Jungle Living Skills
Amazonas, Colombia
At Feral Human Expeditions we believe in always having the best people for any job. To accomplish our goal of empowering you with an unsurpassed level of self-reliance and confidence, we have assembled an experienced team of survival and bushcraft experts from various backgrounds. We are proud to be working with staff from Bushcraft Global, indigenous guides from up to 3 different tribes, and of course Garrett Cooper from FHE.
During your time with us, you will learn many valuable survival, bushcraft, and jungle living skills. These skills don’t just help keep you alive in less than ideal conditions, but will help you to stay comfortable with less and enjoy the jungle more fully. In addition to learning these skills, we hope to educate you in some of the science and biology of the jungle, as well as provide you with a memorable cultural experience.
While this is an expedition centered around practicing survival skills, we don’t want you to be hungry and miserable the whole time. Food will be provided throughout the trip. This helps to both create a better learning environment and to reduce our impact on local wildlife. This is not a hunting expedition and our meals will not be reliant on what we kill. What we do kill and eat will be shared amongst the group in an effort to meet our learning objectives. You might also learn how to trap some larger game such as tapir, however we will not attempt to actually catch or kill a tapir.
Survival skills include:
- Hunting with traps, blowguns, bows, and machetes
- Fishing with traps, hook and line, spears, nets, and machetes
- Fire building
- Shelter construction
- Wilderness First Aid
- Knife/machete use
- Wild edibles
- Navigation
- And many other useful skills
Upon successful completion, participants will receive a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) certification from SOLO. Visit our FHE Classes page for more information.
When: September 1-11, 2020
Where: You will first fly to Bogota where we spend one night. The next day fly to Leticia, Colombia which is our jumping off point for all our other activities in the Amazon. At the end of the trip, fly from Leticia back to Bogota for a night and from there you will fly home.
What’s Included: Lodging, most food and drink starting with lunch on day one and ending with lunch on day eleven, guides and interpreters, ground transportation including transfers to and from airports, tourism tax in Leticia, city tour.
What’s not included: Airfare to and from Bogota and Leticia, no more than two meals in cities, beverages between meals while in cities, alcoholic beverages, unscheduled activities, additional days, personal travel insurance, and anything not listed as included.
Level of Difficulty: Moderate to challenging. You will be moving through the jungle which includes carrying your own pack while climbing under and over obstacles, creek crossings, small log bridge crossings, thick undergrowth, and mud for 4-6 hours in a day. We won’t do anything the group can’t handle and you don’t need to be an athlete to join but you should still be reasonably fit and able to laugh at yourself when you fall down.
Price: $2,800 with a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 8 participants.
Vaccinations: For a list of recommended vaccinations, medications, and travel advisories visit the CDC website at wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel
(be sure to read our detailed itinerary)
Day 1: Fly to Bogota and explore the City. Spend the night in a hotel.
Day 2: Fly to Leticia and sleep at La Arenosa.
Day 3: Wilderness First Aid (WFA) training. Sleep at La Arenosa.
Day 4: Walk to a house in the jungle and practice survival skills during the day. Become more familiar with the environment around you.
Day 5: Visit a traditional indigenous communal house called a Maloka of the Makuna culture. Camp in the Jungle where we will stay for three nights.
Day 6: Continued Survival and WFA training. Set traps, make camp improvements and spear fish at night. Sleep in the same camp.
Day 7: Check the traps, eat some bugs, and keep learning about the Amazon jungle and how to stay reasonably comfortable and alive in it.
Day 8: Break camp and move on. If you wish, camp alone or in a small group to put your skills to the test.
Day 9: Final WFA rescue scenario. We’ll be back at La Arenosa by early afternoon. Dinner in Leticia.
Day 10: Fly back to Bogota and our hotel. Enjoy your last night in Colombia.
Day 11: Fly home with added confidence in your jungle living skills and lots of stories to share.