- Skills & Bushcraft
WILL LORD JOINS US IN GUYANA
Prehistoric skills, modern bushcraft and generations of Makushi rainforest knowledge come together in Guyana in July 2027, as Will Lord joins Ray Chin, Lionel James and The Wild Tales for our Jungle Bushcraft Course in Surama.
Table of Contents
FROM PREHISTORIC SKILLS TO THE RAINFOREST
Will Lord in Guyana marks a new chapter in his exploration of traditional and prehistoric skills. For years, Will has explored the technologies that allowed people to live on the land long before modern equipment existed. His work with primitive tools, traditional bows, fire, flint and prehistoric technology has built a large following of people interested not simply in survival but in understanding how humans adapted to the environments around them.
Will will travel to the rainforests of Guyana to join Ray Chin of Back to Wilderness, Makushi instructor Lionel James and The Wild Tales team for our Jungle Bushcraft Course in Surama. His involvement adds another perspective to an already unusual collaboration: prehistoric technology and primitive skills meeting structured bushcraft training and generations of rainforest knowledge.
For the 2027 course, the interest lies not only in what Will can contribute but also in what happens when his experience is placed inside an entirely different environment.
Will Lord — Prehistoric Technology and Primitive Skills
Will’s work focuses heavily on the technologies that allowed our ancestors to hunt, make tools, create fire and work with natural materials. His perspective brings a deep understanding of primitive technology and the problem-solving behind
For the 2027 course, the interest lies not only in what Will can contribute, but in what happens when his experience is placed inside an entirely different environment.
Will Lord · Surama, 2027
INTO A DIFFERENT WORLD
Next year, Will travels to the rainforests of Guyana
to join Ray Chin, Lionel James and The Wild Tales
Jungle Bushcraft in Surama.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE COURSE
The 2027 course brings together three very different backgrounds, each approaching traditional skills from a different direction.
Lionel James & the Makushi Team — Rainforest Knowledge
Lionel comes from Surama and has spent his life in and around the forests of the North Rupununi. His knowledge is rooted in the environment itself: understanding the forest, finding materials, making and using traditional tools, fishing, fire, campcraft and moving safely through the rainforest.
For anyone joining the course, this is one of the most important parts of the experience. It is not about bringing foreign bushcraft techniques into the jungle. It is about learning how people who know this environment intimately work with it.
Ray Chin & Back to Wilderness — Bushcraft and Practical Skills
Ray joins the course through Back to Wilderness, which partners with The Wild Tales to deliver the international bushcraft component of the programme.
He has taught previous Jungle Bushcraft Courses in Guyana, taken part in several of our jungle survival programmes and spent considerable time working alongside Lionel and the Makushi team.
Ray brings structured bushcraft training and first-hand experience of adapting familiar skills to the tropical rainforest. That makes him an important bridge between modern bushcraft instruction and the traditional rainforest skills taught in Surama.
PRACTICAL SKILLS. RECOGNISED TRAINING.
The Jungle Bushcraft Course is not only a practical rainforest experience. Participants who successfully complete the programme receive an NCFE-accredited UK training certification, licenced under Survival School Ltd, giving formal structure and recognition to the skills developed during the course.
The certification sits alongside the practical learning in Surama rather than replacing it. Participants still spend the course working directly with Ray Chin, Lionel James and the Makushi team, learning fire, tools, natural materials, traditional craft, fishing and jungle camp skills in the environment where they are actually used.
BUILT THROUGH COLLABORATION
The Jungle Bushcraft Course brings together three different strengths. The Wild Tales provides the Guyana operation and community partnerships, Back to Wilderness brings structured bushcraft training, and Lionel and the Makushi team bring generations of practical rainforest knowledge
What Happens When These Skills Meet?
That is one of the questions we want to explore over the coming months.
Ray and Will live relatively close to one another in the UK, which gives us an opportunity to begin the collaboration before anyone reaches Guyana.
Ray has worked in Guyana several times and has brought back knowledge and examples of traditional equipment, including bows and arrows. We would like to get the two of them together to examine some of these tools, discuss how they were made and compare them with the technologies Will works with in Europe.
- How does a traditional Guyanese bow differ from a European bow?
- What changes when familiar materials are replaced by rainforest resources?
- How do prehistoric technology, modern bushcraft and living rainforest knowledge overlap?
These are the kinds of conversations we hope to share as the course approaches.
Will Lord working with prehistoric technologies in the UK
Surama provides access to some of Guyana’s most intact rainforest.
WHY SURAMA?
Surama lies between savannah and rainforest in Guyana’s North Rupununi and has become one of the main locations for The Wild Tales’ survival and bushcraft programmes.
The surrounding forest provides an extraordinary classroom.
This is not a training ground created for bushcraft. It is a living environment where understanding natural materials, rivers, weather, movement and the forest itself has always mattered.
Working alongside Lionel and the Makushi team gives the course a depth that cannot easily be recreated elsewhere.
BEFORE WILL LORD ARRIVES IN GUYANA
In the months leading up to the course, Will and Ray will be spending time together in the UK exploring some of the tools and questions that will follow them into the rainforest.
That may include traditional bows and arrows, natural materials, primitive fire, tool design and the differences between European and rainforest approaches to bushcraft.
We will be sharing some of those conversations as the course develops.
Ray Chin and Will Lord in UK
Join Them in Guyana
Will is not travelling to Guyana simply to visit or film the course. He will be joining Ray, Lionel and the group throughout the Jungle Bushcraft Course in July 2027. The course is open to a small group of participants and does not require previous bushcraft experience. Participants will learn through a combination of structured bushcraft instruction, practical rainforest skills and direct experience in the environment itself. For those interested in following Will Lord in Guyana, this is an opportunity to experience the collaboration first-hand.
INTERESTED IN JOINING THEM?
We’re currently putting together the July 2027 group. If this sounds like something you would seriously consider, tell us a little about yourself below. We’ll send you the full course information and keep you updated as the collaboration develops.
EXPLORE THE JUNGLE BUSHCRAFT COURSE
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