We knew this already but Siem Reap has just been voted the best place to visit in Asia in the TripAdvisor “Best Destinations Poll”.   Cambodia is a fascinating place and Siem Reap really does give you a taste of everything – the dreadful and tragic recent history, the incredible ancient civilisations, extreme poverty, human warmth of spirit and a sense of hope for the future.  So if you were humming and harring about signing up to visit Cambodia then let this help you make your decision.  Remember our camp at Being Mealea is just 90 mins drive outside of Siem Reap so you will get to know this fantastic little town extremely well – and trust me you will also agree with TripAdvisor poll.

A month ago, Anth blogged about our work here  in support and partnerships of some amazing projects we have been involved in over the last few weeks.

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.

Long weekends are traditionally for family reunions, holidays and/or just another reason for people to get plastered. This year’s Easter was all that and more. People from all walks of life, race, creed and organizations gathered at the Il Covo beach front on the North Coast for Beach 5’s football tournament.

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!