Expedition Leader Training with Gapforce

The Gapforce Expedition leader training is a great adventure and an entry into the outdoor industry for those wanting this.
The leader training is mainly focused on leading groups of young people aged 18-25 on long duration trips around the world.

If you are looking for Jungle survival skills, leadership training, adventure, team spirit and general adventure this course is a good place to start!

Extract of letter to home:
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“we have spent some incredible time with the Bri Bri tribe and gathered all the info we could. Really interesting! Build with Vines, Made spears & bow and Arrow, Learned Friction fire, Animal snares, a thousand types of animals and plants. We were on night fishing / hunting with Mynor (Bri Bri ) and caught Crabs and crayfish.

The jungle have started to feel like a “Forest instead of an Alien and totally overwhelming place. 😊 I get up every morning to the sound of howler monkeys, shake my boots for spiders and scorpions. I lift my backpack to se if a snake has made a home under it.
After that, I put on my wet work Clothes and prepare for another day 😊

It sounds dangerous and alien and it feels like that in the beginning, but the truth is that you “Tune in” and that the nature here is mostly friendly. I observe tarantulas and see them more like you would see a forest mouse in a European forest – notice how is runs away and is afraid of me.

I enjoy the sight of unbelievably beautiful poisonous frogs and all the other stuff here. 😊

There lived a sloth next to one of our camps – I call him Alfred :D There is a lot to write! , bullfrogs the size of a rabbit, turtles crabs, parrots, Tapirs, 100 spiders and snakes etc.

That being said, there are plenty of challenges here and this is a rough environment to be in. I have stated to eat 300-400g of peanut butter a day to maintain my weight somewhat, but despite that I would recon that I have lost 5-10 kg of weight.

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Can only recommend the training: Pack your bags and go into the jungle :)

This was one of the most challenging, adventurous and fun experiences I've ever had. I learned so much about myself and developed so much as a person and as a leader. The instructors were fantastic - being incredible supportive throughout the programme, helping each person work towards their goals, challenging us in every way we needed and brought learning to life. The activities and training were great, tailored to what the outdoor industry is like today, and giving us to many unique experiences. I had so much fun every single day, worked with a diverse and inspiring team of people and so inspired to enable others to experience the outdoors in the best way possible.

This was a well organised and administered adventure.
Both the staff in the office in the UK and the instructing staff were professional, supportive and polite.
There are a lot of moving parts on this kind of experience which will take a great deal of organisation. It went smoothly and without a hitch. Any issues which did arise were with outside partners rather than Gap Force or their staff.
The accommodation and food were often better than was described and therefore expected. It is a Jungle based course, so accommodation in the jungle is as expected. When not in the Jungle, it is better than I expected.

My review of the course expedetion leader from gapforce Februari 2022.

First off I have a lot more confidence in myself.
The jungle is the hardest environment on earth. There is a reason why the special forces train in the jungle. Gapforce agrees with me, if you can lead groups in the jungle then you can do that everywhere on our planet. After this course there is the feeling that you can handle everything everywhere.

I always had the spirit of adventure and a small dream to travel to beautiful remote places, but I had no idea where to start and where to learn the essential skills of planning, surviving and taking a group with you. Either as work or as your own expedetion with mates.

I also learned medical stuff. I was never a fan of medical procedures and I didn't know anything about it. But during this course I learned a lot of medical procedures and I liked it. I know now how to set up an evacuation, give CPR and how to handle an emergency.

Before this course I never thought of risk assessments and how to keep people safe. Now everywhere I go I think of emergency scenarios and how to fix them. It is a little bit like a mind puzzle. I enjoy that very much and it makes you feel like you're prepared on anything.

I learned a lot but it doesn't mean that there weren't any fun things. For example we had a barbecue and during a volunteer project I measured a leatherback turtle and reburied its eggs to protect them from poachers. We visited a local tribal Bribri village and we did a 7 days trekking through untouched jungle.

