I have just returned from almost 3 weeks jungle survival training in Guyana.

Had a great time, loved the country and it was great to be back in the jungle again.

That Paca was caught in a trap, a bit of a lucky break.

I am not a big fish fan, although I will eat it when I have too. Piranha is full of bones but is ok, fish lovers like it by all accounts.

I am a firm believer in building shelters with enough space to work in out of the rain. It also adds protection to the fire and fire wood, very important as it is the wet season out there at this time. Although they have not had as much rain as they would normally have for this time of year.

The roof is made with Kukrit leaves the bed is made from the leaf stems, with each leaf you get a bit of roof and a bit of bed.

The grub is a kukrit grub that lives in the kukrit nut and tastes like coconut milk but is normally used as bait to catch small bait fish. Know wonder they call the kukrit the tree of life.

what in the world was that monster fish??

I like how in the first 2 pics you look totally bored sitting under your shelter. Which looked great. nice machete too...

I'm jealous! was this military-related or a civvie course you did?

Looks like a great time. Thanks for sharing the pics!

What type of training was this?

The course was with Ian at Bushmasters it is a civvie course but he has Brit and US SFs on it. I went on the course with some mates, to spend some time in the Guyanan jungle before it is gone.

This was during the 3 day isolation when you are out by yourself, i was not bored. Boredom is a killer in a survival situation. The only kit carried was belt kit containing fishing kit, fire steel, some cotton wool, water bottle, iodine and machete. The white bag in the first shot only contains camera equipment. I kept busy adding to my shelter, collecting water, setting traps, fishing for bait fish, setting night lines and collecting fire wood. I was hoping a troop of peccary would come through camp so I could take one out. So yes Izzy, time to kill a bear with my machete.

During isolation we didn’t have bows or blowpipes (not exactly survival weapons), I tried taking vultures and other large birds on the river bank, using an atlatl but the bush was too thick. The spider and howler monkeys stayed far enough out of reach to keep them from the dinner plate although the spider monkeys took great delight at throwing sticks at me.

Nice pictures PureSurvival, I have a coworker from Guyana, he will get a kick out of the pictures. The one thing I love about jungles like that are there are a lot of resources available in the jungle. It seams most of the places you go anywhere in the world it's either palm trees, bamboo or pine trees in the jungle. Each will give you life as they say just knowing how to use them. I know after the first week you start thinking how much longer do I have left sometimes but if you keep busy and explore it can help take your mind off of things. I'll have to try Parana, they say you can swim with them as long as you don't have any exposed cuts, etc.. I would get a little worried crossing streams knowing them and the pythons are in there in those jungles.

Boiling heart of palm and kukrit grubs during isolation. I wish I had not bothered the heart of palm was fine but the grubs were horrible, I should have tried roasting them although they were nice raw. The reason I boiled it was because I thought I had found the Stevie Wonder tree that makes a nice flavoursome tea from its bark which would have been nice with the heart of palm and grubs. Problem was I could not id it properly so didn’t use the bark just on the safe side.



That fish with the teeth is a biyara

I have been to many of the jungles around the world and your right many of the palms are similar. The problem is you have to know what you are looking for. You may cut down a palm to find its not got a big heart like a heart of palm or cut a vine to find its not a water vine. This would be a real waste of energy in a survival situation.



That's a mith, Parana will only take small creatures alive, they wont touch you even if you have a cut. One of the guys got quite a bad gash from a submerged tree in the river and they didn't eat him.

For your coworker

Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

Do you have a gallery someplace ?

Thanks PureSurvival, my friend will enjoy these.