Thinking about living in the jungle?
Whether you’re dreaming of a back-to-nature lifestyle in Belize or planning a self-sufficient off-grid homestead in a tropical climate, jungle living requires more than just courageāit demands knowledge, discipline, and a deep respect for the environment, but especially discipline.
Hereās a tried-and-tested list of essential doās and donāts for living in the jungle, designed to help you not just survive, but thrive.
I leave the most important thing to do at the very bottom of the post.
ā Top 10 Doās for Living in the Jungle
Do Practise Mindfulness
The jungle is no joke. Itās hard work. Itās isolated. It only takes a split second for a machete or chainsaw accident. Not being careful where you walk can lead to a snake bite or a broken ankle. Not being careful where you put your hands can lead to a painful insect or scorpion bite or sting.
Mindfulness, by its own definition, is about being aware of your surroundings. Accidents do happen, and jungles are isolated, difficult to get into or out of. Emergency vehicles often canāt reach you, and a world-class hospital is not waiting to patch you up.
Everything in the jungle revolves around mindfulness.
Do Prepare for Insects and Wildlife
Mosquitoes, fire ants, scorpions, wasps, and snakes are part of daily life.
Fire ants can be a huge indoor pest. Store food in sealed containers and keep your cooking area clean at all times.
Scorpions are just a part of life. Once again, keep living and working areas very clean. Always look before you pick anything up. I see scorpions on almost a daily basis, but after four years have only been stung twice. Because I am careful.
Wasps and killer bees are what scare me the most. Always be mind of your surroundings. Wasps love to make nests under young coconut tree fronds and on the eaves of building roofs. Also, wasps and bees love to go for the eyes. If you get stung once, just run about 10 feet away. Most species will return quickly to their nest.
Snakes are like scorpions; always be careful where you put your hands. Never attempt to remove a snake unless you can identify the species. That being said, most species are not dangerous. The Belize Zoo.
Do expect bites and stings from mosquitoes, ticks, ants, wasps, and scorpions, but hopefully not from a snake. And, do check your boots before putting them on. The most common animal I find in my boots is tree frogs. CDC page on tropical insect bite prevention.
Check your boots
A boa constrictor hanging on the bedroom window & a scorpion on the wallĀ
Do Conserve and Secure Your Water Source
Water pumps break and malfunction, or lose their prime if pumping from the river. Hurricanes or storms can knock out power for days or weeks. The dry season can drag out. Always make sure water vats are full and you have a backup vat or two.
Practice water conservation, donāt waste collected water.
The river bank gave way, knocking the water pump over.
We had no water for a few days due to repairs.
Drinking water storage vats
Do Stick to a Routine
Life in the jungle is no joke. It’s hard work. Wake early, work during the cooler hours, and rest in the heat of the day. Simple routines help you stay productive and mentally balanced.
Do Keep Open Communication with Others
Also, very important. Specifically, I have another Canadian living on my farm. If I head to my ponds to work or the village for supplies, I always communicate that I will be out of shouting range. An emergency can happen in a moment; precious minutes can be lost trying to find help from someone who could be nowhere near you.
Do Build at Least One Solid Local Relationship
Preferably more than one relationship, but if you are planning on living in the jungle and reading this, then likely you are not living in your native country. Emergencies happen.
Do Embrace the Slow Pace
Time moves differently in the jungle. Learn to observe, wait, and adapt. Patience isnāt just a virtueāitās a survival tool. Things tend to move at a much slower pace during the rainy season, which often brings a lot of flooding and mud.
Before bed, plan the next day’s jobs. Because things move slower you donāt want to waste time. Things may move at a slow pace, but the jungle grows quickly, and the work is never-ending. Itās virtually impossible to stay on top of everything, and at the same time, you donāt want to get overwhelmed by a lack of foresight.
Do Plan for Isolation
I live down a two-mile dead-end dirt road. For my first two years, I was by myself and had very little contact with the outside world. People are not likely to visit you in the jungle.
Almost no one comes down this road
Do Regular Cleaning and Maintenance of All Equipment and Possessions
This includes washing every inch of your house inside and out on a regular basis. The jungle environment basically does one thing to all things human-made or manufactured ā it destroys and rots everything.
Very slowly, every day, mould and fungi, and rust grow on every painted surface of everything you own. Ants, cockroaches, and mud dabbers get into all your personal possessions and drawers.
