Fantastic and challenging four months expedition leader training

The gapforce expedition leader training course is a fantastic experience. You spend some time in Wales completing the first part of the mountain leader course, before heading to Costa Rica. There you'll spend the best part of 3 and a half months in and out of the jungle, learning how to survive in such a challenging environment. Once you have the basic jungle skills mastered you begin to get opportunities to teach other groups. This experience is invaluable for those looking to make this a career and I think it's one of the best parts of the course. Another part of the course I really enjoyed was our Recce in Nicaragua. We were sent out in small groups to find interesting and fun experiences and then to write up all our findings and create an itinerary. Another part of the course which I really liked was the river crossings. We spent a lot of time learning how to cross rivers safely and to rescue casualties (it's also a good excuse to cool off in the heat and have a bit of a play!). The course includes a lot of medical and incident management training, both of which I found to be very enjoyable. Scenarios range from a snake bite casualty on the other side of a river, to a machete wielding maniac in camp, to a casualty with a spinal injury that needs to be stretchered out of the jungle, so there's a real mix of mental and physical challenges. Our leaders Colin and Jade were also great, very knowledgable and always had a good laugh with us which made the lessons more enjoyable. All in all the whilst the course is expensive you recieve a lot of valuable training, you'll meet lots of cool like minded people and it's a great opportunity to learn new skillls and challenge yourself. It's also a really good fast track into the industry, as those who do well on the course have the chance to work with gapforce afterwards.