"Jungle training! You will be spending the next week and a half learning how to survive in the jungle. These skills will be vital for you to know should you become separated from your project group" said Roger, one of the Trekforce leaders who would be working with us. Jungle training? Me? At that moment in time I was feeling very daunted and I just couldn't imagine myself spending a week doing all these survival techniques, let alone actually camping in the jungle and sleeping in a hammock!
A week (and a lot of fun) later and we had evolved into a bunch of machete wielding, hammock erecting and river crossing lads and lasses. We had received a crash course in first aid, safety and hygiene from the medics who would be on project. And as for the bugs! We had many opportunities to see plenty of those during our first week. However after having a group discussion on insects and various mammals we may come across, I started to become interested in them rather than afraid and even the most arachnophobic person didn't have any problems!
On our project base camp I was woken every morning at dawn by the sounds of nearby howler monkeys- better than my alarm clock any day! I would reluctantly leave my comfy hammock and get into my work clothes. In the surrounding jungle I could hear the rest of my group doing the same and after eating our morning porridge and cracking our usual jokes about strange sounds we had heard in the night, we set off on a 40 minute trek across the jungle to work.
Work was in a Feline sanctuary for the rehabilitation of jungle wildcats and our team set to work under the scorching Belizean sun hoisting up cage panels with pieces of rope and large wooden poles. By that point we were fully accustomed to life in the jungle and at the end of each day's work we looked forward to getting out of our sweaty kit and bathing in a nearby beautiful jungle. There was never a dull moment on project and I came away having made a lot of good friends and feeling that I had done and been part of something special.
I came away having made a lot of good friends and feeling that I had done and been part of something special. After all there are not many friends you can share that sort of amazing experience with!
|
