SURVIVOR WEEK is a way to practice survival and self-reliance skills in an outdoor environment. Conducted over seven days, SURVIVOR WEEK pits their knowledge and skills, in a near primitive living experience with participants living off their survival kits.
The Purpose
Today's day and age is increasingly one of comforts and instant gratification. Over the past hundred years or so, technology has managed to wean away people from being individually reliant to being dependent on external gadgets for comfort and happiness. Consequently, when any of these comforts are taken away, we get desperate and at a loss as to the next course of action.
SURVIVOR WEEK is a way to consciously put participants in situations where they are deprived of comforts so that they can learn how to adapt, improvise, innovate and overcome. It is when faced with a situation where a decision means the difference between comfort and being miserable, that the essential character of an individual is revealed. At the end of the week, hopefully they will be in a better frame of mind to realise that external dependence creates discomfort, and there are many ways to make the best of a potentially difficult situation.
The Process
The first couple of days are spent getting acclimated to the environment. One of the first things they do is to build a primitive shelter to sleep in. This is accomplished by using the resources they find in the environment around them - leaves, branches, pine cones, deadwood, bamboo, etc. The shelter needs to be warm, comfortable and waterproof to enable a good night's sleep.
During the next 48 hours they are taught the basics of survival and self reliance. The next three days they are supervised while performing a set of tasks, each task aimed at a specific set of skills. There are group activities and there are individual tasks. Participants are often paired up. Sometimes, twists are incorporated into the tasks to make them more interesting.
The final 24 to 36 hours the participants have to spend alone, demonstrating how much they have imbibed from the experience and the learnings of the previous days.
The different modules built into the Challenge are shelter construction, firecraft, water procurement, signalling, navigation, first aid, cartography, ropes and knots, and very importantly, teamwork.
Degree of Difficulty
SURVIVOR WEEK is not a walk in the park and it is not a weekend getaway in a wilderness resort. It is a challenge and comes with its own unique dynamics. Shelter is primitive, the warmth comes from a campfire, food is as palatable as the participants can make it from the meager raw materials provided. And there will be sleep deprivation due to the environment they find themselves in. And that is the purpose of the Challenge. It is about pushing the limits of human endurance, both physical and mental.
Location
There are different locations that SURVIVOR WEEK is conducted in, mostly in the Himalayas, and depends on the group dynamics. For younger children the location is less demanding while it becomes more challenging for older participants.
Who and how many can attend and for how much
Anyone older than 15 years of age. However, participants between 15 and 18 years of age need to get a written consent from their parents or guardians.
There is a requirement of a minimum of 4 participants per SURVIVOR WEEK.
The costs of participating in SURVIVOR WEEK is Rs 20,000 per person for the entire week.
And, you do not need to bring anything except a change of clothes, good boots with ankle support, a hat and a knife. In case there is any specific items you need to bring, this will be conveyed at the time of booking.
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