Wild-Live strives to offer you the best of Bushcraft, Survival-skills and Primitive Technology.
Most courses begin by teaching you the basics, the most important survival skills which allow you to live in most wilderness areas of the world. We then build on the basics, sharing the secrets of the ancients, and applying them to your environment.

Wild-Live’s courses are open to anyone, from any walk of life, because we feel that the skills we offer are everyone’s birth-right and as such are owned by any person who walks the earth. We also feel that these skills should be offered freely and fully, not holding any information back, as we wish to ensure that ancient knowledge never gets lost through the generations. The skills we offer come from various sources:

In the late nineties, Anthonio Akkermans (Founder of Wild-Live) met Ofer Israeli by chance. This meeting changed Anthonio’s life, as he had finally found a person who could teach Anthonio the skills he had been interested in since before he could remember.

Ofer was a wilderness tour guide in Israel for many years. He was trained as a bio-energetics therapist, practises Oriental martial arts and , since 1995, has been studying the native american way of living with the earth with Tom Brown jr. and his world-renowned school in the United States. When he moved to the Netherlands he founded a school called Insight Out, where he taught nature awareness programs and primitive technology. At the turn of the millenium, he moved back to Israel where he started a non-profit organisation caled Shomrei Hagan (“Keepers of the Garden”). With the organisation, he focuses on teaching people to become tutors, who in turn teach over 5000 children per year.

Ofer became Anthonio’s mentor, teaching him and supporting him to pass these important skills on. Under Ofer’s guidance, Anthonio started a youth-group in 1999 which allowed children and teenagers to come out into the woods and learn earth-living skills once a week. After a successful year of leading this youth-group, fate brought Anthonio to London

While living in London, Anthonio continued to practise his skills in the woods and parks in and around the city. He also travelled regularly to the United States to learn more skills at Tom Brown’s Tracker school. In 2001, Anthonio moved to Northern Ireland, where he made his dream a reality and founded Wild-Live.

Since the beginning of Wild-Live, hundreds of people have come and enjoyed the courses offered. Though students came from all over the globe and from many different backgrounds, they all learned skills they could bring home and make their own. Every student also took home something special, an understanding of how they could connect better with the world around them, and integrate these ancient skills with their daily lives.

Anthonio continues to learn new skills and develop his existing skills. He is an active member of the Society of Primitive Technology and recently completed a book about bushcraft and earthliving skills titled Extreme Survival, which is due to be published in 2005. He attends the Wilderness Gathering every year in an effort to pass on his skills and knowledge, while spreading awareness of the variety of skills available. When not teaching adults on his courses, Anthonio keeps busy by teaching teenagers through various charities and by showing archeology students at Queens University Belfast the way our ancestors lived their lives through demonstrations and lectures.

Anthonio is always eager to teach the next course and enjoys meeting new students who he can pass these important skills onto, as well as welcoming back returning students who want to delve further into the world of primitive technology.