How To Practically Survive A Zombie Apocalypse

Zombies: whether you love them or hate them you have to admit that the public's love for this gruesome genre has grown in recent years since the début of AMC's hit TV series “The Walking Dead” in 2010.

Ahead of the premiere of its 8^th Season this October, the show seems to be more popular than ever.

With views and demand for more gore on the rise, many of us have started to wonder whether a zombie apocalypse is possible and how likely we are to survive the inevitable downfall of civilization that would undoubtedly follow.

Thankfully there are a lot of very informative resources out there to help us prepare for the apocalyptic rise of the dead, from tips on how to avoid becoming infected with whatever virus has caused the plague to survival guides and even detailed instructions on how to begin a new civilization. Seriously!

Because we are pretty good at all things camping and caravanning we've decided to put our expertise to good use and create our own survival guide for when the inevitable will become reality.

1. Escape the city – retreat to less populated areas

If TV shows and films about Zombies have taught us one thing that is that cities are not good places to be when the dead start rising. If you think your city is crowded now just imagine how horrible being stuck in there will be once the population has started turning. Logic dictates that in order to survive you must find shelter in a secluded area where you can set a base camp, fortify your surroundings and wait for the initial wave of hysteria to pass.

Escaping the city should be the first step of your plan. Image this: The London Metropolitan area has a population of approximately13.6 million people. Some experts believe that in the eventuality of a zombie virus about 30% of the population will become infected in the first wave – that's over 4 million zombies to avoid. You can see why big cities aren't a good idea...

Finding shelter, on the other hand, might prove to be harder than escaping big metropolitan areas, which is why we propose this: find a caravan!

Think about it: caravans are basically mobile homes that, as long as you keep them well stocked and maintained, will keep you warm during the winter and safe during the night. The best part about them is that if an area becomes to overrun with the undead you can easily...just drive away!

Being flexible and always on the move are the keys to survival until enough time has passed for communities to start forming. You need a vehicle that can not only provide protection from the zombies, but also protection from the elements. Caravans are pretty self-sustaining and if maintained properly they can provide a shelter for many years during the apocalypse.

This idea has been popular with survivalists and even repeatedly featured on The Walking Dead TV series. One popular character lived in a caravan for a period during the apocalypse and even Negan, everyone's favourite baddie, is regularly seen driving one.

Let's face it though...caravans are probably the vehicle of choice in case of the apocalypse and The Walking Dead have done a great job of showcasing that.

2. Find short-term supplies

Once you've got your transport sorted and you've escaped densely populated areas it's time to go looking for supplies. Your first instinct will be to look for supplies in big shops. This seems like the logical thing to do, right? Well, we suggest avoiding big shops and shopping centres during the early stages of the apocalypse. The first few days are crucial for your survival and you need to focus on the bigger picture: finding safety and moving to a less populated area.

Everyone who is escaping at the same time as you will be trying to do the same thing which means there will be a huge frenzy to get to the shops and out before the zombies come.

We suggest grabbing as many supplies from home before you make a run for it (enough to last you a day or two). Once those supplies start running low you will be better off scavenging smaller shops or non-food shops. This might sound counter-intuitive but hear us out: most shops nowadays will have some kind of food or drinks on sale somewhere (generally around tills in a bid to encourage impulse purchasing) or a vending machine that you can loot for some short-term supplies. If that proves futile, try staff rooms and back offices.

It is also important to be clever about the places you scavenge for supplies. Think about places that won't have a lot of people around in general. Take things like day of the week and season into account when thinking of places to raid for supplies. If it happens during the weekend, for example (although we hope the apocalypse won't be cruel enough to deprive us of a weekend) focus on raiding an office building as it is unlikely that many people would have been in there at that time meaning there are less chances of encountering zombies in the building.

