📌 Course Overview
Equip yourself with the critical survival skill of analogue navigation. The Basic Land Navigation & Terrain Analysis course is a comprehensive, hands-on field school designed for first responders, outdoor enthusiasts, and survival practitioners.
Over 3 days and 2 nights in an outdoor setting, participants will transition from core compass techniques to advanced topographic map interpretation, grid coordinate plotting, night navigation, and real-world search operations. Whether you operate in search-and-rescue (SAR), lead backcountry expeditions, or build self-reliance skills, this course ensures you can navigate confidently without relying on cellular signal or digital GPS devices.
🎯 Who Should Attend?
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First Responders & Safety Personnel: Enhance tactical mapping, SAR grid searches, and field reporting precision.
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Outdoor Enthusiasts & Mountaineers: Learn to read terrain features, avoid hazardous routes, and navigate safely off-grid.
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Survival Practitioners & Bushcrafters: Master foundational pace-counting, directional bearings, and low-visibility movement.
⏱️ Course Schedule Summary
- Day 1: 08:00 AM – 08:30 PM (Compass Mechanics, Pace Counting & Field Orienteering)
- Day 2: 08:00 AM – 10:30 PM (Map Reading, Declination, Topography & Night Navigation)
- Day 3: 07:30 AM – 03:30 PM (Review, Mock Search & Retrieval SIMEX, Awarding)
🎒 Course Prerequisites & Gear Requirements
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Prerequisites: Open to all experience levels; moderate physical fitness recommended for field navigation.
🎒 What to Bring
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Tents / shelter system and camping gear
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Personal meals and cookware
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Suitable outdoor footwear for rugged terrain
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Headlamp with red light mode
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Compass (baseplate or lensatic)
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Field notebook and writing instruments
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Weather-appropriate outdoor clothing
💳 Registration Fee & Inclusions
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Course Fee: ₱2,500 per participant
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Inclusions:
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Official Event T-Shirt
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Venue Access & Camping Fees
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Professional Instructor Fees & Instruction
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Course Giveaways & Event Kit
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Iris Tan –
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ **A Truly Challenging, Immersive, and Fulfilling Experience with SOSC!**
The Basic Land Navigation and Terrain Analysis Course with SOSC, led by Ricky Petiluna, Shou Cortes, and Cyndric Quijano, is hands down one of the most challenging courses I’ve taken—and one of the most fun, immersive, and rewarding experiences!
This is not your usual course that you can easily find online or something that just anyone can offer. It’s a hands-on experience that will test you physically, mentally, emotionally, and even your common sense! 😂 It’s exhausting, demanding, and sometimes uncomfortable, but incredibly fulfilling. I can honestly say that I **earned this certificate**.
Throughout the course, I learned practical land navigation skills, including plotting UTM coordinates, calculating distances and bearings, and determining my exact location using just two known points. These may sound simple when explained in theory, but applying them in the field is a completely different story. It challenges you to think, observe, analyze, and trust your skills even when things get difficult.
Huge thanks to Ricky and the team for being so knowledgeable, friendly, approachable, and genuinely passionate about sharing their expertise. They don’t just teach you the concepts; they make sure you experience them firsthand and learn through actual application.
And the classroom? **The great outdoors!** 🏕️🌿 You don’t just learn land navigation—you also get to experience what outdoor living is really like. From pitching your tent on a semi-inclined surface to discovering that your campsite is basically an ant convention 😂, every little thing becomes part of the adventure. And when heavy rain comes pouring down, you find yourself anxiously checking the rising water and figuring out whether it’s time to move your tent somewhere safer. Just when you think you’ve overcome one challenge, another one comes along!
These moments teach you more than technical skills. They teach you adaptability, patience, problem-solving, resilience, and how to stay calm and think clearly when things don’t go according to plan.
Another unexpected treasure was meeting like-minded people who started as fellow participants and are now friends. Sharing the challenges, laughter, exhaustion, and little victories made the entire experience even more meaningful.
If you’re looking for a course that will take you out of your comfort zone, challenge you in ways you didn’t expect, and give you practical skills you can actually use, **I highly recommend the Basic Land Navigation and Terrain Analysis Course and SOSC!** Don’t just take my word for it—experience it yourself.
Thank you, SOSC, Ricky, Shou, Cyndric, and everyone who made this experience unforgettable. Looking forward to joining your upcoming courses and taking on the next challenge!
Rod E. –
Hi, complete outdoor beginner here. My first time camping and hiking happened on this course. Even so, I didn’t have a hard time adjusting especially since 1. Sir Ricky Petiluna was very responsive to my messages and concerns, 2. the other instructors, sir Shou and sir Cydrick delivered their instructions in an effectively paced manner, and 3. the other classmates taking this course made sure of my safety and to include me during the team exercises even if I tend to slow down or lag behind.
I highly encourage taking up this course the next time it’s available. For other complete beginners like me, I can assure you that it’ll be okay and that sir Ricky is very responsive to questions if you contact him via WhatsApp in the Survival and Outdoor Skills Cebu Facebook Page. Thank you SOSC!
Alpha1 –
I have been to other BLNCs already, and I can say that this is by far the best BLNC that I have attended. From the venue (an outdoor setting), which is very appropriate for testing the skills of the participants, to the very hands-on instructors, the equipment, and the participants themselves, who were very interactive and proactive.
I thought this was just like other Land Navigation courses that I had joined, but to my surprise, this is different. You might think you already know every nook and cranny of your compass and maps, yet you’ll be surprised to find there are still lots of things you didn’t know.
Then comes the simex, you will have a complete experience of a real outdoor mapping and adventure that will test your resolve, will, and decision-making. That made this course a whole lot different from the others.
This course is worth taking; very worth it. To all outdoor enthusiasts out there who are planning on improving themselves, I highly recommend this course, from this group. 100%!
Kim Phillip Aying –
The Basic Land Navigation and Terrain Analysis course offered by SOSC will exceed your expectations. The mentors tailor their hands-on teaching so that learners of all levels (yes, even complete beginners like me) can grasp the concepts. That’s possible thanks to their patience and sense of humor, a combination you’ll appreciate once you’re in. 😂
Personally, I’d call this course a walk in the park, as long as that park is Jurassic Park. On a serious note, it will challenge you physically and mentally. Remember the unit conversions and ruler-based distance calculations from high school? They’re back. The outdoor terrain will test your endurance, while the objectives will test your judgment in assessing risk, your sense of direction, and your resolve to keep going.
The course embodies the mantra “Growth never happens in your comfort zone.” It will push you out of it, but you’ll finish with real growth and skills to show for it.
Don’t just take my word for it. Experience it yourself and learn the valuable skills of Land Navigation and Terrain Analysis.