Staff Jungle Camp - Part 1!

Traverse Activity Centre, Kiulu River (aka Jungle Camp)

Day One - Friday 21st September

At 0700 hours (aka to flippin' early!) all the autumn expedition staff left fieldbase to face their first challenge of the expedition - surviving 2 days in the jungle on Raleigh rations! No mean feat I assure you! Armed with Ping Pong crackers, plastic cheese and greasy dregs, they bravely boarded the bus for the hour long journey to Jungle Camp.

The bus made it's way up the winding roads and down into the valley to arrive at beautiful surroundings of the Kiulu River, to reveal the setting for the staff's intensive jungle training. Here the staff would be taught the basics of living in the jungle (including a demonstration of the use of wet slops and long drops), navigation, first aid, and radio operation.

First up was radio training where the teams were taught how to care for and operate the HF radio's, how to speak on the radio, setting up the radio and the dipoles correctly (which included how to get the correct bearings to get the best possible signal to fieldbase) and how to deliver SITREP's and Radio Checks; the daily reports back to fieldbase the groups will make whilst out on the project sites.

The next element of the training saw the staff learning about navigation from expert trekker Will. They were taught about how to read bearings on a map, and how to use compasses correctly, as well as being shown how to use a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) and a GPS (Global Positioning System) - a very snazzy piece of equipment that appeared to do everything but cook your dinner for you!

The staff then had a break for lunch and the opportunity to trawl through their weekends issue of Raleigh rations for a suitable lunch, which in the end turned out for most to be crackers, cheese and tuna - THE lunchtime Raleigh staple!!

After lunch the staff learnt perhaps the most important lesson for the jungle in their Camp Craft session - how to put up your hammock so it doesn't fall down or get wet if it rains! They were taught by guides Jimmy and Floyd - who under the folklore of the jungle at night we were only allowed to call them 'friend'.

Once the team had learnt about basic tool safety, they headed for the first of their many first aid training sessions; where they learnt about basic life support, treating burns and fractures, shock and tropical diseases and general health and hygiene in the jungle - not too much to remember then!

The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing their hammocks before it got dark at 6, preparing the evening meal of - you guessed it Raleigh rations! - and preparing their kit and bags for the trek into the jungle to put the skills learnt to the test! A reasonable nights sleep was had by most - apart from those who got wet either from running to the toilet in the torrential downpour - that started about 10 and lasted most of the night! - or those that got wet in bed as the rain drove in!