Once you manage to scavenge supplies for a few days you can focus on finding longer-term safety. When you have secured a good location for your caravan you can start thinking about long-term supplies. Keep a list of the supplies that your caravan will need the most (gas, petrol, water, etc) in an easily-accessible place and keep a strict inventory of supply levels. This will make it really easy to create lists for supply runs and help keep you organised.

3. Location, location location

As soon as things start becoming animated (or shall we say re-animated) in your area you can drive your caravan to safety and always be on the move. Staying mobile is probably the best thing you can do during the early stages. Once the initial panic has subsided it's time to settle down and start fortifying a more permanent shelter where you can start growing crops and even livestock.

Our advice is to always be prepared and plan ahead for every eventuality. Make sure you have a map of your city handy at all times and even a road atlas of the wider area surrounding it to help you avoid busy roads and possible traffic jams. Also make sure you mark key locations on your map where you can find supplies, weapons and places to hide.

If you are the survivalist type we recommend you use the Map of the Dead interactive map. Simply type in your location and find all the useful places you can look for supplies or shelter in your area. Remember to mark all these locations on your paper copy of the map! There will be no Internet during the apocalypse.

Here are some places we think you should keep an eye for:

Pharmacies: for obvious reasons. While it's a good idea to raid pharmacies and drug shops for supplies remember that a lot of people will be thinking of doing the same. Sometimes, as we have seen in The Walking Dead, people are a greater threat than the zombies themselves.

Dentists: these relatively low-risk locations could be a great place to find medical supplies such as painkillers, dressings and bandages as well as antibiotics and disinfectants.

Vets: as mentioned before, you need to be creative about the places you raid for supplies and vet practices have a lot of medical supplies that will definitely come handy.

Small corner shops: if you are lucky enough to get to these shops first the competition for supplies will be a lot smaller than for the bigger shopping malls or convenience shops. The only downside is that the selection of supplies won't be as varied as in the bigger shops.

Jewellers: we know this might sound a bit silly but let us explain. Jewellery shops generally have great security systems and reinforced doors and windows to prevent thieves from breaking in, making these shops excellent hiding places that you can temporarily barricade on your way out of the cities. Wile the alarms and security system might not be functional due to the lack of electricity, odds are the window fencing and possibly even safe doors will do a great job of keeping the undead out for a while.

Look for shops with big enough parking areas in the back to park your caravan and try using it as a barricade against the back exit for a quick escape solution.

Garages & car parts shops: Again, these kinds of shops usually have strong doors and few windows that zombies can break through. They are also big enough to hide your caravan and can be a great source of essential maintenance supplies you will need in the future. Remember to pack a few extra parts to trade with other survivors in exchange for food or ammunition. Car parts will become very valuable commodities.

Police & Fire stations: while it's pointless to assume that you will be able to find any guns in these stations (the UK is much stricter when it comes to gun laws than the USA), they are solid hiding places where you can find some other essential supplies.

Hardware shops: Since you can't find guns that easily in the UK, you can fashion your own weapons from things you can find in these shops. Tools will always come in handy. Make sure to grab essentials such as seed packets, pesticides and fertilisers from the garden section. You will need these in the future. Seeds might also come in handy later on when you can trade them for supplies and weapons.

Petrol stations: this is an obvious destination for anybody on the road. Find as many containers as you can and fill them up with petrol whenever you get the chance. Make sure you get to this location as soon as possible because, as is the case with pharmacies, a lot of people will try to do the same. It's best to get there as soon as you can. Also, try teaching yourself how to siphon petrol from other cars you find on the road. This is a really useful skill that will make sure you can find fuel even when all the petrol stations have already been raided.

In conclusion, we hope you found our top tips for practically surviving a zombie apocalypse helpful and we hope you will add them to your arsenal of survival ideas in the unlikely (yet also very likely) event of any kind of apocalypse.

Remember to find a caravan and stay on the move at first, be creative in finding places to raid for supplies and find a safe location to fortify and secure for long-term survival. After surviving the initial stages of the apocalypse, rebuilding civilization is up to you!