Joel’s experience in the outdoors began from childhood growing up in South Africa and Tanzania, East Africa - in particular, living off the grid on an isolated stretch of tropical coastline of wild bush, hosting an array of animal species. 


I spent 12 years traveling the world through 40 countries and crossed oceans as a professional crew member, exploring some of the worlds most remote locations by sea. I have hiked, camped, and paddled in just about every type of ecosystem and trained in desert, alpine, jungle, and temperate survival methods. I have put myself into testing conditions with little more than a knife, water bottle, and the clothes on my back. I believe that there is no substitute for teaching from a position of real-life experience.


Joel started training people in 2015 in San Diego- California on the Los Coyotes Indian reservation. He taught folks from all walks of life including military, fire-fighters, boy scouts, school kids, celebrities, physically disabled and contestants of survival shows. He was a participant on Episode 3 of Discovery channels Bushcraft Build-Off, History channels Alone season 7 and Alone: The skills challenge.

Joel is a co-host of the Podcast IN THE BUSH with his good friend Cole Wilks