Study wilderness survival skills!
Every time a group embarks on a trip into a natural region, whether it be for a day trip or an overnight excursion, they need to be prepared and guided by someone with a sufficient level of survival skills. In Australia, there are stories of people and groups going missing in the wilderness every week. These incidents are occasionally fatal, but they don’t have to be.
Work in the tourism or leisure industry, or in a store selling camping gear or outdoor supplies.
This course gives you a better idea of what to expect when you leave civilization and lays the groundwork for preparing you and anyone travelling with you for any outdoor adventure.
Anyone who may have a leisure interest in wilderness adventure, tour guides, scout leaders, or eco-tour company owners can all benefit from this training.
Lesson Structure
There are 10 lessons in this course:
- Understanding Wilderness Areas
- Introduction
- Living Things
- Ecological Relationships
- Climatic Zones
- Climate/Soil/Vegetation Interrelationships
- Plant Associations
- Continental Drift
- Understanding Impacts of Weather on Wilderness Activities – Highs and Lows, Thunderstorms, Atmospheric pressure changes in storms, guide to weather symbols.
- Terminology
- Participant Fitness Levels – testing current physical fitness and further tests
- Equipment
- Introduction
- Equipping to survive – minimum essential items for the survival kit, additional items, individual medical kit
- Essential Items for Wilderness Travel
- Clothing
- Nutrition
- Food packaging
- Liability and Insurance
- Risk Assessment
- Protection from the Elements
- Introduction
- First Aid Procedures
- Hypothermia (exposure)
- Hyperthermia (heat exhaustion)
- Building a wilderness shelter
- Lighting a fire
- Mental strength
- Natural Resources
- Introduction
- Finding water – plan ahead to find water, how much water do you need? Landscape vegetation and animal signs, things to avoid, making an above ground still, soakage water, water from tree roots
- Case Study – Survival story
- Bush tucker or Survival Food – Australian bush tucker foods.
- Preparation of plant food.
- Animals for food
- Use of Bush Tucker Food
- Navigation
- Introduction
- Navigation and direction finding – how to use a compass, map reading, longitude and latitude, scale, contour lines, estimating distances, pacing.
- Navigation by the sun, moon and stars
- Dealing with Emergencies
- Introduction
- Venomous creatures – snakes – symptoms of a poisonous bite, first aid, arachnids – first aid, marine creatures – jelly fish, cone shell, first aid, scorpionfish, lionfish and stonefish – first aid, other dangerous marine creatures.
- Carnivorous mammals – bears, big cats
- Poisonous plants
- Bushfires
- Camping
- Introduction
- Setting up camp
- Camping – different styles of camping
- Successful camp programming
- Waste disposal
- Passive Land Based Activities
- Introduction
- Observing nature
- Orienteering
- Environmental activities for children
- Plant collection
- Water Based Adventure Activities
- Introduction
- Some water-based activities – snorkelling, scuba, sailing, speed boating and jet skiing, canoeing, white-water rafting, water skiing.
- Active Land Based Adventure Activities
- Introduction
- Activities – abseiling, hang gliding, rock climbing, snow skiing, snowboarding
- Motorised Vehicles – landscape impact, safety, considerations
- Mountain Bikes
- Horse Riding
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
- Explain the scope and effects of the opportunities for ecotourism in wilderness areas.
- Get ready for a trip into the bush
- Find the best ways to protect yourself from the elements.
- Identify the various applications for the wilderness’s natural resources.
- Use a number of methods to find your way about in the woods.
- In a wilderness setting, use a variety of emergency solutions, such as creating backup plans and selecting the proper first aid.
- Describe the creation and administration of the campsite.
- Establish appropriate management practises for various passive wilderness activities.
- Establish acceptable management practises for various water-based wilderness activities.
- Establish adequate protocols for controlling various active wilderness activities.
Get Ready!
You must be aware of the dangers and equipped for the worst case scenario wherever you go in the wilderness. Depending on the situation, being prepared can mean different things to different people.
You should prepare differently than you may when walking a trail where others pass by every day if you are away from other people and in a location where you might not run across anyone else for the entire day.
Being far from “civilization” and potential aid puts you at risk if you use up all of your supplies, injure yourself, or worse. Dehydration, hypothermia, and other issues can “sneak” up on you, so it’s critical to understand how to prevent them and how to handle them if they do occur.
Think about hypothermia (exposure)
The body’s core temperature drops as a result of hypothermia. A person’s average body temperature is 37 degrees. Whenever this core temperature drops below 35 degrees, survival becomes risky. When the body temperature drops below 35C, hypothermia sets in. The skin temperature, which can heat up or cool down quickly and may be degrees colder than the core temperature, and the body’s core temperature are not the same. Outside skin temperature is unimportant.
There are numerous circumstances in which the body can lose more heat than it can produce. Examples can include spending a lot of time in cold water, being submerged for an extended period of time, or going outside in windy circumstances while wearing wet clothing. Hypothermia is a risk in all temperatures; it frequently occurs in those between 0 and 10 degrees Celsius. Without urgent medical care, severe hypothermia can be fatal. Mild hypothermia is very simple to treat in the field.
When the body is cooled, blood flow to the extremities, where heat is rapidly lost, is restricted by constricting capillaries and blood vessels in the limbs (hands, face and head). Rapid or progressive hypothermia are also possible. drowning is typically linked to quick hypothermia, especially in cases when the water is exceptionally cold (as water causes a rapid loss in body temperature).
Gradual hypothermia is a progressive loss of body heat and is frequently brought on by damp, chilly, and frequently windy weather, especially when the clothing gets wet. Heat loss in a constant wind might start at 10 to 12 degrees Celsius. Because it frequently goes unrecognised by the person who is affected, gradual hypothermia is exceedingly harmful.
Hypothermia signs and symptoms can develop quite slowly.
The various phases consist of:
- Feeling cold
- Cold skin
- Shivering
- Loss of concentration
- Loss of control over the small muscles – for example, the muscles of the fingers
- Facial skin turns grey or blue in colour
- Drowsiness
- Lethargy
- Confusion
- Loss of physical coordination
- Lack of shivering
- Slowed breathing
- Speaking difficulties, such as slurring
- A strong yearning for sleep
- Coma
- Death.
FOLLOWING YOUR STUDIES
This training will increase your general self-confidence as well as your knowledge and understanding. You will be more equipped to endure any physical or mental challenges life may you.
Some graduates can take this course to get ready for a challenge, while others would use it to get ready to support others as they face obstacles.
You can use this course to improve yourself or to open up new career or business prospects.
This course could benefit your work in a variety of ways, such as:
- An ecotour business operator
- An adventure tour guide
- An outdoor equipment or camping supply retailer
- A camp ground manager
- A wilderness park ranger
- A youth leader
- A life coach
