Boswa basic survival course feedback

[Antlion]

On the weekend of the 18th January,i attended a basic survival course held in magaliesberg,not far from hartebeespoort dam.I thought il share my experiences.

This course is hosted by Herman Roos, an extremely knowledgeable and patient instructor,who hosts these internationally accredited courses at his personal farm. He does have assistant instructors who also present material alongside him. After some navigational errors ,we finally reached there on friday just as the sun was setting. We were the last to arrive,there were about fifteen others waiting for us.Once we got there,we recieved a brief outline on the course and what it entails.During this time ,it started raining,real hard and we moved under a canvas shelter,where a fire was made and coffee and rusks were served. We also heated our food,and some wors was put on the wood embers. The rain slowed by 9pm,and we were explained our sleeping arrangement.This entailed sleeping in a hamock ,with a basha over(a first for me). This was done in the light rain,and i somehow misplaced my headlamp,and my Oloight i6 was packed away. Eventually i found a spot and put it up.Sleeping in there,was very very comfy. I was pleasantly surprised.

Day 2 began with a small session on making bannok,a simple survival bread. I unfortunately burnt the botttom of mine in the dixie,however the top and inner was eddible. We then had oats/boiled eggs,after which the first session started. We then did the four essentials of survival,water,shelter,food,fire. A lot of info was given on each aspect. We then moved on to survival kits,this session i found very interesting as it has a very similar concept to EDC. We spoke about short term survival needs as well as long term. Also,a survival kit will differ from person to person,a person working in an office environment will not have the same kit as a field guide. The best kit is one that stays on you,not the one in the boot of the car or at the bottom of your rucksack. There is no guarantee you will have access to it away from you(car accident,fire,theft etc) . For me learning that a kit can fit in your pocket and seeing it done was pretty impressive.From there we learnt safe cutting techniques. Here we learnt about choosing a survival knife,how people get fooled into buying serrated edges assuming it will work better in the field(more on this later). A good fixedblade knife with a plain edge is the way to go,size will differ from person to person. A good budget option was mentioned as well,Mora knives. Carrying a decent backup folder or leatherman was also recommended.Caring for your blades were also discussed.We then learnt carving techniques,i used a CRKT free range hunter ,it worked well but not great for carving.
Next we did cordage/rope techniques. Paracord was also dicussed in detail,the history,uses,the hype about 550D cord,consumers willing to pay double the amount for a product with a 550D label(not always getting what they pay for). Actually seeing the cord being utilised thtroughout the course was interesting.Alternate cordage was also dicussed. Making the survival bracelet was shown too. We then did water,spent quite a bit of time on this segment,from sourcing to filtering and purification. After this we did a short section on navigation. There is a whole course dedicated to this. Rescue details and shelter followed up. First aid was discussed,but also recommended a course dedicated to that.From here we moved to fire lighting. We learnt different methods,using firesteel,alternate methods,home made devices. Seeing an instructor doing friction firelighting was amazing,its not as easy as it looks and some finer details were mentioned. Here we also learnt,the sometimes the fancier products may not be the best. The swedish firesteel worked the best in there experience,and while the beargrylls one worked,it seems to have complicated a fine working design(. That evening we had a talk on animals,foods,plants, poisons.

Day 3 began with breakfast,then a snake talk and presentation. Here a separate course was recommended. From there we moved on to traps and snares,types and setting them with basic materials. A detailed section on knife sharpening followed,different blades,techniques,and here we were showed that once a serrated edge gets blunt,its impossible to sharpen it in the field,where a plain edge can be sharpened in most environments. From there we were given time to pack up and attend a certificate presentation on completion.
It rained all three days.People who came with regular takkies and no water proof jackets or no ponchos really felt it.I used a pair of Hitec Vlites,comfy and kept the water out(no water crossings).On the second night,most people got rained out,but used this as a learning experience as this aspect is usually described in courses,not physically experienced.

In conclusion,personally I feel this course should be attended by anyone serious about survival,preparing for scenarios etc. I also highly recommend this for people who spend a lot time hunting,hiking or in the general outdoors/bush.However the kind of scenarios shown could happen to anyone,not just in the bush. Even though the instructor has has survived in the Arctic, Highlands of Scotland, Jungles of Thailand, Bushveld of Africa, Desert of Namibia, Coastal Forests of Mozambique, Mountains of South-Africa and the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, he is very humble and is open to questions,and admits he learns a lot just from students attending and their experiences. We had a group of about 10 male adults,about 5 females and 5 children.I look forward to doing the advanced survival course,as this was money well spent,the skills learnt here are definitely worth knowing. This was a quick summary of the course,I missed out quite abit of detail,but mentined the main aspects.As much as this course is listed as a basic course,it is quite extensive.

[ikor]

Sounds fantastic...even more so for many folks today who have never so much as eaten anything not bought in a store or changed a tyre, etc...it would be wonderful if something like this was added as an elective in schools for kids maybe 13-14 or older. Not some sort of adventure camp but a simple yet thorough week long course...but I realize I am dreaming now.

Thamks for the writeup, Antlion!

[JS4]

Thanks for a great write-up Antlion.

I googled into their page a while back and it seemed interesting - nice to get a first-hand account.

What are the prices, if I may ask?

[Antlion]

Thanks for the replies! It cost R1200 including meals,"bush accommodation". There was a list of items required to bring along,nothing extraordinary needed,and there is a survival shop there as well.

[JS4]

...and there is a survival shop there as well.

Tee-hee! How is it survival when there is a shop there? Haha!

[h0stag3]

This sounds like fun!

[gertjie87]

Ive been on his courses it is great fun and one learns a good deal. Herman is the guy that got me started on my survival training journey. Anyone looking for a fun interesting weekend full of knowledge and learning should seriously consider BOSWA.

[wayneblast]

I did the course and it's awesome! There are various others that Herman hosts which I would like to do one of these days. These are true survival courses!