[Level 1] Survival Workshop Singapore: Fire, Woodcraft, Knots & Outdoor Cooking on Pulau Ubin
Most people do not sign up for a survival workshop because they are expecting to get stranded in the wilderness next weekend.
They come because there is something satisfying about knowing how to do things for yourself.
Make a fire without a lighter.
Read the natural material around you.
Use a saw and axe properly.
Tie something that actually holds.
Cook over the fire you managed to keep alive.
Level 1 is where we start.
Our Level 1 Survival Workshop in Singapore is a five-hour, hands-on introduction to foundational bushcraft and outdoor survival skills, conducted at Jelutong Campsite on Pulau Ubin.
You do not need previous survival experience.
You do not need to be an outdoors expert.
You just need to be willing to get your hands involved.
And what makes these skills interesting is that they rarely stay inside the workshop.
We have watched the same foundations become a private family adventure, a corporate team challenge, a bachelor celebration and, for some people, the beginning of a much bigger relationship with the outdoors.
The skills start here. Where you take them afterwards is entirely up to you.
Level 1 at a Glance
Duration: 5 hours
Time: 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Location: Jelutong Campsite, Pulau Ubin, Singapore
Price: S$420 per person
Level 1 skills:
Foraging of natural materials
Fire lighting
Outdoor cooking
Wood sawing and chopping
Knots and lashing
What follows is the full picture. First, how the three workshop levels fit together. Then a closer look at every skill we cover in Level 1, including the equipment you will be handling on the day.
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF OUR SERIES OF SURVIVAL WORKSHOPS.
Think of the three levels as a progression. Level 1 builds the foundations. Level 2 asks you to build with them. Level 3 brings the skills together when things become less comfortable and more demanding.
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$420 per pax. Conducted on Saturdays, from 1pm to 6pm. You will learn foraging of natural materials, fire lighting, outdoor cooking, wood sawing and chopping, and knots and lashing. No previous experience needed.
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$450 per pax. Conducted on Sundays, from 1pm to 6pm. You will build a wooden mallet, a bushcraft stool, a natural shelter and a bushcraft stretcher. Level 1 has to be completed first.
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$480 per pax. We will schedule your session for the next available Saturday after you have cleared Level 1 and Level 2. You will learn bow drill friction fire, the rocket stove and the Swedish stove, and finish with a final survival simulation.
Sign up for all three workshops together for a greater deal at $1,150!
All our workshops will be conducted at Jelutong Campsite, Pulau Ubin, Singapore.
We also offer to host these workshops at your preferred locations too. Just send us an email inquiry at discover@beyondexpeditionssg.com with the proposed location, and we will take a look at the place and see if it is logistically feasible.
Here are the different survival skills and techniques you’ll learn in our Level 1 Survival workshop:
Foraging
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Foraging is the age-old practice of gathering food, resources, and materials from the natural environment. It's a skill that was once second nature to our ancestors, allowing them to thrive in the wilderness. In our modern era, where we're often disconnected from nature, rediscovering the art of foraging is a vital step towards reconnecting with the environment and learning to be self-reliant in the great outdoors.
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- Water Filtration
- Fire Lighting
- Shelter Building
- Food (e.g identification of edible, non-edible species)
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Participants will be taught the significance of foraging in camping, understanding its meaning and importance. Trainers will lead a walk in the campsite to learn how to search for resources, identify hazards, and then participants will have the chance to apply their knowledge in a quest to find specific items within the campground.
Wood Sawing and Chopping
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Saw (X4)
Brand: Silky
Model: Pocket Boy
Description: Black handle
Length: 17CM
Brand: Silky
Model: Big Boy
Description: Orange handle
Length: 20CM
Brand: Silky
Model: Katana Boy
Description: Black handle
Length: 50CM
Brand: Silky
Model: Katana Boy
Description: Green handle
Length: 60CM
Axe (X3)
Brand: Husqvarna
Model: Multi-Purpose Axe A2400
Description: Orange/Grey handle
Length: 70 CM
Weight: 2.8KG
Plastic cover
Brand: Gransfors Bruk
Model: Multi-Purpose Axe A2400
Description: Wooden Hand forged Felling Axe
Color: Brown handle
Length: 80CM
Weight: 1.8KG
Leather cover
Brand: Fiskars PRO
Model: IsoCore™
Description: Wood Splitting Maul
Colour: Orange/Black Handle
Length: 91CM
Weight: 3.6KG
Hatchet
Brand: Fiskars X7 Hatchet
Color: Orange handle
Weight: 645G
Length: 14Inch
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Wood sawing and chopping are essential survival skills with diverse benefits. They enable us to gather firewood for warmth and cooking, build shelters, craft tools, and create signal fires for communication and navigation. These skills also grant access to valuable resources and help in campsite preparation. Mastering wood sawing and chopping enhances our self-reliance in the wild, making them indispensable abilities for any outdoor adventurer.
