Nidhi Tiwari is an outdoor professional with a difference: while she loves the outdoors and has made it her career, she also realizes that if things happen to go wrong there needs to be someone around who knows what they are doing! That was why, along with fifteen other like-minded individuals, Nidhi signed up for the Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course, organized by Wildcraft in association with the Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) part of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), USA.

At the end of the intensive course Nidhi and her course-mates felt a new surge of confidence to take on any medical challenge the outdoors might throw at them. From asphyxiation to snake bite, a broken limb to a bloody wound, they came away equipped with knowledge on exactly what to do so alleviate the situation. Nidhi decided to write about her experiences in the Deccan Herald: you can read more here.

Is it not easy to see why we are greedy? Step out and listen to a river or a brook flowing over pebbles, gaze at the sunlight bounce off the snow on a mountain or stroll through a rainforest… you can’t have enough. It is in the nature of things to be greedy.

The tangy, hint-of-iodine scented ocean breeze is so good, yeh dil mange more; snow covered peaks can calm the mind, and a walk through the woods can uncover the amazing bounty of nature. Even a camel ride through desert sands, across vast and endless landscapes can have a miraculous effect — the mind slows down as it searches for nothing, because it begins to see the tremendous play of nature in something as simple as sand.

Step out for a bit

Are you out of your mind? You are in no shape to clamber over hills!” As a first time trek enthusiast, I’m sure you’ve heard this line before. Somehow most people think you have to be a cross between a body builder and a marathon runner to be an outdoor lover. Or you have to be a mountain goat, have the temperament of a sherpa to lug stuff all over the landscape, and generally be skilled with outdoor survival.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, the first time you climb a mountain your body will revolt. Your lungs will burn, your muscles will put you through punishment far worse than you might have experienced. And yes, you will have trouble pitching the tent and getting dinner going. But then there will always be something intangible that will drive you ahead. Your belief in yourself.