Jungle Book - Chapter One

Bleary-eyed and confused as they staggered off their long-haul flights, the new group of UK, Dutch and American participants were met at the airport by the Raleigh staff team and whisked off to TAC (Traverse Activity Centre) where they would meet their fellow Australian and Malaysian participants for their “jungle training”.

As the Aussies and Malay’s met their fellow European and American participants for the first time, initial nerves were soon dispelled as the atmosphere turned into excitement and laughter – predominantly at the Project Managers who were organising the games!

The participants were placed in their Alpha groups and for next 2 days were taught a wide variety of new skills – as well as the small task of overcoming jet-lag and acclimatising to the stifling heat! Their training included sessions on camp craft, radio protocols, navigation, first aid, river crossing, cultural awareness and Malay lessons – in the words of Aussie Kirsti “crikey mate!”

The suspense of not knowing which project sites they would be deploying to was finally broken by the groups Project Managers who performed a range of skits that included them dressing as leeches (in the photo below), singing songs and throwing a lot of water over each other!

The excitement that followed was finally subdued as the realisation that their biggest challenge of trekking into the jungle and putting to work the skills they had learnt was yet to come…