Food

In Bushcraft we had a wide variety of food and even different cultures. The order of food was breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner then dessert. Throughout the day there was a ‘hydration station’ in which there was cold water and a box of fresh, clean fruit to eat during the day. Some examples of the sort of food that we had were curry and rice, fajitas, hot dogs, English breakfast, apple crumble and custard, pizza, flapjacks, chocolate bars, salmon and more. The salmon was fresh and we were shown how to prepare one and cook it by the fire! Some people were given the choice of taking the challenge of eating an eyeball of the fish and my friend actually did it! The food was really tasty and sometimes we were even given seconds so you are never hungry!

Tents

In Bushcraft, we were all assigned a tent group (different to our activity group) with whom we would sleep with. Before you come to Bushcraft, you can choose a partner who you will be with the entire time in Bushcraft so you are always with your buddy. After dessert, we usually have 45 minutes in which we are supposed to get ready for bed. So, the routine is usually: go to your tent and get your wash bag, clothes, water bottle and torch. At this point onward, we had to stay with our buddy. We had to fill our water bottles, change into our pyjamas, brush our teeth, use the loo and get medicine if we needed to. We would then have 30 minutes to do whatever we wanted in our tents then at around 9.45 it was lights out. We had either 10 or 8 people in our tent but some people slept in shelters that we made on the first day. They were in the woods. At night, it was mostly comfy but a bit chilly!

Activities

During the day (everyday), there was a certain plan in which we did so many fun- filled activities! We did a huge range of activities such as: archery, throwing an axe, carving tent pegs, making your own food etc. It was really fun!

An example of one of our days was the 2nd day:

• We had 20 minutes to get ready and come to the yurk

• We had beans, hash browns, sausages and bread for breakfast

• After breakfast, we did first aid training specifically when someone is unconscious on the floor and bandages

• Then we built a fire in our tribe using match sticks(twigs), finger sticks and thumb sticks

• We then cooked our lunch(burgers) on it

• We put out the fire and used the charcoal to paint our faces and washed up

• We played predator

• We had 40 minutes of free time

• We went for a stroll and had a surprise! I can’t say much but it was awesome!!!!

• We did a boat race which was where we all had to chug down water which was a great way to encourage us to drink water!

• We then played the monkey game

• We then had dinner which was curry and rice and pudding which was apple crumble and custard

• We then did our night time routine and went to bed

The activities were so fun and really interesting. My favourite was throwing the axe as I’d never done it before and I did really well. All the activities were well thought out, safe, enjoyable and interesting. There was not a moment that I felt bored and the staff were so encouraging. The evening before we left we had a show, ‘Tribes got talent’ and it was hilarious. I’ve never laughed more with my friends in my life.

Spare time/games

In our spare time, we had a choice to just relax and do whatever we wanted. I spent my time writing in my diary by the fire. The fire stayed alight throughout our entire time there, including the nights. We usually played two games: predator and monkey. In predator, you have to camouflage yourself and try and reach to the prey. In monkey, it was like granny’s footsteps but we had to steal the monkey instead!

Overall, Bushcraft is an experience that is unforgettable. I have done things that I have not thought about doing ever before and was not planning on doing but that is what is just so unique about Bushcraft. I would go back in a heartbeat!          

By Davneet