Desert Island Survival - London

Toby H.

We are just home from an amazing week living on a desert island off the pacific coast of Panama and it was a truly amazing experience that stripped us of all our modern conveniences and took us back to the basics of life. Tom and his incredible team of survival experts clearly love passing on their extensive survival knowledge and we all did our best to soak it up and learn as much as possible. The team at Desert Island Survival are so knowledgeable and passionate about what they do, they are so inspiring and just lovely humans making it an absolute privilege to spend time with them. Needless to say that after 4 days of survival training by this great team we were armed with enough knowledge to go and survive ourselves for 3 more days where we put our new found skills to the test. We made it and loved the whole experience. Learned many new skills, made new friends and developed a new perspective on life.
I cannot recommend Tom and Dessert Island Adventures enough. Just sign up and give it a go cos it’s an experience of a life time.

Chris L. L.

What an amazing experience! Tom ran things extremely well. I always felt that I was taken care of. The island had tons of resources to use, and was stunningly beautiful. But that didn't take away from being challenged. I learned so many things on my trip that I couldn't have done any other way - a totally immersive experience. All the way along, it was a pleasure, a mix of challenge, and excitement for accomplishing goals I set for myself. The guides/instructors are extremely knowledgeable, and accommodating. I would highly recommend taking this trip, it will highlight things to be thankful for in your everyday life, things we normally take for granted. Worth all the money, and time dedicated to this adventure. Do it while you can!

Sarah-Jane S.

Our Desert Island Survival adventure off the coast of Panama, was truly phenomenal. It was an absolutely authententic & comprehensive experience, delivered by the most highly trained & talented instructors. They worked so, so hard to ensure they passed on their knowledge & positivity to us through the training stage so that we were set up for success when we broke into our tribes, for the survival phase. It was amazing fun on top of the new skills that we learnt, and it was a complete and utter privilege to spend time with such talented & passionate individuals…Azrael, Tom McElroy, Naomi, Nick, Layla, Tom W…you’re all ROCK STARS! You gave us the trip of a lifetime…with memories to match. THANK YOU! 🙏🏼

thomas N.

I'm not sure where to start, this was one of the best trips I've ever done. I learnt invaluable skills, reconnected to nature, reassessed whats really important to me, and made some new friends along the way. I can't recommend this enough to anyone who wants to learn more about themselves and tackle challenges they simply can't face anywhere else. This is all topped off by the backdrop of paradise.

Adrian A. J.

It is unbeleivably hard to put into words just how amazing my experience was on the Desert Island Survival trip to Panama!!!
Tom and his entire world class team were inspirational, knowledgeable, supportive and absolutely amazing instructors. I learned so many new skills that I cannot wait to showoff and pass on to others.
The team encouraged everyone to push themselves beyond where they believed their limits where, in a safe and supported environment.
I have come away with a new outlook on my own capabilities and inspired to do more with less appreciating all the amazing things in nature all around us.

Tom and team Desert Island Survival I send my heart felt thanks for everything. I will carry these memories on for life and hope I can add to them on another adventure soon.

Philip B.

Just back from the Tonga trip and can honestly say this was an amazing life changing experience.

The team were super helpful in the run up to the trip, answering questions, helping with travel arrangements and dates, even though the trip was far away.

Once in Tonga, we all got our domestic flight together which was great to meet everyone, we had a fun group of well travelled folk with us. We arrived at kitesurf Tonga, a beautiful eco resort with the friendliest hosts and were welcomed with fresh coconut water in a coconut. One night and a lovely dinner at kitesurf Tonga and the following day we took a boat to the island. We unloaded and set up our hammocks in the rain and mercifully the weather improved in time for us to have a nice camp dinner. The following morning we woke to see the island in all its glory in the sunshine, and what an absolute paradise it was. From here we spent 5 days training, learning to make fire with a bow drill, husking coconuts, creating a hand fishing line and fishing, climbing coconut trees, making cordage from plants, building shelter... Each day we had plenty of downtime for exploring and snorkelling in the beautiful waters too. For training, we slept in hammocks and slept well. We also had three meals a day , so at this point it was extreme camping on a beautiful remote island, while training survival. The instructors were super knowledgeable and helpful and are practically celebrities in the bushcraft world.

I was also lucky enough to have my birthday on the island and on the day the owner, Tom made me feel extra special, making me teas, and such and we had a big bonfire to celebrate, which was brilliant.

What stuck me was remoteness and how beautiful the island was, at night time you could clearly see all the stars and even the milky way; breathtaking. As we were in the winter months the sunshine wasn't too harsh, and, being the dry season as well meant that mosquito activity was minimal, though I did get a few bites sleeping in the open during survival phase.

After the training we split off into groups and went off to survive on our own, we had a water ration only, no food, no hammocks, and just a machete, knife, and any equipment we crafted during training.

My team of 2 thrived during these three days, though it was one of the most grueling experiences I've been through, not being able to eat three meals a day, fighting for fire, struggling to get coconuts and open them, and having to fish, prepare and cook for hours just to eat. It was a real eye opener and as one of our group called it, a 'gratefulness reset' - I'll never take a tap or microwave or supermarket for granted now! This part was amazing and we finished off with a bonfire and hermit crab races on our final day, great fun!

Finally we got picked up from the island the next day, and we were fed a huge breakfast and then got the boat to go and swim with HUMPBACK WHALES. This was really incredible, and we were really lucky to get perfect weather and even two swims face to face, just meters away from these giant, bus-sized gentle giants of the ocean. This was truly amazing and definitely a life-highlight for me. Even many of our well travelled companions on the trip were absolutely blown away by this part.

From here we had a couple of days to recover and relax back at kitesurf Tonga, having lovely meals and snorkelling at the nearby reef. The owners here were really lovely people.

Finally we got our domestic flight back and the trip was over. What an experience!

I just want to say thank you to Tom Williams the owner who made the trip extra special and was fantastic throughout and has created something really incredible with these desert island experiences, something I had always wanted to do but never knew it was possible. Thanks also to Layla who handles the admin side who was super helpful with questions and queries throughout.

All in all, I couldn't recommend this enough, if you enjoy camping, and beautiful tropical islands and want to challenge yourself , then this is definitely for you!

David S.

At first impression the survival trips may be quite attractive thanks to marketing and the Homepage, but when you look into the different offers, you realize that they are all incredibly expensive. When I think about spending over 5000 euros on an island for a few days without anything in return. There are so many companies that can do trips like this for a fraction of the cost. You can use the money to go to Antarctica, the Maldives and also pay for a survival trip. The majority of the costs you simply don't get anything in return for 70% of the money. If you're really looking for an adventure like that, you don't have to pay such an overpriced price.

Ciara R.

Amazing! ☀️ This trip was incredible, and I am so glad I did it! I would 100% recommended this company, they are great. They offer consistent communication and support from booking to preparing for your trip, and look after you well during it.

My trip to Panama was definitely what I hoped it would be and more! From endless swims in the crystal clear water, to great survival teaching from Tom, to nights around the fire 🔥

If you’ve always dreamed of life on a deserted island.. what are you waiting for 😀 🌴 🐠