An Englishman, Australian and a Welshman decided to climb a mountain… Granted our other volunteers were doing it as well, but we set out to break the Camps record of 2 hours 23 minutes and get up Mount Kasigau in the Taita hills in under 2 hours.  After being told that this would be no small feat by numerous members of Camps’ staff, locals of the region, the guides and our own group! Myself, Tom Giles and Sam Purnell set off with our guide Manuel to try and set a new record.

Manuel immediately knew he was in for a rough time, as the concern on his face grew grave when we hadn’t slowed down for 20 minutes. The poor man thought that he was just going to have another leisurely tour to the top. Little did he know the feeling of determination inside us. We were taking the climb at full speed, shooting up the first third of the climb with minimal breaks and apart from the odd clash with a large and petrifying spider in the trees it was a relatively uneventful climb. The weather was with us throughout our whole climb, and after sacking off the beautiful views and photo opportunities in favour of the record we had trekked for 55 minutes for Manuel to tell us that we were three-quarters of the way to the top. By this point the pace of the climb had begun to take a toll on us and the legs began to lag. However this filled us with renewed vigour and led to us running the next 100 metres… A mistake of epic proportions! But we pressed on with a real feeling now that we may not just beat the Camps’ record, but also the fastest ever time of 1 hour 40 minutes. Manuel, by this time was unfortunately far behind. But with Giles leading the way up the path with like the devil was after him we approached the final 150 metre scramble with an hour and 30 minutes  on the clock. We hit the final hill running but it wasn’t long before we were on our hands and knees using whatever nook and cranny we could to hoist ourselves up. The taste of achievement was in our mouths and we walked to the summit three abreast like a very cheesy scene from a movie, but we didn’t care. We had done it! We had managed to make it up in a new world record time of 1 hour, 35 minutes and 47 seconds.

Much to the disbelief of Manuel who came panting up a few minutes later. It was hugs all round while collapsing for the next 30 minutes in the sun to dry off while the rest of our group made it up. A special mention should go to them as well as everybody from our group made it up faster than the previous Camps’ record. But the Englishman, Australian and Welshman hope that our time stands for many years to come!!

Patrick Wall

“As we wound down our summer season with a big smile of satisfaction and some relief, I could not help but think how middle class high school Kenyan students would fit into a program like ours. Most of our hip youth loathe the thought of spending a long weekend in ‘shags’ let alone spending a month planting trees and digging toilets. Then I wondered whether this lot who spend their holidays hanging out in Nairobi’s shopping malls would feel about spending a month in the south of France picking grapes in a vineyard or working on a sheep farm in the UK? Would this appeal to them?

Over the course of two months we hosted about 650 students from the UK in Kenya and Tanzania who spent a month in country working hard and playing hard. I recalled scenes of 30-40 pairs of hands digging away under the baking sun as they eagerly tried to complete their target on a trench in yet another neglected primary school on the periphery of Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary. I remembered another group who sang through the entire six days of laying blocks for a classroom in a little primary school tucked away on the South Coast and I smiled thinking about the team who refused to stop working until they finished breaking the old concrete of a massive water tank for cattle that was to be restored for elephants on Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary.

This was my third full-blown season with Camps International – a responsible Travel company that operates its own camps and projects across the Coast Province in Kenya and around the Arusha-Moshi region in northern Tanzania and on the east in Tanga. With the primary clientele being under 18 high school students from the UK, one is immediately inclined to wonder how you would convince a teenager who has just completed high school to spend their first month of freedom taking bucket baths and digging holes in the African outback.

And equally important, is the enigma that 95% of these students actually fundraise and work odd jobs for over a year to save up and come out for these trips. This is not mommy and daddy paying to get rid of little Johnny for the summer. This is someone who believes that this is the right thing to do: a young mind who chooses to spend a month working on various projects that they may or may not see to completion on a continent that they have never set foot on and in the case of Kenya, probably the only thing they have heard is that people were hacking one another to pieces over some rigged election less than two years ago.

Expeditions such as the ones Camps International offer are part of a growing trend across the globe. For those that work in the industry, you will be very familiar with the ‘Gap Year’ industry which is all about offering young people a useful holiday which gives them exposure to new cultures and societies and hands on experience with various ‘problems’ from wildlife conservation to community development in parts of the world like ours – the so-called Third World. In the UK, taking a ‘gap year’ has become so much the norm that one would be considered weird if they went straight to University out of High School.

Like any other trend, the gap industry has not been spared from the critical gaze of the media, which keeps a tab on just how these expeditions are packaged. It’s a necessary evil that keep its eye on the profit moguls for like anything else that operates in regions like ours, it is so easy to turn pictures of swollen bellies and fly infested children or elephants grazing peacefully on the savanna landscape into profit.  As a Kenyan, I loathe what Africa has become in the western eyes (more so because we allowed it to happen) and thus approached entry into the responsible travel industry very cautiously.

