We have been leading school teams to Mt Kenya for adventure expeditions since we started Camps 10 years ago. This time round we had our very first school from West Africa and they had a great time during their short trip. Peter is our in country Expedition/Team leader who joined them. This is his story………

Emerald School from Nigeria started their journey from the International School of Kenya (ISK) at 7am. The team, comprising of 11 students and a female teacher, had just attended a three day Global Issues Service Summit which was based at the ISK. Upon arriving at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the group were tired but ready and excited for their adventure which started that very day by staying in Pelican House.

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We drove deep into the interior parts of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy searching for Pelican House which was located in the middle of the sanctuary. It was a great chance for the team to experience the beauty of nature and a nice view of Mt Kenya. We spotted Zebras, Giraffes, Gazelles and Buffaloes  roaming peacefully on the savannah plains. We arrived at Pelican House in time for tea and afterwards went out for a game drive within the conservancy.The drive was awesome, it gave us an opportunity to spot Lions “King of the Jungle” and other critically endangered species such us the Northern White Rhino.

My sleep was disturbed that night by some strange noises adjacent to our house.Very early in the morning I decided to investigate, I had a thought of a Lion in my mind but I was completely wrong. A HUGE Black Rhino was standing around a water hole just few meters from the Pelican House. It was making unnecessary horrific noises continuously. The team were so lucky to see a Rhino for the first time  in their life right there in the wilderness.

The next morning we drove safely to Nanyuki where we spent the next two days full on…

Late that morning we left for a Bicycle game ride.This is  an activity where a bicycle is ridden while viewing wildlife and it only happens in Ol Pejeta. Initially, comments like “what if a Lion jumps over and eats one of us, what will we do?” were exclaimed. I knew that they had never done this before and so I assured them that everything will be fine. The instructors are very experienced and are familiar with the environment. We all blasted with amazement as we rode along the marrum (dirt track) road to the inner part of the sanctuary whilst admiring all the amazing wildlife.

The day ended with a visit to a poor Blind Rhino who was named Baraka (blessing) after his tragedy which led to the loss of his eyes.We also visited Sweet Waters Chimpanzee Sanctuary that evening. It was fun to watch the Apes misbehaving with their own poo, one of the Old Chimpanzee became furious and started throwing its own droppings, unfortunately our guides’ face became the target! As we didn’t want to aggravate the chimpanzees, we left and drove back to camp.

Bush skills and team challenges were our last day’s activities, everyone among the team was excited to know what would happen in the field. Bernard, a bush survival skills instructor led the activities.

The first section was team challenges where the team split into two groups. Each group was to create problems by tying difficult knots with rope onto a post for the other team to solve. Then the groups swap to try to untie them. Group A’s knots were very technically and complex that group B couldn’t solve. Definitely they won against group B by tackling all their knots within the appropriate time given by the instructor.

The bush skills were fabulous,Participants had a chance to meet a real Maasai Moran (warrior) in the fire making and archery activity. He made the fire within three minutes by using two wooden sticks, unlike the team members who took ages, but in vain! It certainly is harder than he made it look!

The final task was rock climbing on a wall, a very interesting activity but tough, we had to wear special equipment for our safety before action, everyone tried up to their  maximum. Only 4 made their way to the top, as well as me, the rest were afraid of heights.Wow! That was a fantastic climax of our adventure at Ol Pejeta!

It was a blazing trip with lots of unique and unforgettable experiences  for the group…Many Thanks for choosing Camp International.

Blog compiled by Peter Kalenga Kai

Tommie is just back in from Camp Tanzania which has been buzzing with students from Dubai…

I have been away in Tanzania for the past two weeks following up on a group of young enthusiastic students  from United Arab Emirates on their school trips. Gems World Academy came to Tanzania on a Week Without Walls program. 51 students aged between 11 and 14 with their 6 Teachers made the GWA team. I went and met them at the airport and immediately all the group members gathered around me, if only to say..here we are, bring it on!

The next two days the group was split into two, one group was engaged in repairing school furniture, desks, benches and Tables while the other group was painting and drawing murals on the walls of the kindergarten classroom.

On day Four the group left camp very early to go on a full day of game viewing at Tarangire National Park. They saw loads of Elephants as Tarangire is known to be the best habitat for the the world’s largest terrestrial mammal. They also saw lion, giraffe, and antelope only to mention a few.

