TELs Update – October

4 x 4 Madness

We spent two days learning how to drive and maintain Landrovers with Graham (Mr Landrover Belize). As well as being wicked fun and very useful his unending enthusiasm converted us all to being Landrover fans…we put the landie through its paces with off-road driving, river crossings, very steep winding descents and hill starting without cracking an egg behind the tire. We also got under the hood to learn how to fix things when they inevitably go wrong! We managed to complete the course with no accidents and only a few rally driver style scary moments.

Jungle Survival Training and Belt Kit Nights

Ten days of….trap building, fire lighting, shelter building, fishing, cutting down trees for food, learning about medicinal plants, killing venomous snakes, lobster trap making, hammock making, endless cups of yummy tea vine … all under constant attack by sand flies and mosquitoes.
One night our guide had to kill a fer-de-lance that was near our camp…he layed it out over a log, only to return the next day to find it was gone. A careful search nearby found a very angry looking snake with a sore head curled up nearby…after much mocking of Marcus (the guide) the snake was killed…again.
We all had an amazing, although very tough, time on our two belt kit nights…we were allocated our own little spaces about 300m apart on the river bank…the entire first day was spent building our individual shelters from 50ft cohune palm leaves. We all had a pretty uncomfortable first night getting munched by sandflies…despite our best efforts to deter them with our cohune nut fires. Frankie spent the day fishing and caught his own dinner, whilst not far away a cohune palm was being massacred…2 ½ hours of macheting later had enough for one meal…was it really worth it?!
We all made some home improvements to our shelters in order to have a more comfortable second night…although there were a number of spooky encounters with Mayan jungle spirits. Kent slept on, unaffected by jungle joo-joo.

Wilderness First Responder

We have previously completed parts of our medical training with Marcus so to finish the course we had one week of lectures followed by a mammoth day of scenarios to test our skills and knowledge.
Step forward medic number 1…got the IV in, treated a pneumothorax and stretcher carried the patient out of the jungle. We thought we were done for the day…but Marcus had other ideas. Next up….we were joined by a team of Belizean trainees and were set the challenge of a double casualty scenario in a cave. We had to administer IV, put on neck braces and spine boards and float the casualties out on a kayak. Again, we sat down satisfied that we’d successfully finished the task. But no, Marcus had more in store. Next we had to swim the casualty a mile and half down the river…while they repeatedly went into shock and cardiac arrest. The exercise FINALLY finished at midnight…cold, soaked and knackered we headed home for hot tea, toast and bed.

To achieve our qualification we then had to do 50 hours experience at Belmopan Hospital. We kicked it off on the Saturday night with a 12 hour overnight shift in the Emergency Room. One hour into the shift, our first stab victim was bought in…followed by a machete wound to the head and a non-stop stream of screaming babies. Following this we opted for day shifts! Throughout our time there we assisted the doctors in treating, dengue fever, swine flu, diabetic emergencies, fractured and dislocated limbs…and chronic hiccups.
We all had a great, if a little nerve-wracking, time and learnt a lot by practicing in a real life situation…just feel a bit sorry for all the patients we practiced IVs on.

Back at Field Base

Colin and Boo now have us working hard at field base preparing for the arrival of the Trekkers in November…it’s all looking really exciting now, we can’t wait for them to arrive and to get back out into the jungle!

TELS Update – August and September

Many hot, wet, mosquito infested nights have passed since we last wrote…we have received extensive lessons in jungle survival, wilderness medical and sleeping in the rain…

Round Da Big Block

The TELs attempted a rigorous five day patrol with two of Bladen’s hottest rangers, Marcus and Victor, only to be defeated after the first day by an unexpected rise in the river. Rainy conditions at this time of the year tend to obstruct our plans….a theme that was to continue.

Sunning in Placencia

The TELs gorge on lobster burritos, mojitos, banana and rum smoothies…pretty much anything we could get our hands on.

First Aid with Dr Hemel

The TELs had the privilege of training under the NHS finest and funniest Dr Hemel Shah…we had our first introduction to improvised splints and casualty stabilization and timing of casevacs. Adams schooling and strong back saved the day as we struggled with stretcher carries out of tricky situations.

Meanwhile, the Trekkers were busy building a palapa and benches from jungle materials in El Pilar.

Indian Creek Trek

The TELs were trusted with managing the trek for 5 days…a pretty intense environment to practice our leadership and technical skills. We were lucky enough to see several ceremonial artefacts in the caves as well as amazing natural rock formations. The beautiful scenery caused the ever enthusiastic Justin to proclaim this as the best day in Belize so far!

We experienced our first real life casevac situation as Jade fell and injured her knee…the team pulled together to administer the necessary first aid and improvise a stretcher from jungle materials. Just when the load was starting to get heavy we were assisted by two menonites with their wagon who helped carry the casualty to camp ready for night time surgery…suturing by the campfire.

Swift Water Rescue with BDRRT and further Hemel style medical ninjitsu

The next section of the course began with a full day river rescue training involving crossing the river with a casualty, improvising water borne stretchers and using team work to transport casualty upriver.

Day two was spent in the cave learning how to evacuate a casualty through caves using only improvised materials and a lot of ingenuity. The final day we worked on splints, stretchers, C-spine stabilization and traction splints using vines, bark, leaves and trees.

The TELs learnt to suture on a hunk of ham and practiced putting in canulas on each other. The week concluded with a 2 day block of ever more elaborate scenarios to test our current skill level capping off with an eight hour water based rescue.

The legend that is Antonio…jungle master extraordinaire

Our favourite huggable Belizean bushman returned to instruct us for 5 days in the many uses of the giant bay tree…we climbed it, we killed it, we roasted and ate it and we sheltered under it…many hours were spent in the rain harvesting this umbrella like foliage…and drinking spiced tea vine. Yum!

The Canoe Adventure

5 days of paddling along the Sibun…every day packed with amazing wildlife….crocodiles, iguanas, howler monkeys…to name but a few. A relaxed journey until the third day when Doug capsized and obliterated the canoe….resulting in us all having to quickly hone our paddling skills to gather our kit from being carried downstream.

Without missing a beat Marcus obtained a spare kayak so we could continue our journey…into darker, more mosquito infested waters.

The Might of the Manatee

We had intended to take a trek unsupported down the Manatee River in order to hone our leading and navigating skills…but the wet season had other ideas.

Day one…we couldn’t cross the river as it was too high so we set about making plan B.
Day two…everyone (except Jade!!) suffered a wet night in a lightning storm and so we aborted the plan again, let the jungle win…and went dipping in the creek instead.

Belize has thrown plenty of sunshine and rain at us lately…no doubt there will be plenty more before the end of the course.