Bivouac and Hammock Tent Survival Shelters

A “ bivouac” shelter may include  any of a variety of improvised, or now, more commonly, manufactured,(top, left image)  camp site shelters; such as those used in scouting, mountain climbing, week end adventure Survival  scenarios. The term may often refer to sleeping in the open with a bivouac sack, but it may also refer to a shelter constructed of natural materials like a structure of branches to form a frame, which is then covered with leaves, ferns and similar for waterproofing and duff (leaf litter) for insulation. Of course, the term could also be used in reference to an all snow iglu in which the only heat was, traditionally a Kudlik (stone lamp or "bitch lamp". In any case, what we usually think of as a bivouac is rather small and were as a Kudik was enough to provide all the heat wanted in a snow iglu; a candle can provide- more than- enough heat for any other bivouac type shelter.

The word bivouac is French; and ultimately derives from an 18th-century Swiss German usage of beiwacht (bei =  by, wacht =  watch or patrol).

In North America, a bivouac is sometimes called a bivy for short.©All (Alex, Alexander) D Girvan. All rights reserved.