Having worked in the not-for-profit sector for the past 15 years, words like ‘sustainable’, ‘eco’, ‘responsible’ ‘community’ had long since become a cryptic crossword divorced from the reality that they are used to describe. Most people who are not in the NGO are very skeptical about this do-good industry but that is another discussion. Suffice to say, that from where I am sitting now in a company that employs over 60 people and spends millions of shillings building schools, creating income generating activities for various local youth groups and women’s groups, repairs water tanks for elephants, builds new homes for widows and the elderly, plants thousands of trees and still manages to make some profit – I would like to think that those countless workshops and conferences that led to trends like ‘responsible travel’ and ‘sustainable tourism’ have actually played their part in creating what I hope one day will be the norm and not the exception.”

“So, it is nice to be asked to do this and be involved,” he said.

“Besides, I am a fan of Asia, I love being in Asia. I love coming to Asia.

Here’s the progress of the trial scientific initiative involving  Michael Galante, a doctorate student at the University of Edinburgh,  Scotland who has been been running experiments and collecting research with the Sabah Forestry Department and the State Government of Sabah.

Camps is endeavoring to incorporate professional scientific work within its already successful framework of gap and school year programs. Michael’s research examines the climate change mitigation potential through the implementation of a new forest policy that mandates the implementation of “reduced-impact logging” in all production forests in the State of Sabah, Malaysia. In doing so, Michael will quantify the volume of carbon before and after logging and thus, determine the amount of carbon “avoided” from entering the atmosphere.

Michael, in collaboration with the Sabah Forestry Department and assisted by Camp Borneo have recently established the inception sample plots in the production forest of Sabah Forest Industries, Sipitang Sabah. “These forest areas are some of the most extreme forest areas I have ever worked in” said Michael. “Plateauing at over 1,400m above-sea-level, these forest areas are very interesting to work in and will make fantastic examples of the potential of sustainable forest management and reduced-impact logging in the State of Sabah” he continued.

Camps specifically are assisting with logistical support, local assistants on data collection and camping equipment to complete the sampling in a timely fashion. The concept is to develop professional ties with local governments and international scientific research for the development of a Scientific Youth-Program which can be offered to Gap-year and school expedition programs. While continuing the trend of ethical journeys, the program aims to broaden the scope of available programs to those individuals who are keen to learn more about the field of natural resource management, scientific education, discovery and evaluation.

While this is just the beginning of development phase of the program, we believe that this work can have lasting impact on the lives of those whom participate, specifically those wishing to pursue an academic science related field of study.

This is an annual event that organized by Sporting Conservation and its aim is to raise funds towards small marine conservation projects and the Camp Kenya Trust was to be the recipient of this year’s grant. This being our first year to participate also proved to be the most successful in more ways than one. It was a record breaker in the sense that 30 teams graced the occasion making the tournament the biggest the Mombasa county has ever held and Baraka Mangrove Conservation group from Makongeni will be the beneficiaries with the proceeds from the tournament. This is a community group that Camp Kenya work very closely with as many of you will know first hand. We have been involved in some of their income generating projects such as fish farming, and general mangrove conservation to mention a few. Last year we started to construct a small resource centre from the group and the proceeds from this event will allocated to our little kitty (and yes, we still need a fair bit more !)

Preparations were underway by the beginning of March and we were to send a strong team to the tournament. The Camp Kenya team comprised of at least a member from each department: project officers, workshop and transport. Staff from other departments came out to cheer the team on and took this opportunity to bring their little ones with them and had a great time on the beach. We also thought we should include a youth soccer team from Makongeni. The Barcelona youth football team represented Baraka group as they both came from the same locality (Makongeni).

On the 7th and 8th all roads led to north coast. Teams were divided into 4 groups/pools which participated in the knockout rounds. Both Camp Kenya and Barcelona Youth were eliminated in the group stages but we did not leave empty handed. The Makongeni youth team got a certificate for being the most promising team having had the youngest players in the tournament. They also earned themselves a 50% discount on a computer course with one of the leading colleges in town (Yaris Institution of Information and Business Studies). Camp Kenya’s team were awarded 15 x vouchers worth kshs.1000 to purchase goods at Vijay optica in Mombasa. And the Camp Kenya Trust received a grant of Ksh 75,000/- dedicated to the resource centre we are building for the Baraka Mangrove Conservation Group.

Great event all round, very well organised with a Doctor on site, drinking water, food, music/MC’s and loads of fun.

We would like to give a huge thanks to Sporting Conservation in collaboration with Left Foot Sports for their dedication towards supporting local grassroots projects. We would also like thank Muthaiga Mini Market and Safia drinking water suppliers for supporting our teams with refreshments. And of course, our close friends at Kinondo Kwetu who also supported a team for the event!

Till next year…Asante!

It was with great celebration that Arkitrek Camp 2 came to an end last weekend after nearly a month of hard work in the scorching Mantanani sun. The camp is a partnership with our friends at Arkitrek to hold a camp for student and professional architects, designers, engineers and anyone with an interest in sustainable development, to explore methods of designing and building a structure to a live brief utilising local knowledge and modern insight.

The brief on this occasion was to use as much locally sourced material as possible to create a prototype accomodation block to replace our old Tented area in the camp. This finished block will be replicated behind the camp a further 6 times until we reach our maximum possible volume. The brief also required the structure to be part of a camp wide water catchment system allowing us to harvest as much rain water as possible to be used for showers, toilets, cleaning etc… which limits our use of the native water table. But harvesting rain water from a traditionl style thatch roof is no easy task, so the team had their work cut out.