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- Natural Shelter Building
- Collect firewood
- Building bushcraft tools
- Build furniture
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Participants will learn how to use different folding hand saws (Katana boy and Pocket boy) and various types of axes (Splitting Axe and Hatchet) for woodwork. They will receive demonstrations on proper handling and safety measures. During the session, participants will have hands-on opportunities to saw logs, cut branches, and chop wood into smaller pieces, enhancing their bushcraft skills.
Fire lighting
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Ferrocerium rod
Knife
Brand: Morakniv Bushcraft BlackBlade
Colour: Black
Weight: 174 G
Length: 26 CM
Note: The back of the saw blade can be used to strike the Ferro rod as well!
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Firelighting is a primal skill that has been passed down through generations, enabling humans to harness the power of fire for warmth, protection, cooking, and signaling for help. In the context of survival, mastering the art of firelighting is absolutely crucial.
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- Cooking
- Warmth
- Deter wild animals
- Boiling/ purification of water
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Trainers will explain the significance of fire lighting and provide detailed information about the necessary resources and methods. A demonstration will be given, highlighting safety precautions. Subsequently, participants will forage for suitable resources required for starting and maintaining a fire, applying their newly acquired knowledge in a practical setting.
The Same Fire. A Completely Different Day.
Level 1 teaches fire as a skill.
But once that skill leaves the workshop, it can become something else entirely.
For one family we hosted on Pulau Ubin, fire-making became part patience test, part family mission and eventually the reason lunch could happen at all.
The parents joined in.
The children worked at different levels according to their confidence and age.
Nobody stood on the side simply watching.
That is one of the things we love most about survival skills. The technique may stay the same, but the experience changes depending on who is around the fire.
See how we turned foundational survival skills into a private Pulau Ubin adventure for two parents and three siblings in Three Kids, One Fire, No Screens.
Knots and Lashing
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550 Paracords
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Knots and lashing are invaluable survival skills that offer diverse advantages in the wilderness. These skills enable us to secure equipment, build shelters, and craft tools and weapons effectively. Additionally, they play a crucial role in rescue and emergency situations, making them essential for any outdoor enthusiast seeking self-reliance and adaptability in nature.
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To be used for:
- Rescue
- Securing things together
- Lowering/ lifting items
- Securing things in place
- Improvised first aid
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Trainers will introduce three different types of knots and lashing, and show you the various ways we can apply these to our outdoor experience. If you had always thought you could never tie these knots, or believed only experts can achieve them, fear not! Our compassionate trainers will be there to guide you step by step, instilling confidence as you practice. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can master these skills, and we're here to support you every step of the way. So get ready to embrace the challenge and have a rewarding experience!
When Survival Skills Become Team Skills
Put a ferro rod, rope, timber or an unfamiliar outdoor problem in front of one person and you learn something about the individual.
Put the same problem in front of a team and things become much more interesting.
Who steps forward?
Who slows everyone down long enough to think?
Who notices the detail everyone else missed?
Who helps somebody who has never held the tool before?
That is why the same foundations behind our survival workshops also appear throughout many of our corporate programmes.
The objective changes.
We are no longer trying to teach a company how to survive in the wilderness.
We are using unfamiliar, hands-on situations to create communication, shared problem-solving, leadership, patience and the kind of interaction that is difficult to manufacture around a meeting-room table.
Your Team Isn’t Outdoorsy? Good.
One corporate team came to us with mixed fitness levels, different outdoor experience and a very honest warning that many of them would rather be in air-conditioning.
That became the design brief.
Your Team Isn’t Outdoorsy? Good. That’s Where the Team Building Starts.
When a Team Comes Back
GIC first experienced Beyond Expeditions through a Pulau Ubin survival workshop. They later returned with 72 employees for a completely different mission at Fort Serapong.
A repeat booking gave us the opportunity to keep the spirit of shared challenge while changing the terrain completely.
The Best Review Is When a Client Comes Back: GIC at Fort Serapong
When the Idea Has to Work for 220 People
For Galderma’s international incentive group, the same broad principles of hands-on outdoor participation had to work at an entirely different scale.
220 participants.
Different backgrounds.
Different comfort levels.
One shared outdoor experience.
Galderma Incentive Team Bonding in Singapore: Outdoor Connection Beyond the Ballroom
The tools are not the point. What people have to do together once the tools are in their hands is where things become interesting.
If that is the angle you are exploring, you can see more of our corporate team bonding experiences in Singapore.
The same foundation has also become something much more personal for private groups, including a Pulau Ubin bachelor day built around fire, wood, food and friendship.
A Different Kind of Bachelor Party: A Day of Fire, Wood and Friendship on Pulau Ubin
Level 1 Is the Starting Point
By the end of Level 1, fire, wood, rope and natural material should feel a little less foreign.
But we deliberately do not try to cram everything into one afternoon.
Level 2 takes those foundations and starts asking you to build with them.
Wooden mallets.
Bushcraft stools.
Natural shelters.
Improvised stretchers.
