous it could be.
13. Wanderlust
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The men, however, didn’t take the warning very seriously. After all, they figured that four healthy men could take on whatever the jungle tried to throw their way. Still, they had no idea what was going to come their way…
12. Trench Foot
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As the men made their way through the jungle, the Swiss teacher, Marcus Stramm, began to develop trench foot. As the days passed, his foot only got worse and worse as the infection spread. Soon he was in so much pain that he was slowing down the entire group. Meanwhile, they were already running out of food.
11. Hunting
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The men quickly ran out of food, however, they did happen to have a shotgun for hunting. However, the only animals that they saw around them were monkeys and at first they felt horrible shooting one. Eventually they had no choice and they grilled their first monkey. Marcus, however, refused to eat it.
10. Building A Raft
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After a certain point Marcus could no longer walk so the men built a raft instead. They hoped that they could sail along the Tuichi river and reach the gold quarry that way. However, it was at this moment that Karl began acting quite suspicious and he claimed that he couldn’t even swim.
9. Nearest Village
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Afraid of water, Karl decided to head over to the nearest village with the injured Marcus. Yossi and Kevin, however, decided to keep on traveling. Soon enough, the two men were hit by a powerful current and Kevin was able to swim to shore. However, Yossi was not so lucky…
8. Getting Injured
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While getting pulled away by the current, Yossi sustained a horrible head injury and had to work incredibly hard not to drown. Eventually he made his way over to the closest shore. It was at this moment, however, that Yossi realized the danger that he was in. He was in the middle of the jungle, injured and with no one around to help him.
7. His Backpack
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Yossi immediately felt like his life was in trouble. However, he quickly noticed his backpack had managed to withstand the current and inside of it were all of his supplies. Along with the supplies, Yossi also packed a special book that had been his uncle’s throughout the Holocaust. With the book and the supplies, Yossi immediately felt better.
6. Bad Situations
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Over and over, Yossi found himself in bad situations. He ran into a boar that attempted to attack him but he luckily ran away in time. He fell asleep on top of a termite nest and woke up itchy and in pain. After a week in solitude, Yossi had no food so he depended on eggs, fruits, and dead monkeys that he found in the jungle.
5. A Boat
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Yossi found himself in a constant series of extremely dangerous situations. He was almost attached by a leopard and soon enough his foot became infected. Then one day, he noticed a boat out on the water. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he introduced himself to Tico Tudela, a Bolivian fisherman, who was also with Kevin Gale.
4. Civilization
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It seems that Kevin had reached civilization three days after being swept away by the current. He immediately begged for help in tracking down Yossi. Finally, Yossi had been found and he was immediately taken to a hospital to be treated for all of his injuries.
3. 3 Months
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Yossi spent 3 months in the hospital recovering from injuries and excessive weight loss. However, he shared his story with everyone that he could and everyone was shocked when they heard about what he had endured. They couldn’t believe that he had managed to survive it all.
2. Revisiting
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Eventually, Yossi decided to revisit Bolivia and the locals immediately welcomed him with open arms. While living there he helped build an eco-lodge from which the indigenous people could profit. He also worked on protecting intellectual properties of the locals in the area.
1. A Book
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Yossi also authored several books, including an autobiography called Back From Tuichi: the Harrowing Story of Survival In The Amazon Rainforest. He has continued to travel the world and give inspirational speeches all about survival and making the best out of a bad situation!