Survival lessons put to the test

IF you were taken out of your comfort zone and dropped into a remote corner of the world would you know what to do?

When panic set in, which way would you turn?

Not many have got the answer to these questions. But Andrew Price has.

He has been there, picked up the skills and is now passing them on to good effect.

To such good effect that his business, Dryad Bushcraft, is now in the mix for two of the Tourism Swansea Bay awards being handed out later this month.

Dryads are tree spirits in Greek mythology and help give his company a distinctive calling card. Courses he runs benefit corporate team-building, while school pupils are given an early taste of the real world and visitors are attracted into the area to get to grips with the problems posed.

"The world of bushcraft is a never-ending yet fascinating journey of discovery," said 34-year-old Andrew.

"It would not be possible to learn everything there is to know in one lifetime, but it is this pursuit of the impossible that makes bushcraft so special.

"It is the art of learning to live comfortably in a wilderness environment using the minimum of modern equipment. To enable us to feel at home within the natural world, it is necessary for us to develop a wide range of skills and knowledge that would have been second nature to our Stone Age ancestors."

The techniques used come through studying native peoples and using traditional methods passed down from ancestors. So a combination of edible wild plants and ingredients can be used to make a three course meal over a campsite fire. There are many other examples of skills learned in the great outdoors.

Andrew got into it all during his schooldays, cycling and kayaking around Gower and then taking up rock climbing and surfing. Later it was off on a Raleigh International expedition to Malaysia and Borneo. He lived with the Orang Astli people of the Cameron Highlands for several months.

It was time well spent as the experiences helped point him in the direction he arrived at a few years ago. And Dryad Bushcraft will take its place with 147 other entries in the awards at the Brangwyn Hall on Thursday, November 20. The Swansea-based operation is a candidate in the 'Best meal out — Taste of Swansea Bay' category and the one for best sustainable tourism business.

"The awards are a great opportunity to show everyone the imaginative ideas around," says Andrew.

"That is the way I see them. I was talking to someone the other day and he said how the area has changed in the last 15 years. It is now up there with the best tourism areas."

This year's awards ceremony will be the second, following on from the first one in 2006. Filing through the doors of the Brangwyn Hall for the ticketed event will be many influential guests and representatives from some of the finest tourism, leisure and hospitality businesses in the area. They will be competing in 14 categories.

"We have much to celebrate in the Swansea Bay area," said Cathy Lewis, business development manager of awards organiser Tourism Swansea Bay.

"Not only do we have spectacular award-winning scenery, we have a fantastic range of activities and attractions, a fabulous choice of places to eat and a plethora of people who will go out of their way to give the visitors a warm welcome — making an extraordinary effort.

"Entering for the awards immediately made a statement that the business was looking at best practice and competitive development. We are pleased to have received such a fantastic response from businesses and we are delighted that such a wide range of tourism, leisure and hospitality business are on the shortlist, reflecting the diversity of the product we have in the Swansea Bay area.

"We would like to congratulate all the shortlisted entries and thank all those businesses who have entered. Together we can show that Swansea Bay has the potential to become the best tourist destination in Wales."