A five-day trek to Point Lenana in Mt. Kenya National Park can be done with or without porters and tour guides but without a map, an array of gadgets or even the sun and the moon, one can surely get lost. 
According to a research scientist, Jan Souman, at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, people do walk in circles and have a tendency to get lost without the proper training and equipment. The scientist and his team sent test subjects out in a German forest and the Sahara desert to find out if they could walk in a straight line. One group were set out on sunny days and another group on cloudy days and at night. The groups were observed via GPS over the course of hours. Those walking under the sun kept a relatively straight course but once the sun was out, they began to walk aimlessly even though they believed they maintained their pace.
SILVA Voyager 9020 Compass
Good thing there are gadgets and gizmos to keep you out of trouble when you can’t rely on the sun to keep you on course. The most reliable ones are the map and compass. With these two in hand, anyone can get far and back even with the trickiest of trails. They are used throughout the world. A map and a compass are more reliable than your sense of direction. The Silva Ranger and Expedition Compasses ensure that civilization is never too far away. The first Silva Compass was made in 1933 and since then the company has continuously developed compasses for the changing needs of the times and its users. From a basic compass like the thumb compass to a Silva Expedition 4 compass for the serious and more experienced navigators, there are now Silva compasses with refined details that make navigation more exact and precise.
Silva Compasses come in many varieties designed to meet the different needs of every navigator, adventurer or trekker. Among the best for most outdoorsmen are the base-plate types. With one of these compasses, taking a bearing on a distant landmark is simple. They can also be aligned with edge of a map to give a more precise bearing. Some even have built-in magnifiers and some can be used in vehicles like the steering compass with mounting brackets for easy installation.
All Silva Compasses have a direction finder, moving bearing ring, and three map reading scales that every outdoor enthusiast can benefit from and use. They are precision instruments that should be found inside the backpacks and rucksacks of outdoors men and trekkers.
Compasses are not infallible, of course. They can break and do not always work properly. We cannot fully rely on them so one should think of them as accessories and not substitutes for real wilderness skills. But they should still be on hand every time you journey in the outdoors. Because sometimes even with our best intentions and skills, we may still find ourselves disoriented. When this happens, a compass can definitely help you find your way no matter where you are in the world.