Then Level 3 changes the problem again, with friction fire, field stoves and a final survival simulation that asks you to draw several skills together.
Read more about the Level 2 Survival Workshop
Read more about the Level 3 Survival Workshop
And Then There Is the World Outside Ubin
Learning survival skills does not mean you suddenly need to disappear into the mountains.
And our Level 1 workshop is not a prerequisite for joining one of our overseas expeditions.
But something does change when basic outdoor skills stop feeling completely unfamiliar.
You start noticing the environment differently.
A fire is no longer just something somebody else makes.
Camp life makes more sense.
Being uncomfortable for a while feels less dramatic.
You become a little more curious about what sits beyond the next trail, village or horizon.
For some people, that curiosity stays in Singapore.
For others, it eventually gets much bigger.
Pulau Ubin can be the place you learn the basics. The world can be where you decide what to do with that confidence.
Mongolia
Steppe, desert, mountains, nomadic families and some very long roads through places where the landscape still dictates the rhythm of the day.
Bhutan
High mountains, remote communities and journeys where moving through the landscape becomes as much a part of the experience as the destination itself.
Kazakhstan
Wide-open landscapes, mountain country and a different introduction to Central Asia for travellers ready to step beyond the usual holiday script.
Start with one fire on Pulau Ubin. See how far your curiosity takes you.
Ready to Start With Level 1?
You do not need to know how to start a fire.
You do not need to know your knots.
You do not need to arrive looking like an expedition guide.
That is why Level 1 exists.
Come to Pulau Ubin, spend five hours getting your hands involved, and leave knowing a little more about what you can do outdoors for yourself.
Level 1 Survival Workshop FAQs
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Yes. Level 1 is the starting point in Beyond Expeditions’ three-level survival workshop progression and introduces foundational outdoor and bushcraft skills. Previous survival experience is not required.
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Level 1 covers foraging of natural materials, fire lighting, outdoor cooking, wood sawing and chopping, and knots and lashing.
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The workshop is conducted at Jelutong Campsite on Pulau Ubin, Singapore. Beyond Expeditions can also consider other locations where the programme is logistically feasible.
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Level 1 runs for five hours, currently from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
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Level 1 is $420 per person. Level 2 is $450 per person and Level 3 is $480 per person. Signing up for all three workshops together costs $1,150.
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Wear a long sleeved shirt, long pants and covered shoes, because you will be sawing and chopping wood. Bring insect repellent, sunscreen, a hat, sunglasses, your own drinking water bottle, a set of clean clothes for afterwards and a rain jacket in case of wet weather. All tools and camp craft gear are provided.
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The workshop still goes ahead. Survival happens in rain or shine, so the session continues in wet weather, and there is a sheltered area on site if a thunderstorm passes through.
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Everyone is welcome regardless of age, and no previous survival experience is needed. Each workshop is capped at eight participants so that everyone gets proper hands on time with the tools.
Related reading:
Read all about the workshop we hosted for Timberland’s team (47 employees), if you’re curious about what to expect if you bring your colleagues along for a Survival workshop with us!
And something else we offer that could be up your alley of adventurous ventures, would be our Beyond Limits series of expeditions. We host a series of charity expeditions we fondly name Beyond Limits, and as the name suggests, these expeditions are only for adventurers who are looking to push beyond their limits for a meaningful cause. If that sounds like your kind of challenge, take a look at the Beyond Limits series.
Activity details: We will meet directly at Jelutong campsite, Ubin island at 1pm. There you’ll learn essential survival skills and techniques, with the guidance of our experienced trainers and some top-notch quality camp craft gear! Throughout the event, BE team will act as your personal photographers, capturing memorable moments which we’ll process and send to you as a souvenir.
Duration: 5 hours
Meeting Time: 1pm
Meeting Location: Jelutong campsite, Ubin island
Price:
Level 1: $420 per pax
Level 2: $450 per pax
Level 3: $480 per pax
Sign up for all three workshops together for a greater deal at $1,150!
Everyone (no matter how young or old) is welcome!
Recommended attire:
Long-sleeved shirt, covered shoes and pants, as we’ll sawing and chopping wood
Insect repellent, if you don’t want to feed the mosquitoes!
Sunglasses
Sunscreen
Hat
Your own drinking water bottle
A set of clean clothes to freshen up after the activity
Rain jacket and pants, in case of wet weather
Wet weather plans: Just like how survival has to happen regardless of rain or shine, our adventure will continue even if it rains! We have a sheltered area to conduct the workshop if we do encounter a thunderstorm.
MEET YOUR ADVENTURE HOST
Scott Tay, Wilderness Sage
Introducing Scott, the seasoned Wilderness Survival Sage! You're in for an incredible experience with Scott at the helm. His infectious enthusiasm for adventure sets the stage for an inviting and friendly atmosphere, making everyone feel at ease from the get-go. But here’s a surprise; Scott is more than just a trainer! His culinary talents will leave you astounded.
