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Jungle training
Jungle training began at Gracie Rock with learning essential survival skills such as Basha building, first aid and casevac training, dangerous flora and fauna, jungle navigation, belt kit packing and use, machete issue, use and sharpening. Team building exercises and jungle night walks also helped us acclimatise to jungle conditions and develop into a solid team.
We then trekked into deeper jungle to set up our jungle training camp. Here, Al, Adam and Javier (our ex-Belize Defence Force jungle warfare instructor / laughing jungle ghost cat) led us through a wide range advanced bush craft skills including planning and building jungle camps (with all the mod cons of a long drop, fire and slops pit, water collection and washing points), shelter, fire and trap building, cooking (including chicken killing and skinning). Training culminated in ‘solo night’ - an opportunity for each team member to individually put their skills to the test by each being given an isolated spot and surviving for an afternoon and night alone.
Everyone survived the night and we celebrated the completion of training with a night of apparent luxury (and debauchery) at our very own ‘Jungle Jim’s’ bar at Gracie Rock.
Jungle training began at Gracie Rock with learning essential survival skills such as Basha building, first aid and casevac training, dangerous flora and fauna, jungle navigation, belt kit packing and use, machete issue, use and sharpening. Team building exercises and jungle night walks also helped us acclimatise to jungle conditions and develop into a solid team.
We then trekked into deeper jungle to set up our jungle training camp. Here, Al, Adam and Javier (our ex-Belize Defence Force jungle warfare instructor / laughing jungle ghost cat) led us through a wide range advanced bush craft skills including planning and building jungle camps (with all the mod cons of a long drop, fire and slops pit, water collection and washing points), shelter, fire and trap building, cooking (including chicken killing and skinning). Training culminated in ‘solo night’ - an opportunity for each team member to individually put their skills to the test by each being given an isolated spot and surviving for an afternoon and night alone.
Everyone survived the night and we celebrated the completion of training with a night of apparent luxury (and debauchery) at our very own ‘Jungle Jim’s’ bar at Gracie Rock.
Project
With training complete, we headed to San Ignacio for our project briefing from Dr Jamie Awe - Director of the Archaeological Research Institute of Belize. Dr Awe galvanised the group with his explanation and images of Mayan history, spirituality, geological characteristics of Belize, past and current archaeological projects and the nature of caves and Mayan artefacts often found within. We were set the challenge of surveying the Peccary Hills area of Belize for any possible limestone caves - an area that is currently unexplored.
We immediately headed to the Peccary Hills, trekked into the project area and began of week of building one of the best jungle camps ever made. Once all basha’s, Pallapa’s, trails and camp mod cons had been built we began our project in earnest. This essentially involved selecting areas to investigate, trekking into those area’s and hunting for any possible cave entrances.
Within the first week we had discovered three separate and enormous cave systems. These have since been GPS marked, entered, explored, mapped and documented. These caves typically have small entrances requiring crawling on our stomachs through tight tunnels before they open out into huge cavernous linked cave systems. It seems the Peccary Hills are so riddled with caves they are almost completely hollow. Full documentation of the nature, geomorphology, characteristics of the caves and possible indications of Mayan inhabitation was made each night and has so far included a numerous animal bones, a possible Mayan cooking area parts of a possible Mayan necklace.
The group now has one more week on project to find any further caves in the area before setting off on Trek.
More news soon!
