Brit stranded on remote island for two months in coronavirus castaway drama

Natalie Poole arrived on the remote island of Kyun Pila in Myanmar on March 19 and planned to spend the next month working as a volunteer to help protect a coral reef – but then coronavirus hit.

The 35-year-old, from Ashburton in Devon, is now trapped in a real life castaway drama after her only boat off the island was canceled as Myanmar and nearby Thailand both went into lockdown.

For the last two months, Natalie and four other volunteers have been forced to survive almost without any aid in one of the world’s most remote locations.

Natalie and her fellow volunteers were due to be rescued on May 5 but were left devastated again when their boat was canceled after Thailand extended its lockdown.

The scuba diver instructor, who should be back in Devon by now and working as a summer school teacher, is hopeful another boat will arrive to collect them later this month.

However, her visa has expired and no new ones are being issued while the coronavirus pandemic holds the world in its grip.

Natalie said: “The hardest thing for me has been not knowing how long we’re going to be here.

“It’s kind of up and down, we’re a very small group of people and we’re living in a very confined, close situation.

“In the back of our minds is obviously families back home and stuff, which adds to the tension a little bit. We’re just trying to take things day by day.”

But for now, the tiny group have had to do what they can to survive, using washed up bits of plastic to make their rainforest camp.

They share the island with scorpions, snakes, mouse-deer, wild boar, monitor lizards, and slow lorises, and have to forage for most of their food, including yams, jackfruit and other vegetation.

There have been sporadic deliveries by boat of food staples, including rice and pasta.

But the group are conscious they have to make sure these last as they don’t know when the next one will arrive – and there have been plenty of days where they have gone hungry.

Natalie said: “We have to be very aware of how much we consume, we are eating very basic food and really having to make it last.”

Despite the desperate situation the group, which is made of two women and three men from England, Hungary, Canada, Malaysia and France, find themselves in – they are not totally alone.

There is one resort on Kyun Pila, Awei Pila, which is a 15 minute dinghy sail away and where they can access water, showers and accomodation on portable cabins, as well as a patchy wifi signal.

This has proved a lifeline for Natalie, who is concerned for her 78-year-old father, who lives in Poole in the UK.

But the group, who are volunteers with environmental group Ocean Quest Global, have had to adapt quickly to spending so much extra time on the island.

Their jungle camp has been constructed from washed up plastic, with each person living in a hut made from bamboo, rice sacks and bottles.

They have even managed to erect furniture in their new Robinson Crusoe-inspired life, have dug a well, a fire pit and place to wash.

The volunteers have also started planting their own vegetables.

There are other challenges for the small group, existing in such extreme circumstances.

Natalie explained: “Usually in a program like this there is a regular change of volunteers, which keeps things fresh and interesting, but the other three volunteers have been with each other a long time now and relationships are strained at times.

“Communal living is always a challenge because you get so little personal space and have to compromise a great deal. One person’s negative attitude or bad mood will affect everyone.”

The group has been forced to adapt to their change in circumstances, with people learning to hack jungle trails, drive a dingy and build with bamboo.

Natalie has earned herself the nickname Trash Squirrel by spending her days combing the beach for washed up waste that can then be put to use to build the structures they’re calling home and to be turned into useful tools for surivival.

But as spring slowly turns into summer Natalie and her fellow volunteers are facing a new challenge – the tropical rainy season.

Already the clouds are coming in faster and the first few drops of rain have started to fall.

They are working to do all they can to ensure they are as ready as possible for when the downpours do come.

However, Natalie is still hopeful that a rescue boat will come for them before the rainy season begins in earnest.

She says it has also been a useful time for getting to know herself better.

Natalie explained: “I learned that no matter how Zen and chilled I had thought I was, in moments of solitude and difficult moments of physical and mental tiredness, I still lose control and stop being mindful and calm.

“That no matter how friendly and cheerful I usually am, when I am locked down on a relatively small island with strangers, I become moody, grumpy and little motivated.”

However, there has been one bonus to being stranded on the island during the coronavirus pandemic – the wildlife, trees and plants are thriving.

And the team of volunteers have been able to continue their work preserving the coral.

Natalie said: “We are essentially in quarantine here, but with no cost and a positive purpose. It makes sense to stay.”