Yes, Ahava was angry and also confused, but the need to survive was paramount. This was the driving force in his mind for now. He thought that he should have a look around the local area and see what resources were available.
As he was located on a hill, he had a good view of the immediate area. Close by and down the hill was a wooded area. Behind him, he remembered the rocky cliffs. Ahava wondered if there was a cave or a small alcove in the rocks that he could use for a temporary shelter. With a fire lit in front of the entrance, it could protect him during the night.
Ahava walked toward the rock cliff, muttering about the injustice of the situation. The cliff face was about fifty meters high in the center, tapering down to twenty meters at the edges. The shape was like a horseshoe, with a narrow entrance toward the plains, lake and distant hills. He walked through the narrow entrance and found the area the cliffs surrounded was about half the size of a football pitch. There were a lot of loose rocks at the bottom of the cliff, in addition to large cracks in the cliff. Walking around the area he found a large opening at about head height in the cliff face. There were some handholds and enough loose rocks to step on that he thought he could climb up to the opening.
It had been a long time that he had been rock climbing so he slowly eased up the rock face. Standing on the ledge to the opening in the cliff, he looked into the cave. There was enough light to see the back of the small cave that was the size of a small van. This was perfect for what he wanted for sheltering tonight.
Great, thought Ahava. I will set up camp here for the night, as the ledge will offer some protection from animals and if I build a fire in the entrance, that should deter any unfriendly visitors. Now to go check out the wooded area to see if I can get some wood for a fire.
It was a few minutes' walk from the cave in the cliff face to the start of the wooded area. The wood was on a slight downward gradient with varying sizes of trees. In between the trees were bushes of different types and even some flowers. There was a lot of dead wood on the ground. As he walked farther into the wooded area, he heard the sound of trickling water. A little farther into the wood and in a dip in the ground was a small brook flowing down the hill and through the wooded area.
Wow, thought Ahava, it's like a really good starting area in a game I used to play with the kids.
For the next hour, Ahava collected dead wood to the bottom of the cave entrance. This was done by a mixture of carrying and dragging large branches. By the end, he was very wet from sweat and had some small cuts on his arms.
Quite a bit of exercise for an overweight office worker, he thought.
Some of the large branches had a bush of smaller branches with large, closely packed thorns. This reminded Ahava of a documentary he watched about how some African villages used thorns to protect against predators.
This, he thought, would be an ideal way of blocking the small, narrow entrance to the horseshoe-shaped area enclosed by the cliffs.
Pulling and pushing some of the thorny branches, he managed to block off the entrance, with the thorns to the outside.
The next item on the list was to try and start a fire. As he had been in the scouts when he was young and due to many camping holidays, he was pretty good at setting up a fire. The only problem was that the starting of a fire without matches or a lighter is very difficult. The two methods he knew of involved either using a flint striking steel or heat from friction from rubbing wood. As he had no flint, the only option was to use the wood friction method. Ahava understood that the best way to do this was to use a flat section of wood with a notch at the edge. Under the notch, you place the tinder to ignite, using a bow to turn the wooden rod while applying pressure with a stone on top of the wooden rod.
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