You might have a Nissan, a Toyota, Mitsubishi or a Land Rover, expedition training, however, fits in two basic categories and they both revolve around keeping the vehicle moving in every sense of the word.

Driver Training

Driving a vehicle off road takes practice, especially if you want to drive the vehicle to the  limits of it’s abilities, thus maximising what you can achieve by having it on the expedition in the first place.  Yes you can jump into a Land Rover, expedition training non existent, and plough your way through a desert or jungle track and have a great time doing so.  You might even be lucky and arrive at your chosen destination, feeling smug that you never wasted time or money learning about the vehicle. Now then, there is a term to describe the way you treat a vehicle … do you think as you leaped over sand dunes, slipped the clutch repeatedly, crunched gears and over revved the engine you drove with ‘Mechanical Sympathy‘?  I doubt it!

Driver training can be done by yourself on a dirt track near home by reading up on techniques and taking it easy to begin with or on a special off road course with instructors.  Just, please, do some!

If the expedition is a long one and you are using vehicles as a means of support, on emergency stand-by or even they are the expedition, by driving with ‘mechanical sympathy’ you will prolong the life of the vehicle and the chances of them breaking down, just when you need them, become slimmer.  Also, the on going maintenance will be easier and cheaper.  Which now leads us onto the next topic……

The driver above, in Botswana, was going a little too fast for this body of water (sorry guys, it was me! Showing off for the camera)

Mechanical Training

If members of your expedition don’t pay any attention to the advice above, then who ever is in charge of the vehicle maintenance better pay attention to this category.

If you have been designated the trip mechanic then there are somethings you can do to help the expedition do a lot smoother. You don’t need a degree in mechanical engineering just a will to learn, some common sense and the ability to ‘have a go’.

Get yourself a manual (a Haynes manual is a good one) and go round the entire vehicle and anything you don’t know what it is look it up.  Go on the internet and join discussion groups, see if anyone knows a friendly mechanic to spend any time possible going over the vehicle with you.

An hour studying your vehicle before the trip saves five hours on the trip messing around whilst you have to actually find the broken piece, never mind fix it (well, I made that up, but you get the message!).

My clutch slave cylinder went in Sudan the day we went to catch a ferry to Saudi Arabia. Learning how to drive without a clutch is a useful skill!

Even being a mechanic already I underwent Land Rover expedition training for our Africa expedition.  I went off road driving in the Lakes District, serviced the vehicle and prepared it myself before the trip, bought all the tools and spares and contacted some friends who had a Land Rover garage where I worked for some time to refresh my skills.

This article is the tip of the iceberg.  In future articles  we will be looking at tools, spares and some useful hints and tips for when you get really stuck.  If in the mean time you want to get yourself some Land Rover expedition training contact us and we will get you ready for your adventure.

My drive from Cape Town, South Africa, back to UK was one of my dreams and it came true… let us help you with yours.

Some people are lucky and have a natural built-in compass and a good ‘eye’ for direction, however most need some practice and often get a little lazy thus falling victim to less traditional methods.

The Sat Nav and the GPS are, together, killing the art of navigation. In the right place and the right time a GPS can be an absolute god-send but 99% of the time it is a fancy gadget like this that is dulling our abilities to navigate by using more traditional methods.

A map doesn’t have batteries that will run out, the north star is always there and will never break (like wise the southern cross), the sun always rises and sets in the same place irrelevant of whether the US military plays with it.

If you have your eyes glued to the instructions on that LCD screen mounted on your dashboard your common-sense is also dulled and in one case in England it was dulled to the point of shear stupidity. A woman was told by the robotic voice on her sat nav to take the next road on the right, she then proceeded to turn onto a set of train tracks as she crossed them, telling police after that she thought that the opening was the road! On a more realistic note…. picture yourself driving across some barren wilderness or through a big city. The GPS packs in on you. You have been following that box of navigational wizardry ever since the day began….. do you now have any idea where you are? Were you keeping record of progress?

