TrekForce TEL Course April 2014

Course:
Throughout the past 4 months the TEL course has challenged, pushed and inspired me. The course was run in sections each one taking our skills and abilities to the next level. It was well paced and very effective in ensuring we learnt everything correctly and safely but also realistically. The course utilised many different areas of Belize and as much variation as possible. I feel this was very beneficial and broadened our scope of learning especially meeting and working with many of the local guides and rangers. This was clearly only achievable with the excellent relations that the leaders had with all the local contacts and the mutual respect was obvious to see. Overall I found the course very well run and constantly challenging and enjoyable and also pushing us in many different directions. I joined to TEL course to push myself in different and challenging environments and I feel it achieved this on every level.
Leaders:
Our leaders for the TEL course, Henry Reynolds and Leo Bradbury, I feel, were the main factors in the success and the enjoyment of the course. Their enthusiasm and clear love of the jungle environment really shone through. There was a real feel that they both wanted to show off the best that Belize has to offer and while a lot of the course could be run in one area they really wanted to take us away and push us in other challenging areas and experience as much as possible. The desire to try new things, see new areas and ensure that we all experienced everything available was clear to see. The excellent relationships that they both have with the local guides and rangers was also clear and really benefitted the overall experience. The teaching methods were both well balanced and well thought out allowing us to practice all our skills whilst also being available to aid and educate us before any assessment to ensure a full understanding is gathered. Overall the leaders were excellent, always enthusiastic and fully engaged in giving us the best experience possible. They are both great assets to the TEL program and I believe intrigal to the course’s future success.