Does anyone have experience or knowledge of desert survival techniques?

Or know of a good on-line guide?

The kind of "basics" that would help someone lost in the desert.

How to find water/food. How to fend off the heat. How to cover distance safely. How to find your way to more hospitable surroundings.

Any little tid-bits will be extremely useful.

thanks in advance.

**Damn it's GOOD to be back into "writing mode" for a new project!

I only know a little bit:

Wear long, loose clothing and some kind of hat or headcovering

Watch for animals to find water sources

Always travel by night

Conserve water

Watch for worms!

Fending off the cold is just as important as fending off the heat, as temperatures drop to sub-zero levels at night-time.

Hack open cacti for water.

From a narrative point of view, don't forget that walking on sand for long periods is a lot more hard-going than walking on solid ground.

If you have something sweet/sticky like jam, use it as bait to capture scorpions to eat.

Think about cactuses when you hack 'em up for drinkable fluids - not all cactuses have water in them, and many of them are actually poisonous.

Also, when sleeping in the night (if you for some reason decide to do that), bury yourself in the sand. That'll protect you from the cold (read; hell-freezes-over-temperature) desert night. That's what bugs do, since the sand is still warm from the day.

But yeah, walking in the night is the smart thing to do.

Also, you can purify your own....err...liquid waste products....to water again...using a still of some sort.

Hm, what more, what more? Let me dig out my survival handbook and see.

There are dried up flood beds, so-called wadis, that some times hold small, hidden water holes, usually covered up by rocks or bushes.

Also, when digging for water, do it between two dunes, or in the outer edge of the turn of a wadi (flood bed). That's where you'll find water.

And of course, water is in roots and some times in cactuses, for you to eat.

If you find trees or somesuch, you can place a plastic bag over it's leaves, tying a rope to close it around said leaves/branch, during the days, thus causing the thingie to "perspirate" giving you a few droplets of water. Not much, but a little, maybe enough to keep you going.

And lastly, always weigh the possible water gain against the possible loss of said water when you perspirate working to get it. Always work in the night, not in the days.

Just my 2 cents.

Nice tips... but this is for my novel, so the "plastic bag" tip will not work for me unless another material could work too.

Well, as long as the material is airtight, it should work. Prolly should be see-through-able also though, though I don't think it really matters if it's not.