“It’s raining on my house and none of the others” (Nick Cave)
It’s comforting to know that you can put together a rainproof roof in the jungle using nothing other than the plants and trees around you…although plastic 
sheeting makes the job both much quicker and a lot easier.
The techniques needed to use the common types of leaves found in the jungle are not difficult to learn and the same basic principles apply: you need a structure to start with and a lattice to support and bind the leaves in place.
Building a shelter-roof in this way is something that can also be useful if the rain is making fire starting difficult – leaves don’t melt, but your expensive tarp may do just that if you use it to shelter a fire.
In this video I show various methods that can be used – some are quick and easy, others are more time consuming (but create more permanent shelters). With some basic knowledge of lashings, knots and how to split and weave, you will be able to put together a shelter from the materials around you…just don’t expect to do it too quickly!
The first time I ever slept in a natural shelter in the jungle I used bertam leaves heaped onto a roof structure – it was, I admit, crudely done and the end result was not something I was proud of….luckily it didn’t rain that night as I doubt that the roof would have proved very water tight. In fact it wouldn’t have taken much more work to have made an excellent roof from the materials I’d collected – but, back then, I didn’t know how to do it.
Aloha Paul …
Just wanted to comment on your *palm frond weaving*. As a Pacific Islander, from Hawaii, yet more “Westernized” over the years, and not needing the skills now days to *make myself a shelter*, I’m glad that I’ve subscribed to your channel for your information is simple yet very informative for those that do live in or around a more jungle type environment. The different uses of bamboo it’s self, has now opened a whole new arena for me to play within. Your skills, will help me improve on mine and with the bamboo and palm weaving that I’m looking forward to indulge myself with, these new skills, should be fun as well as furustrating. CHEERS!!
Hi Peter,
Many thanks for the comment and great to hear from someone from Hawaii – must be a beautiful place to live. I’ve seen a few videos of palm weaving done in Hawaii and some of the designs are pretty amazing.
Bamboo is a truly amazing resource and I don’t think I’ve even got close to discovering all the possible uses for it in the jungle. There are forums on the internet dedicated just to bamboo and there are some truly incredible applications for the stuff. Once you learn to introduce bends in it you can make almost anything and one of my favourites is the bicycle frames people make – not something I’ve tried myself but very impressive.
Anyway, thanks for the support and good luck with the weaving!
Cheers!
Paul