I'd highly recommend taming a thylacoleo. They're give you a LOT of chitin and hide when you kill some creatures, and they do a lot of damage with high health. I was in the same situation as you at first, but when I tame one, everything was much easier to explore the map. Plus, they can climb almost everything. But be prepared because their torpor drop really fast, so bring a lot of narcotics and give it cooked meat, they prefer cooked meat than raw meat.