Instructors
Bob Cooper
For over 30 years Bob has honed his survival skills by learning from many traditional cultures. His experiences include living for extended periods with Aboriginal people in our Western Desert, sharing bushcraft abilities with the Bushmen of the Kalahari in Botswana also with the Lakota Sioux Indians in Dakota and jungle time with the Orang Asli people in Malaysia.
His roles have included instructing the Special Forces Units, conducting survival courses throughout Australia, lecturing with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Service on survival in the Mexican Desert and delivering wilderness lessons in the UK.
Ann Gerlach - Survival & Snake Handling Trainer
If curiosity killed the cat, it’s just as well Ann has become a skilled professional in the area of survival! Ann has always had an affinity for nature and an insatiable curiosity for everything that moves. This produced lots of mud, bites and some interesting exploits growing up on a sheep farm in Cornwall and later dairy farm in Western Australia.
Ben Atkinson - Snake Handling Trainer
Ben joined the team back in 2019 and is proving to be a very well respected trainer.
He has been a volunteer reptile remover for the past 10 years.
Ben has a fascination and deep respect for snakes, as with all facets of our natural world.
It is Ben’s hope that the participants of the snake courses gain a greater understanding and respect for snakes and can help to spread this awareness to the larger community.
Dave Tapper - Snake Handling Trainer
Dave Tapper was born and raised in the south-west of Western Australia he nurtured his interest in everything outdoors and spent a number of years as a commercial fisherman working up and down the West-Australian coast eventually settling in the town of Broome.
After a number of years in the iconic pearling industry Dave completed a venomous snake handling course and began his journey as a reptile removalist and carer.