Casa MacDonald
Survival Training
Experience yourself in a jungle environment with native Cabécar and retired military and trained guides. Expect seven days total time from arrival, training, insertion, tracking and exfiltration. This journey is perhaps the friendliest and most diverse environment rivaling the Amazon. You will be guided by Natives who have lived in this jungle over 10,000 years. They remain scattered about the Talamanca Mountain range of Costa Rica.
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Your experience will teach you how to enter, thrive and navigate any jungle in the world. Your experience you will carry with you the rest of your life, building a knowledge base rarely given or seen that you can pass onto others, enhance your self-reliance and understand and handle situations most people will never experience.
Itinerary
Day One
Travel day. You will fly into San Jose (SJO) Airport in Costa Rica. Typically you will be picked up outside the baggage claim area. If you're already in country we can arrange a personalized pick up based on your location (rates will vary). You will need to drink water all day at a minimum of one gallon as hydration will be the key to your success on this adventure.
Upon Arrival you will have your quarters ready for you. This is your time to eat, bath, unpack your gear for inspection and make some new acquaintances . The gear inspection is the gear you will be bringing for your journey into the jungle.
Day Two
Expect 14 hours of classroom training including gear load out, animal and plant life (fauna) and an introduction to the guides, natives and support staff. There will be 3 meals this day, plenty of food and water. You will still be drinking water all day long at a minimum of one gallon.
Day Three
Expect 14 hours of classroom training including medical triage, emergency procedures, minor medical intervention techniques and gear inspection. This is when you will be accounting for all the gear, medical kit, food and water you are brining with you. We will review how to sort and pack items so that all trekkers are outfitted with the same gear in the same locations. This is called standardization of load-out.
You will be taught extensively and will need to prove your practical knowledge of land navigation.
These three days are the most important. An itinerary will be given to each of you upon arrival to CASA MACDONALD. You will be tired, but when we are done training, you will be excited and ready to perform your newly acquired skills and knowledge in a real world environment. You will be in constant companionship with our guides who live within the hinterlands of the Talamanca Mountain of Costa Rica. These are well worn trails used by a millennia of generations, they are well persevered and natural to the environment. Our guides are some of the best trackers and jungle land navigators in the world; you are in good hands.
During the jungle portion of your trek you will be shown, taught and explained such a plethora of information that taking notes on everything will be impossible. You will retain it because you are in it, you will become part of the jungle and understand it as a living organism. Nature in its purest form
Days Four to Six
The journey of a life-time. You will be one set apart from all others in the world of explorers; seeing and experiencing an environment natives have made their home for over 10,000 years. You will be coming into contact with the jungle and all that it has to offer. Much of which is still unexplored. Species of fauna found nowhere else on the planet, such as the coveted Blue Morpheus butterfly or the elusive Ocelot.
Day Seven
Return, rest, eat and share some of your memories. All your questions and experiences will be enhanced through the camaraderie and mentorship with your guides and fellow adventurers
If you plan to enjoy some of Costa Rica's other destinations, the staff will help arrange your travel and stay at any destination within this beautifully biodiverse country.
NOTE
A basic gear list will be sent via email once you signup and make contact with us. The practical nature of this adventure has been developed by military experience and local native input.. It is designed to teach you, embolden you and strengthen you for any challenge in your life going forward.