Day 1
Arrival, Expectations, Packing a Backpack, Wilderness Survival Skills, Direction finding,
Compass and map Wilderness First aid module on AO level, airways, vital signs
In the Morning arrival in the camp at Kalath, Manali, this will be followed by tent allocation, safety briefing and emergency protocol.This is also the time to prime up the group for the day and give functional instructions. A quick pulse check of the group to ascertain if everyone is doing fine.
8.00 am – 8.30 am: Breakfast
8.30 am – 1.00 pm: Students spend an hour at the camp in setting expectations from the program and from each other, followed by setting norms that will help in building a positive learning environment for the group. This is followed by a brief overview of the wilderness survival module and experiential cycle methodology of the program.
Post this they move out of the camp for a short walk in to the wilderness. The students are engaged in learning the first lesson of wilderness survival: managing self and others in a variety of wilderness terrains. The rest of the morning is spent in learning basic orientation to the outdoors including mountain manners, packing a backpack, hydration and proper clothing, and negotiating different kinds of trails and off trails. Students will also get familiar with objective and subjective dangers in wilderness. The morning half will end with an introduction to individual survival gears and Leave No Trace (LNT) ethics.
The skills will be built in nuggets and by using teachable moments during the day to create engagement.
1.00 pm – 2.00 pm: Bathing and lunch.
2.00 pm – 4.30 pm: Students are introduced to the second fundamental skill in wilderness survival: finding directions and navigating safely through back country with the help of a compass and map. Students will learn the skills of reading a sketch map, orienting directions with the help of magnetic compass and bearings, and eventually practice reaching a destination by reading a sketch map all by themselves.
4.30 pm – 5.00 pm: Tea, snacks etc at the camp.
5.00 pm – 6.30 pm: Students participate in the first Wilderness First Aid module which will deal with signs and symptoms while checking a casualty. This will create practical opportunities for the students to learn and practice the first fundamentals of wilderness first aid, including checking AO level, airways, understanding vital signs and basic precautions for not adding self to the list of casualty.
6.30 pm – 7.15 pm: Solo and reflection. Students spend time themselves and work on their reflection journal based on guided questions, recording the day’s experiences, emotions and insights.
7.15 pm – 8.15 pm: Soup, followed by dinner.
8.15 pm – 9.15 pm: Camp fun. Students participate in several fun activities around the camp fire/camp hub.
9. 45 pm: Students retire to their tents for the day.
Day 2
Fundamentals of survival skills, fire building, LNT ethics, Knots & Hitches practice
6.30 am: Wake up followed by freshen up and tea, coffee etc.
7.15 am: Morning energizers. Students participate in a couple of morning fun games to kick start the day with high energy. This is also the time to prime up the group for the day and give functional instructions. A quick pulse check of the group to ascertain if everyone is doing fine.
8.00 am – 8.30 am: Breakfast
8.30 am – 1.00 pm: Students participate in learning the third most fundamental wilderness survival skills: building fire and improvised shelter. Students learn and practice different ways of making fire with fire wood and flint stones. They learn different types of wood fuel to start a fire and then to continue it for a longer time. They also learn risk associated with fire and fire management. Students are divided into buddies and each buddy has to collect firewood, build fire and sustain it for some time to demonstrate individual skills. Students also learn and practice LNT ethics of lighting a fire and how to reduce the impact of fire on the environment.
Post this, students are introduced to the concept of bivouac and how the ability to build a temporary shelter quickly can save them from the elements. Students engage in learning and practicing building improvised shelter for two people with the help of a tarp and guy ropes. Different types of tarp pitching are practiced to suit different locations, terrain and weather, and available resources. Once again, students are divided into buddies and each pair has to find a suitable location to demonstrate their ability to construct a functional shelter quickly. Post this, the entire group take a shelter walk, in which each shelter built by the students are collectively scrutinised to ascertain its functionality.
During the session, students also learn and practice some basic knots and hitches like clove hitch, fisherman’s knot, truckers’ hitch etc that will be useful to them during building emergency shelters.
1.00pm – 2.00 pm: Bathing and lunch at the camp.
