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!
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.
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.
