If you’re looking to book your expedition with Camps International this month we have a fantastic prize draw on offer for anyone who confirms their place by the end of the month.

Book any Life or Gap trip with Camps International this month to be in with a chance to win £100 Cotswold Outdoor gift vouchers!

Save yourself £100 of essential travel equipment. Just choose your Gap or Life destination and book before the end of May 2012 (5pm GMT on 31st May 2012) to be included in the draw.

As usual with our monthly prize draws, 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 June 2012.

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.

Patrick Wall one of our recently returned Camp Kenya Gap Year volunteers offered to write a blog for us about parts of his trip. Here is the first instalment (I say first as it puts pressure on him to write more). So thank you Patrick and we look forward to more!

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

So, Ronan Keating was in KK town in the last few days! who is considering to become the Global Ambassador for giant clams. Read all about it here  and my photo of Mr Keating on Bunga Raya  beach yesterday.  

“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.