Whilst out in Borneo we had an idea to give out some disposable cameras to a group of local children in Bongkud.
The idea was for them to give us an insight into their daily lives by taking pictures of their friends, family, pets, school and their village. Hopefully giving us a chance to see a true side of what life is like as a young child of Bongkud. A side that we would otherwise rarely get to see.
Eight children from the local school were given the cameras and all but one camera was returned, once developed the plan had worked and we were presented with a great selection of fun photos.
Have a look at some of the best photos put together in this slideshow.
For more information on how to get involved in our volunteer gap programmes in Borneo, Malaysia click here.
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I left Frankfurt on Tuesday for the first of 8 flights in 8 days on a mission to see as many of our Asia Team and volunteers as possible, check out our new plot of land in Cambodia, our new camp in Borneo and sneak in a temple or two. Sleep has taken a back seat but its been brilliant.
37 years to build - apparently
Cambodia is truly epic and feels to great to be at the start of a journey that we will commit to for the long term.
Amazing temple next door to our new camp
Our land is connected to an orphanage and we have allocated several of our 7 acres to farming to provide food for the kids. Amazing spot for perma-culture, teaching, reforestation, fuel efficient stoves, cultural immersion and the people are wonderful.
The land we will allocate for food for the orphanage
Having said the people are wonderful I do need to draw your attention to a few dubious local practices. This guy took one hour showing us around the temple next to camp and we decided to arm wrestle for the extra dollar tip. You can clearly see in this picture that he is using TWO HANDS! I lost after an appeal and press up competition.
Clearly didn't realise he is meant to let the boss win!
I reckon I can sleep pretty much anywhere…..this guy wins.
In preparation for the arrival of school teams at our wonderful camp Borneo this summer, Anna and I have the laborious task of visiting Malaysia ourselves- it’s a hard life!
5 days in and it feels we have been here forever and we never want to leave- I am officially in love with Sabah! Although it has been a real whistle stop tour I have been nothing but enamoured with not only the culture, people, landscapes and wildlife, but also of course the incredible work being undertaken by our volunteers over here!
Sabah really is a stunning place with such diversity between the hustle of towns such as Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu compared with the tranquil settings of the hilltops, mountain and jungle, there really is so much to see here and so much great project work to be done to help the amazing, friendly and welcoming people of Sabah, Borneo.
So far this week we have been to visit all of our camps across Sabah in the preparation for our school teams who start to arrive today!!!! We have been to Bongkud- our brand new team camp where we also got to try our hand at their traditional bamboo dance- nice try Anna, at least we were able to give the locals a good giggle- Anna however is now convinced that she is a pro!?
Following Bongkud we headed out to Batu Puteh- our amazing jungle camp which is accessible via a boat ride along the incredible Kinabatangan river- where we were extremely lucky to spot an Orang-utan in the wild!!!! We were so excited I’m surprised we didn’t capsize the boat!
We have also been to visit Sabah Tea plantation and had spectacular views of mount Kinabalu along the way- this is no M25 journey!
A quick boat ride over to the stunning island of Mantanani enabled us to visit the community, the school for whom we are building a pre-school and the camp and project sites- all lovingly overseen by Aida, our camp manager. Of course we couldn’t leave without taking a quick dip in the beautiful turquoise waters to cool off- jealous anyone?
Everyone here is really excited to welcome our teams in and get stuck in to the project work! Bring on the shovels!
Though I’d spent time in the Malaysian state of Sabah before, three months back in 2007, the previous seven days have brought home to me just how little of this part of Borneo I had actually seen and what I’ve been missing! Thinking of coming? Well I’ve just traversed North, South, East and West of [...]
It’s no secret that there is a lot of lip service and token support to communities and the environment in the responsible travel industry. The good news though is that the traveller (yes, that’s you!) and the media world are a lot more aware and conscious of what it really means to be ‘responsible’ and people ask all the right questions.
We are certainly always asking ourselves the same questions and redefining, adapting and continuously figuring out what we can do to improve our commitment to sustainable environmental and community projects. Yes, we get it wrong sometimes but we are willing to admit that. But, we also know from a lot of public feedback that we are getting a lot right. We have been fortunate to have a few writers and magazines approach us and our doors are open. I am certainly chuffed to be a part of Camps when I come across a piece written by a person who has a skeptical eye when they first approach us and…well, the article speaks for itself….