Do Assume During the Rainy Season that It Will Rain Every Day
When away from the house, make sure certain windows are closed. I classify certain windows as the windows that would let in rain if sudden, windy, and torrential rain showers would soak and damage personal possessions.
We get torrential downpours quickly and suddenly all the time. With a gust of wind, rain mists through my window screens and travels many feet into my house.
Also, clean up all tools and building supplies every night after work. The night seems to be when rain showers pass by the most.
The rainy season can lack rain for days or weeks at a time, but often when it arrives, it arrives with no notice.
A Bonus but Very Important Do – Keep Your House Clean
This do largely feeds off of the cleaning and maintenance do and preventing insect pests from invading your house, but sometimes important things need to be spelled out clearly. If you are a slob or dirty, all the negative results from that lifestyle have a way of compounding their effects exponentially on your possessions and quality of life. The jungle has a way of having a multiplying effect in negative ways.
Keep a clean living area, clear of clutter
ā Top 10 Donāts of Jungle Life
Donāt Underestimate the Jungle
This is not camping. The jungle can overwhelm you quickly if you’re not paying attention. Take the terrain, weather, and lifestyle seriously. Youāre not in charge here. You adapt to the jungleānot the other way around. Observe, respect, and adapt.
Donāt Leave Food Unattended
Even a few crumbs can attract a colony of antsāor worse, cockroaches. Secure your pantry, clean as you go, do your dishes right away, and always store food properly.
Donāt Walk Around Barefoot
Just because the locals get away with it doesnāt mean you can. In the jungle, I never leave my yard without wearing rainboots.
How I look when I leave the house
Don’t Run Out of Batteries
Emergencies and power outages come when one least expects them. Keep all batteries for all electronics fully charged, especially for cell phone, headlamp, and laptop. During a prolonged power outage or hurricane, never drain your laptop completely. You may need to access critical information unexpectedly.
Donāt Rely on the Grid
Power outages are common. Set up solar panels, rainwater collection, and offline tools. Self-reliance is not optional. No one is coming to save you.
Donāt Ignore the Seasons
The rainy season can isolate you, with flooded roads, mud, and ruined crops. Plan ahead, store food, and build before the rains start. Belize Meteorological Service.
The rainy season brings flooded roads in the jungle
Donāt Expect Modern Comforts
The jungle will challenge your ideas of comfort. No AC, no fast Wi-Fi, and no drive-thru coffee. Learn to value resilience over convenience.
Donāt Buy Stuff For the Fun of It
Everything rots or rusts in the jungle. You can no longer own nice things. Better to learn to live without stuff than waste the money and end up burning it in your garbage pit.
Donāt Forget to Learn Basic Jungle First Aid
Cuts get infected fast in humid conditions. Know how to treat wounds, bites, and stings. Keep a well-stocked first aid kit adapted to tropical conditions. Red Cross Training
Donāt Waste or Neglect
I live on a two-mile dead-end mud road. Everything I bring into the jungles takes great effort and cost. Trust me when I say you donāt have time to waste or neglect. Itās a discipline that will pay off huge dividends.
My Most Important Do. Do pray for safety
When I was 40 in 2013, I got my AZ truck driving license (CDL in the US). Everyone has seen short reels and YouTube videos of the damage, carnage, and loss of life a truck accident can cause in mere seconds. The day I got my license was the day I realized how important a daily prayer was. Every morning before I shifted a single gear, I prayed for safety.
I am not going to say I didnāt bump into the occasional building or fence, but by Godās good grace, I was never in an accident that I caused on the road during those six and a half years (1.2 million kilometres) through every imaginable weather condition.
I wouldnāt necessarily consider the jungle as dangerous as truck driving, but it can be, and in the same way, an accident can happen in seconds. No one wakes up in the morning planning an accident.
When I think of how many 100,000ās of swings I have taken with a razor-sharp machete, or how much chainsawing I have done alone in the bush. How many coconuts I have reached down to pick up in thick grass, which is an ideal hiding place for baby deadly Fer de Lance snakes. And then I think about how difficult it would be for emergency response, and then eventually arriving at a developing country medical facility. I donāt leave my front door without prayer.
Final Thoughts: This Is Jungle Living. All In or Not at All.
Living in the jungleāwhether in Belize or elsewhereāisnāt for everyone. But if youāre prepared to exchange comfort for clarity, and convenience for purpose, it may be the most rewarding way of life youāll ever experience.
Ā 
A few reasons why living in the jungle is worth it!
