On all Pristine Trails treks, your lead guide will be a certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR). But what does that mean and why should you care?
All Kilimanjaro guides are required to be licensed by the Kilimanjaro National Park Authority. The topics covered as part of this licensing include park regulations, introduction to ecology, basic first aid and basic client relationship management.
While all of this is important, there is so much more that we believe your guide should be knowledgeable about to ensure your health and safety on any trek. Therefore, we send all lead guides to an intensive Wilderness First Responder (WFR) training course and require their certification before employment and re-certification compliance for continued employment.
Wilderness First Responder (WFR)-certified guides have received in-depth wilderness medicine education in addition to training about decision making and practical skills that all combine to keep you happy, healthy and safe on your trek. The course is comprehensive, covering a wide range of topics and skills, outlined below:
- Scene assessment
- Patient assessment
- Identifying life-threatening injuries
- CPR
- Caring for injuries and illnesses, including how to stop bleeding, cleaning and caring for wounds, managing and splinting fractured bones and joints
- How to safely move patients
- Injury and illness prevention
- Long-term injury and illness management
- Improvised litter construction
- Environmental emergencies
- Honing assessment, critical thinking and decision-making skills
At Pristine Trails, our guides have typically worked within our system for years, often starting out as porters, being promoted to Assistant Guides, and then finally to Lead Guides once they exhibit readiness. It is at that stage of promotion to Lead Guide that we finance their Wilderness First Responder (WFR) training and elevate them to lead you to the Rooftop of Africa!
