Bear Grylls to launch Survival Academy in Africa

Image: Free Digital Photos

The first academy is set to kick off on the Stanley & Livingstone Private Game Reserve, a wild and undulating landscape located in the Victoria Falls area that is home to Africa's Big Five (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo) from January 2014. Applicants will be welcomed at the reserves conservation volunteer centre, Nakavango.

Comprising a combination of remote land/water survival and adventure tasks, the Victoria Falls course will culminate in a wilderness expedition designed to put the enrolees' new-found skills to the ultimate test.

Techniques include fire lighting, emergency shelter building, knife skills, foraging for grubs and rodents, remote medical trauma, a range of dynamic activities including rappelling, Tyrolean traverses and scrambling, extreme weather survival, river crossings, a white river rafting challenge down the mighty Zambezi River and, of course, Bear's famous Gross Eat challenge!

Team of highly trained survival experts

The course has been designed by Bear Grylls and will be run by his close team of highly trained survival experts. Lead instructor and course developer Scott Heffield, who also works closely with Bear, said: "The greater Victoria Falls area provides the perfect backdrop for Bear Grylls Survival Academy course to launch. Topography, the rivers, the incredible Victoria Falls, extreme weather conditions and African wildlife are all important factors to consider when looking to re-create an environment that simulates real life Bear Grylls survival situations."

Bear Grylls has become known around the world as the most recognised face of survival and outdoor adventure, with experience gained during his seven seasons of Discovery's Emmy-nominated hit television show Man vs Wild and NBC's Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls. The Survival Academy course is based around the many skills Bear learnt from his time with the British Special Forces and his many survival missions to every extreme wilderness.

"So many people have asked me over the years where they can learn extreme, practical survival - the type that requires spirit, determination and the skills to self-rescue against the odds, in some of the harshest terrain around. So it is with great pride that we can now finally launch the Bear Grylls Survival Academy in Africa to be able to share some of these skills and what it really means to be able to look after yourself when the chips are down," said Grylls. "Oh, and it may hurt a little."

To help deliver the course, Bear has teamed up with Mantis, experts in delivering high-quality hotel and eco lodge experiences combined largely with conservation. Paul Gardiner, the marketing director of Mantis explained: "Nature, conservation and education are really important to us and we are so excited to continue working with Bear and his team as the Survival Academy launches in Africa. Our aim is to inspire people to reconnect with the natural world and the course will give people a really raw but fulfilling experience, hopefully leaving people feeling challenged but with big smiles on their faces!"