On their fifth day the group was again split into two where group one went hiking at the Kidia falls. Kidia is on the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro the inhabitants are the Chagga people who are small scale farmers. The hike takes you through, banana and coffee plantations, small maize fields and a few homesteads where you will meet with the villagers who are very friendly and welcoming. It’s a steep descent and very challenging, but once one gets down to the falls it’s just stunning! The water is from the thawed glacier on Mt. Kilimanjaro and it is crystal clear and very cold!  On a good day one could see Mt. Kilimanjaro and the scenery and landscape are breathtaking.

On their way back to camp from Kidia falls the students were taken to an orphanage where they donated lots of clothes and toys. Charlie Cracknell later wrote to us to share his experience…

My experience in Tanzania was so different from my normal everyday life. The first thing that struck me was the beauty of the country and people. Everyone seemed so happy despite having so little which made me appreciate how much I have. We spent the first few days at a local school helping to repair desks and benches and also painting the kindergarten. During these days I felt a sense of achievement and that I was really making a difference to the children’s’ lives. It wasn’t until a couple days later when we visited the local orphanage that I met a little boy named Junior. I remember walking through the gates and being hugged by these little kids. It was really heart-warming. When I sat down, Junior came up to me and said hello. He gave me a smile and I remember feeling quite sad at the time because it felt like he did not know he no parents or that he had so little and yet he was still smiling. I knew at that point that I would always remember him.

By Charlie Cracknell
GEMS World Academy, Dubai

Meanwhile, the other group went out to help a local lady with her daily chores. Some students were fetching water from the stream, others were cutting grass for the lady’s domesticated animals, and some learnt how to cook a typical Chagga meal which they later all had for lunch. A great day to spend out of camp and have a hands on experience in the village and be part of some activities that the locals get involved in their daily lives.

Day seven was pretty much wrapping up and putting in final touches on the activities that the groups got stuck in. Some of the students tried their hand at Teaching. We organized for at least two students to be in a classroom to try and teach English. They were given text books and had very little time to prepare for the lesson but our volunteers did very well and got the local pupils learning and the sessions went on well. Thereafter the volunteers distributed a few donations that they had brought with them including, pencils, erasers, rulers, books and sharpeners.

In the afternoon our friends from Dubai played some games with the school kids and it was great fun to watch both sets of players battling it out.

Later that evening we had a nice barbeque dinner for our volunteers to symbolize the end of their stay with us and to thank them for choosing Tanzania as their destination.

Hat tip to all the students and Teachers of Gems World Academy for a job well done!

Asante sana!

On the 6th of February the three of us arrived in Kilimanjaro in one piece with all our luggage intact! We spent a luxurious day and night sleeping and recovering in Moshi before the six hour drive on to Camp Tanga in Mwambani village. The surroundings are stunning and we don’t think we’ll ever get bored of our beach view – we get the ‘wow’ factor every morning! The only downside is the giant red and black ants who have taken to eating us (and invading our tents!) on occasion…

We’ve been in Tanzania for three weeks now and our main project has been working on the local nursery that has been under construction for the past year. Currently, the 4-5 year old children have to walk six kilometres to the nearest nursery and as a result many of them do not attend. We started with levelling the playground, reinforcing the ground around the toilets before the rainy season floods them. We then concreted the ground outside the school and repaired the cracks in the building and most recently have been plastering the walls – probably getting more plaster on ourselves than the walls (or at least to start with!).

In the afternoons we’ve been teaching an English class in the school building – the students range from about 10-45 years old with varying levels of understanding. We started with “hello” and “how are you” but have progressed to heated class discussions on topics such as corruption, disease and the family. Being a small group has given us the opportunity to integrate with the villagers and their daily lives and we’ve got to know some of them really well! The children are always really excited to see us, and Joe is blossoming in his new role as a human climbing frame, they’re really cute and provide a welcome distraction from work!

