Spending time lying on a palm-fringed beach, with tropical blue waters lapping at your feet might seem like the perfect holiday! But what if there was no umbrella to keep the sun off your head, no waiter to bring you a frosted glass of beer and no hotel to retreat to in the evening for a welcome shower and hot meal? It wouldn’t be long before that desert island paradise became your worst nightmare.

Being shipwrecked or crash-landing on an uninhabited desert island might seem like a scary proposition, but in reality your chances of survival are pretty high as long as you follow a few simple procedures and keep things in perspective. A desert island might have its own challenges but being close to the sea, having natural warmth and an abundant supply of food will all contribute to making your survival more likely than if you had found yourself washed up on an uninhabited polar coastline.