Through a process of consultation, design and build, the team came up with an impressive solution utilising local materials inlcuding driftwood, as well as recycled materials that had washed up on the beach and left over parts of previous structures. The design is a simple driftwood and thatch structure, with overlapping hammocks to create a fascinating and, importantly, cool and ventilated accomodation area. Using plans drawn up by the group we will now be able to replicate this design across the rest of the camp creating a great place for our future volunteers, with the first groups to try out the new accomodation being our Summer 2012 UK Teams.

And excitingly the water catchment on the accomodation blocks is a step closer to our goal of making all of our camps as sustainable as possible and limiting our impact on the local environment. I can’t wait to see the camp upgraded over the coming weeks and it will be exciting to see the reaction of the first volunteers to see their new home Camp Mantanani.

A big thanks to the Arkitrek Team and our volunteers for making Camp 2 such a great success.

My Name is Izi Dragonetti

The best thing about working for Camps is the welcoming and relaxed atmosphere that greets you everyday, oh, and also being a part of something worthwhile!

Ideally I’d like for Camps to send me to all of our destinations. Then I will truly be able to speak with authority about the projects we run and the uniqueness of each destination. But if I had to pick…Borneo or Cambodia!

I think probably the best and most memorable place I have been is Kerala, India and in particular the backwaters of Cochin.

I think my favorite  camps project is probably Camp Kenya, simply because I have been a gapper there in the past, and I feel quite protective of the project work I was involved in.

My best advice for someone considering taking a gap year would be to JFDI. Also go on your own and travel light! follow the gap team on twitter @campsgapyear

Expedition Co-ordinator

Sarah has travelled extensively in the middle East and is pictured here at a spring in the Egyptian desert. We asked her a few questions about Camps International to get to know her better.

Q: What do you like best about working for Camps?

A: How passionate everyone in the company is about what we do. And of course, the people and animals!

Q: Where would you most like to go with Camps?

 A: All of them!! But if i HAD to choose i think Ecuador has the edge…

 Q: Favorite place you’ve ever been?

A: Egypt

Q: Your favourite camps project:

Helping to improve a community run aquarium that takes in injured marine wildlife such as sea lions, marine turtles, sea birds and even penguins on the coast in Ecuador.

Q: Best piece of advice for anyone considering a gap or life trip:

A: MAKE LIKE NIKE AND JUST DO IT!!!

Thanks Sarah.

As seasoned travellers we have scoured the globe for the best prize and have chosen the Haglöf  OXO 60 trekking pack - worth a whopping £200! This pack is perfectly suited for all of our various adventures and expeditions. All you have to do is choose your Gap or Life destination and book before the end of April 2012 (5pm GMT on 30th April 2012) to be included in the draw. If you’re considering a Camps International expedition then now’s your chance to save yourself an essential travel purchase.

As usual with these offers we will choose the winner from a hat and post the video on our Facebook page so that you can see the draw. The prize draw will be held on the 1st May 2012.

Check out all the bag’s fancy features:

1. Quick and easy adjustable shoulder harness system.
2. Gender specific back-panel, shoulder harness and hipbelt (we will supply the winner with the correct bag for them)
3. Load-distributing framework with contoured head space.
4. HDPE frame-sheet with single 6061 aluminium stay.
5. High loft lumbar-pad with ventilating dual density foams.
6. Haglöfs unique side panel Flex-Pocket™ with water resistant zippers.
7. Large front panel zip-opening for easy access to main compartment.
8. Double wand pockets.
9. Angled water bottle holders.
10. Divider in main compartment.
11. Sleeping bag compartment.
12. Double pockets and water resistant zipper.
13. Fully seam taped rain-cover in separate bottom compartment.
14. Lashing points for sleeping pad on front panel.

So what are you waiting for? Enquire now to find out more about the trips available to you, or book online now! You can also give us a call on 0844 800 1127 to have a chat with one of the team. This prize draw only applies to new Gap and Life bookings made during April 2012.

What’s Hot in April?

April is our biggest month for Family life sales and so far this year we have been filling up Kenya and Tanzania with excited families wanting to do something different. The Healthcare Outreach programmes in Cambodia and Kenya are producing a lot of interest with repeat bookings from last year and new ones who have heard how successful the last one  to Kenya was.

2012 has seen the level of spending by gap year clients rise as our gappers look to stay longer with us at each camp. The best thing about staying longer is not just the impact but you get to see more wildlife, more communities, more environments and of course much more fun. If you book 2 months in Borneo it includes a stay on the tropical island of Mantanani where the Arkitrek guys have just finished their latest project. There are also some incredible projects taking place in Camp Kenya this year including the Sanitary Pads initiative at Muhaka Village and the Wildlife monitoring in Camp Tsavo. If you book to go to Kenya on your gap year you have a great chance of taking part on these and many more ground breaking projects.

If you’re interested just drop us a line via email: gap@campsinternational.com or call +44 (0)8448001127.