2.00 pm – 4.30 pm: Students participate in an engaging session in learning yet another critical survival skill: Signalling and Rescuing. After a basic orientation to signalling, students learn and practice different signalling methods including smoke and mirror signalling (day time methods) and fire/flashlight signalling (night time methods). Post this, the group is divided in two sub groups and one is led to an undisclosed location, presumably lost. This group is supposed to send smoke and mirror signal to solicit rescue. The other group is also taken to an undisclosed location and given the scenario. They have to look for the signals, identify the source location and plan a rescue. These two locations will be in some kind of line of sight but not easily identifiable. The mission is self managed by the students and instructors only monitor safety.
4.30 pm – 5.00 pm: Tea, snacks etc at the camp.
5.00 pm – 6.30 pm: Students participate in the second Wilderness First Aid module which will deal with muscular skeletal injuries. The session will be run through role plays and will create practical opportunities for the students to learn and practice identifying sprains, strains, muscle injuries, minor fractures and how to demobilize the casualty and provide first aid to prevent further enhancement of the injury. Students will learn and practice the use of crepe bandages, improvised splints and other support materials.
6.30 pm – 7.15 pm: Solo and reflection. Students spend time themselves and work on their reflection journal based on guided questions, recording the day’s experiences, emotions and insights.
7.15 pm – 8.15 pm: Soup, followed by dinner,
8.15 pm – 9.15 pm: Camp fun. Students participate in several fun activities around the camp fire/camp hub.
9. 45 pm: Students retire to their tents for the day.
Day 3
Energizers, Wilderness first aid module on wound management, Survival night out
6.30 am: Wake up followed by freshen up and tea, coffee etc.
7.15 am: Morning energizers. Students participate in a couple of morning fun games to kick start the day with high energy. This is also the time to prime up the group for the day and give functional instructions. A quick pulse check of the group to ascertain if everyone is doing fine.
8.00 am – 8.30 am: Breakfast
8.30 am – 10.00 am: Students participate in the third and last critical wilderness first aid module on Wound Management. Students engage in role plays to learn and practice in identifying common types of wounds associated with wilderness travel, level of seriousness and emergency measures to prevent further damage to the injuries. They practice administering relief both to conscious and unconscious casualties.
10.00 am – 11.30 am: Free time in the river!
11.30 am onwards: Students are primed about the survival expedition and are given time to pack and prepare. Each buddy pair is given a limited ration of food and water, along with some items for building an improvised shelter. Each buddy is expected to carry all the survival essentials including sleeping bags, tarps, food, water, medical supplies, in addition to signalling and safety items like whistles and flash lights. The entire group is given a sketch map to the destination and they are supposed to navigate using map bearings and landmarks to the destination. Once at the destination, each buddy pair is allocated an area where they are expected to build their shelter, light a fire, cook a dinner and spend the night all by themselves. The buddy locations are separated from each other and will not be visible to each other to create an environment of absolute solo. A base camp is established which is accessible and known to all the students. But students are strictly advised not to approach the base camp for rescue unless there is a real need. Buddy pairs are also instructed not to engage in any movement after sunset or try to approach the other buddy pairs (in any case they are unlikely to know where is closet buddy pair is located).
The instructors maintain a strict vigilance throughout the night, discreetly so that the students are not aware of any movement and yet are supervised by the instructors. They take turns in sleeping and supervising. A few camp staff is also pressed into the service to manage night time supervision.
The buddies are supposed to report at the base camp next day morning, after cleaning up their bivouac sites following LNT.
Day 4
Appreciation exercise, A Closure debrief, Departure.
6.00 am – 8.30 am: Wake up followed by bivouac wind up and LNT. Some hot tea, coffee and cookies are given to the students as they report at the base camp. Post this, the group walk back to the camp for rest and rejuvenation.
8.30 am – 9.30 am: Breakfast, followed by rest and packing.
9.30 am – 10.30 am: A closure debrief, including an exercise in appreciation and learning take away.
10.30 am - Group will finally walk to the main road to take the Volvo coach to there respective place. Trip ends here….