To get the most out of this course I would recommend already having the basic lead/survival skills but even without it you can make it and end up working as a expedetion guide. It is important to know that this course is focussed on training you to become a expedition leader. This is more of a training course then a adventure course

I‘m an experienced Survival Expert and Outdoor guide from Germany but I thought there’s always something to learn and I wanted to get more experience in leading groups through the jungle and getting a good fundamental mountain leader training from a british company.
The GapForce ELT program seemed to be perfect for me, because of it’s adventurous content and schedule.

What I got and experienced was really good. We did many day hikes through the mountains in Wales with navigation, rope work like abseiling and much more. And we also spent many many times in the jungle in Costa Rica. That helped me to develop my skills and behavior in the jungle a lot. We‘ve seen fantastic places, gorges, hills, mountains, a lot of wildlife and also bad wet weather.
The instructor are very nice, helpful and experienced in what they doing and they gaved me everything I‘ve wanted from this course. We did a lot of river crossings, water safety and some rope work too. There’s also a big part of wilderness and survival training wich was also a reason, that this is the right thing for me.
We did the jungle training in many different camps with different conditions wich is really good to get as much experience as possible.
There was also a lot of theory content in terms of safety, leadership, presentation etc. included to help beginners becoming a leader and organizing and leading trips. Really good to get into this industry. It’s also good to prove yourself and get a better life experience.
Over all I was able to gather many knowledge and skills that I can use for my private expeditions or for my company.
But this is not a holiday trip! You should be fit, healthy and tough and bring some outdoor and life experience to get the best out of this incredible journey!

The ELT program was amazing and such a good experience. The biggest thing I got out of it for me was the confidence in my own abilities to start planning work straight away. The course is structured to provide a progressive program, developing your skills (both personal and leadership) constantly. The first few weeks in Wales were great to meet the team, climb some mountains and form friendships. The pace and intensity picked up when we got to Costa Rica and straight into the jungle. The instructors were great at making us feel as comfortable as possible and you do get used to living in a jungle environment quickly. The endless animals and plants is beautiful and there are some really amazing sights and sounds you’ll see every single day. Belt-kit and survival challenge tested our skills but also developed them and our confidence even further. For me, the highlight of the course came during the survival challenge. During this, my team ended up making a huge five person bed out of vines which was incredibly comfortable. After several nights of sleeping on that, it was time to leave the jungle…but our way of doing it. We trekked down the river, past incredible waterfalls and through a lot of obstacles. We kept on trekking through the river until it got too deep. At that point, we swam, using our massive 75L+ rucksacks as floats. We ended up following the river down to the beach and seeing the astounded look on the tourists faces as we emerged from the jungle absolutely soaked and stinking was priceless. I highly recommend the course, you will develop your skills and confidence way above what you thought was possible!

This course was the most amazing experience. The chance to live in the jungle, learn from indigenous folk and learn important life skills is priceless and an opportunity most of us will never have again. Over the past 4 months I have become a more confident, well-rounded and employable person, enjoying every second of it. The staff are supportive and are passionate about what they do. If you want into the adventure travel industry, this is your chance! Gain skills, memories and friends for life!

I came on the TEL course looking for a challenge different to one I’d ever had before. I’d just finished school, in which the vast majority of your work is very individual. So I wanted to put myself in a team environment instead and learn as much as I could, both about being in and leading a team. The travelling the world and jungle bit was a big selling point for me too.

The course absolutely delivered. I found myself very much out of my comfort zone and I absolutely loved it. The course is very intense. You receive a huge amount of feedback, which can be hard to keep taking on board. But it is super helpful and alarmingly insightful, and I was very grateful for it when I saw how much quicker I was growing.

The jungle was quite something. To be so immersed in nature is not an opportunity most of us get often, and even the photos don’t do it justice. It was also just so refreshing to not be surrounded by technology and marketing, and to just be happy in the moment with some quality and down to earth people.

Speaking of the people, I had such a lovely group to share this with. The outdoors tends to attract a certain down to earth type of person and that they were. Spending every day with them for 4 months means you all go through many different dynamics together, but learning how to be amongst and even influence that was another challenge I loved.

Lots of us wanted to go on to be expedition leaders (though you don’t have to want to to go on this course), and by the end I felt really well trained and that I had a solid and detailed understanding of what it meant to run an expedition.

Ultimately, I had an amazing time and would 100% recommend it.