About this course
Selva Alta is a two-day immersive course delivered by Endeavour Medical in Dartmoor's temperate Atlantic rainforest environment. The course provides an overview of common imported fevers encountered in UK practice and teaches doctors and healthcare professionals about the role of the expedition medic in rainforest environments, with hands-on learning in bushcraft skills and tropical medicine.
The course is designed for doctors and healthcare professionals of all grades seeking to develop expertise in expedition and remote medicine. Teaching is delivered by experienced professionals in the field and is aligned with UK Foundation Training and postgraduate specialty training curricula, covering clinical assessment and prioritisation, communication skills, ethical and legal principles, health promotion, and leadership. Endeavour faculty can complete work-based assessments (CEX, CBD) undertaken during the course, and reflective practice is encouraged throughout.
Day One combines classroom teaching with immersive forest activities. Participants trek through the forest learning about tropical diseases in their natural habitat — including bot flies and parasitic larvae, fungal diseases, water-borne infections such as schistosomiasis and leptospirosis, tick-borne illnesses including Lyme disease, venomous bites and stings, and the ecosystem impacts on disease transmission. Practical skills include forest navigation with machetes, hazardous river crossing techniques, and hammock setup. Day Two focuses on clinical management of tropical conditions: malaria on the medical take, tropical eye diseases, gastrointestinal diseases in tropical settings, dengue fever and vector-borne illness, and updates on monkeypox and viral haemorrhagic fevers (including a live link to Masanga Hospital in Sierra Leone).
The course is held at Dewerstone Cottage on Dartmoor and includes course tuition, meals from morning of Day One through breakfast on Day Two, and accommodation (hammocks or bunkhouse, weather dependent). Participants must provide their own travel, personal kit including sleeping bags, and outdoor clothing. The course offers 10 hours of CPD. A 20% discount is available for students and Allied Health Professionals.
- Two-day immersive field-based learning in temperate Atlantic rainforest
