James Borrell is a biodiversity scientist and science communicator researching how people and nature can adapt to environmental change.

10 ways to know when you’re on an expedition

Ever woken up, momentarily lost your bearings and forgotten where you are? Here’s 10 ways to know when you’re on an expedition…

Have others to add? Let me know in the comments below.

  1. You wake up staring at canvas or stars.

  2. You’ve thoroughly forgotten what day of the week it is.

  3. All the possessions that matter in life can and will fit into an 80L rucksack (or less).

  4. You communicate via satellite phone (which looks unfashionably like mobile from the early 90s).

  5. All food is meticulously shared, even down to breaking a biscuit seven ways.

  6. You tell friends that you didn’t shower for days (it was actually weeks).

  7. You’re a veteran of the ‘wet wipe wash’.

  8. You’re imaginative with your evening menu, Piranaha, Tutles eggs, Locusts perhaps?

  9. You’re brushing your teeth by head-torch light.

  10. You could roll and unroll a drybag blindfolded with one arm behind your back.