Simply Trekking is an accredited trek guide company and we take the safety of our clients seriously. We attend bush survival and remote first aid courses.
Bob Cooper:
In West Australia Bob Cooper is seen a legend of outback bush survival and remote first aid. We attended his Outback Safety and Wilderness Survival course last year. As his book Outback Survival states “Bob Cooper was born and educated in Western Australia; he has delivered his Outback Safety and Wilderness Survival courses for over thirty years and is considered the leading survival instructor in Australia. He has honed his survival skills by earning from traditional cultures in Australia, Africa, North America and Malaysia”.
Top hints:
Pause
When you realize you are in a survival situation, stop, sit and take time to think of your options.
Write
Preferably write down your options so that when you do choose the option, it is very well thought out.
Water
Short of water, he recommends that you drink half a cup of water each half or whole hour and to not sip as this can dehydrate you further, affecting your brain first. Don’t eat if short of water, unless it is wet food.
Stress
Verbalise. It assists your Cortisol levels and hopefully reduce stress.
Emotional
Having a fire is really important for emotional wellbeing as well as keeping warm at night. Fire lighting involved collecting the right fibres and making a little nest – see photo. We tried a variety of methods and the last one was carving our own pointed stick, string and bow and after lots of lots of trying yes I finally got the flame.
Compass
We had lots of fun doing compass work including a nighttime navigation exercise and yes, we all made it back to exactly our correct position. I found the night time navigation challenging, having to trust that my boot will find a piece of flat ground – it was very dark but it didn’t take us long to get our night eyes and we only had a few falls or head knocks when we didn’t see the obstacle.
Poison
Universal plant poison indicators and recognizing and finding these in the bush was fascinating. We also learnt how to safely test what we thought was edible. Photo below is Bob’s assistant taking through the bush showing us the varying edible plants in that area.
Snakes
Snakes were the last item on the agenda and I’m very respectful that when we walk, we are in snake territory. Must admit that it was the first time for me to hold a snake, have it move across my arms and I was very happy to pass the couple of snakes onto the next person.
Yes, yay I passed my survival weekend, see certificate below. Join Simply Trekking and experience the best that West Australia has to offer Western Australia
Highly recommend if you get the chance book a weekend course of bush survival and remote first aid, Bob tells great real life stories and he runs an advanced survival course, 9 days in the Pilbara. Anyone up for that? https://www.bobcoopersurvival.com/
