Camp JEST Is Not A Joke

As mentioned in my previous post, the bird park came with a free Camp JEST introduction.  Being as cynical as I am, I reckoned this was going to be some sort of naff, badly done gimmick designed to extract even more money from me so when we'd finished out tour of the bird park I tried to side-step the guy who was clearly assigned to do the free demo.  However, not wanting to be rude or to steal the guy's thunder I reluctantly allowed myself to be roped into the demonstration area.

My cynicism was misplaced. The start of the demonstration was an introduction to the history and background of the training camp, which was apparently established by the Americans to give jungle survival training for its troops during the Vietnam war.

This was then followed by an introduction to the country's smallest bats.  The demonstrator picked up a short length of bamboo and smacked it on the ground that left me thinking that if there were any bats in there, they're going to be stunned, if not dead. He then proceeded to remove a leaf stuck in the slot of the bamboo and out crawled a tiny bat.  And yes, it looked stunned.  Perhaps this was his method of ensuring they didn't fly away?

With those teeth, it looks like a vampire

After the bat the demonstration we were shown us how to find a source of water in the jungle.  This struck me as somewhat odd bearing in mind all around us was a rain (key word 'rain') forest and water should be reasonably plentiful.  He picked up a vine that looked as dry as an Arab's flip-flop and hacked a length off with his machete.  From the cut end came a steady trickle of fluid that he held over my mouth.  It had a slightly milky but not unpleasant taste to it.  It supposedly has medicinal properties that helps alleviate asthma. I asked how to recognise it in a jungle full of vines (just in case I get lost in the jungle or end up kidnapped by Abu Sayaff) and he pointed out it's the one that's a double vine that grows together.  I'll keep it in mind.

Drinking from a vine

Next up was utensils.  Using just his machete he hacked and chopped at a piece of bamboo until he had made a single item of cutlery that was a spoon at one end and a single pointy, stabbing fork at the other.  The remainder of the bamboo was converted into a rice/meat steamer.

Making utensils

Finally, and probably the most important was the how to make fire.  Again, a piece of dry bamboo was used and he lit a fire the old boy scout way, by rubbing two pieces together.  However, the real skill was in how the pieces were formed and used to generate the fire with such ease it would have put Bear Grylls to shame.

Fire in no time at all

I think what impressed me most was the almost casual ease and dexterity these items and demonstrations were carried out using just a machete and some bits of bamboo.  They do extended courses and I for one am sold on the idea and I'm going to sign up at the next opportunity.