There are many GPS models available today and they all have such varied features.  The main things to look out for, well I do, are battery life, waterproofing of some level and its toughness.  If you do short missions away, or travel with a laptop,  then being able to hook up to a PC is useful because you can plan out an entire trip and upload it into the unit.

My model of choice at the moment is the Garmin GPS 60. A decent, sturdy little beast that I have installed on my boat and can remove it to hit the road or wherever.

Expedition training can be given especially catered to the use of the GPS and its many functions as is now the recognition of the general reliability of the units but this is no excuse for not learning map and compass work as well.

S2Si can help you with any expedition training needs you might have whether it is survival, navigation, outdoor adventure sport, etc, or we will even pass you on to people we know in the industry just so we have peace of mind knowing you got the best expedition training for your specific needs.

Here is some more expedition training advice.

Expedition training can vary on length and severity of issues covered depending on the areas (geographically) you wish to visit. For example, expedition training for you to be comfortable and safe during time spent in the British lakes district is going to be hugely different in length, topics covered and the depth compared to a team who wants expedition training for a two month study project in the Amazon Basin.

The team here at S2Si have all undergone various forms of expedition training to begin their careers….. but they say the best way to learn is to teach so now many of our staff are qualified and experienced enough to take groups into every environment we have on our planet and provide them with professional expedition training.

However…. expedition training is not just about joining a group of like minded individuals and heading out into the trees with an instructor, you can start the ball rolling yourself! Here are a few examples of how you can help train yourself ready for your adventure:

• The Discovery Channel – the comfiest and easiest way to have Bruce Parry, Tribes, come into your house and provide you with expedition training for travel to areas with an indigenous population. Or the late, great Steve Irwin, on how spot dangerous animals in the wild!
• Do a first aid course – if your adventures take you into areas where you have a fairly good chance of contact with local emergency services then a simple first aid course will help save lives until help arrives. Or, one step better, a more advanced course like the one provided by Wilderness Medical.
• Read, read, read – luckily for us most great explorers love to tell of their tales, also survivors have books written of their escapes from the clutches of doom and I can’t even begin to tell you how much information is available on the internet (from sites like ours) on the various topics needed for your expedition training.
• Try and get yourself into any environment similar to where you are going – if you have never camped out but want to visit the Amazon your own personal expedition training will start by finding some trees and sleeping amongst them, sounds silly but a tree is a tree in UK, USA and the Amazon, get used to seeing them (or snow, rocks, rivers etc, where ever you’re going!).

Here is some more expedition training advice.

In preparation for the 2009 expedition season, S2Si’s Dave Hills sea kayaks the River Thames.  Dave is well know in ‘our ranks’ for his rigid expedition training regimes – we hope he is ready for the season ahead.

In a fleet of 20 kayaks including his father Steve, Dave paddled the 80 km round trip from Putney Bridge to Greenwich and back. The team passed all of the major landmarks such as Westminster and played in the waves below the bridges.

Sea kayaking is one of many adventurous activities that S2Si offers on its expeditions and what a better way to combine city and expedition life than a mini-expedition through London!

Even for very experienced staff expedition traing is vital.  It keeps the body in peak physical condition, allowing the leader to be one step ahead of his group.  Also, the mind is prepared as well, as Dave was kayaking he was constantly thinking of the ‘expedition what-ifs’.  These are scenarios where you have to imagine the worst has happened, at the worst possible time and in the worst possible place – then make plans as to what you would do.

The kayak is an excellent means of expedition transport.

• It is 100% environmentally friendly with absolutley no emissions (apart from heavy breathing!).
• There is enough room onboard to be self sufficient for a short period of time.
• You can access areas unreachable by normal boats due to the depth of the water.
• When the expedition has finished your body will be in better physical condition.
• Due to the ‘green’ factor of the kayak you are more likely to be granted access to sensitive areas like national parks.
• Expedition training can be done in any body of water.

The only bad side to a kayak expedition is the fact you will have so much fun that you will want to come back for more and this could be an issue with your employer!