On a typical weekend, we take a trip into Tanga on a Saturday morning where we visit the markets do some food shopping and learn about the history of the town. We’ve had trousers tailor made for us after picking out patterns from the material store. It was a shock when we first visited the ATM and discovered we are Tanzanian millionaires! – we’re still getting used to the exchange rate. In the evenings we relax, have a few Kilimanjaro beers and get thrashed in card games by Eliphas and Anderson (our camp leaders/buddies). We introduced Eliphas and Anderson to ‘Ring of Fire’ which turned serious fairly quickly – We drunkenly managed to make it to the local club belting lion king songs along the way. Club Casa was relatively deserted bar a few locals drinking – we enjoyed the Tanzanian hits – and are beginning to sing along with some of them now… We lost Eliphas for the whole night and found him enjoying a nap outside with a new friend (a homeless man). Sundays are usually quiet and relaxing – we’ve been to two of the local resorts – TICC and Tanga Yacht Club which we can only describe as James Bond-esque. Last weekend we treated ourselves to pizza and ice cream on Sunday night as a change from our usual Camps food (which is still delicious!).

Our peace has been disturbed by 40 new volunteers from Camp Kenya and things are different in Camp but still really enjoyable and our work rate has increased massively! We had our first day Seaweed farming today – it was very sunny and we came across many starfish and sea urchins – everyone enjoyed themselves and groups got competitive about how many lines of seaweed they could plant!

We’ve just got back from watching Coastal United (Team Tanga!) play a team from the south at the local football stadium – it was very lively and although the score was 0-0 the atmosphere was fantastic- A heady mix! We’re now going to go and cover ourselves in DEET before settling down to an evening of relaxation and cards!!

Pole pole rafikis, hakuna matata, chakula kitamu!

Alice, Maria and Joe
(sponsored by Simba cement (a coca-cola company))

Peter Kalenga just led the Hillcrest Preparatory School for a 4 day outdoor adventure at Camp Tsavo and came back smiling ear to ear…and of course had to share his trip with us….

After driving for 6hrs along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, the Hillcrest Preparatory School bus emerged in the middle of the Tsavo wilderness and drove along the semi arid, thorn bush vegetation composed of acacias and camiphora trees. As usual red clouds were formed as the bus disappeared deeper into Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary. The team looked perpplexed but excited about not knowing what to expect at the next stop after saying goodbye to their usual modern environment. ”That red bumpy road was nice!” One of the kids commented.

The group of 18 students (Age 10&11) and 3 teachers were out for their 4 day school trip to Camp Tsavo. They have hardly had any adventurous trips before and you could tell from their first approach that they were all really excited jumping up and down, screaming and shouting with joy.

That evening the team set off for their bushcraft skills course and a game drive. On our way, I was pleasantly surprised to see how enthusiastic the students were and fascinated by stories about animal behaviour and how the African bush men survived in the bush. It was a real pleasure to watch them fully participate in the footprint and spoor identification with questions flowing like a stream.

We believe Service Learning is crucial for young people to shape principals and create a strong responsible and moral foundation. To the Hillcrest students, it was a really worthy and rewarding trip. The feeling of humanity got in to them after arriving at Sasenyi primary school. They were shocked by the huge number of pupils squeezed in one classroom and the scarcity of learning facilities. They even felt sorrier for the kids who lacked so much compared to themselves and yet they were still happy to be in school. The background of the Sasenyi kids criss-crossed their minds and they started to compare their life back at home which is full of privileges.

This really gave them the moral boost to work tirelessly at classroom plastering and moving rocks ready for a new classroom foundation. That evening they had a great reflection of what they have experienced during the day around the camp fire…

Mt Kasigau hike certainly got everyone’s attention the next day. No one believed these young students would manage to ascend 1640 meters on the daunting paths of Kasigau at that age of 10 and 11. And if you thought they won’t make it then you were wrong. The team left early Friday morning for the hike and by 4pm everyone was back playing football. It took them 3hours up and 2½hrs down!

Congratulations to Hillcrest Prep students for setting a new record of being the first youngest group ever to climb Mt Kasigau! During the hike the team showed determination and accepted the challenge. They held on to one another at their own pace as they slowly maneuvered up the last peak to enjoy great views and celebrate their victory. On their way down the steepest areas turned to a skiing zone “bottoms down”! They all sled using their “bottoms” happily singing songs of motivation. I could not help but feel proud of myself having taken such a young determined group up and down safely.

“The mountain was awesome!” Miss Kartins said.

“Peter, we have now become strong and responsible, we have confidence and proud of ourselves.“said several of the students as they departed across the red soils of Tsavo…

Peter Kalenga

GEMS American Academy just had their first Camps International experience as part of their Week Without Walls Program. They spent a week in Tanzania at our camp in Moshi, working to improve the conditions of a local school nearby, learning lots about local culture and tradition and of course going on an unbelievable safari in [...]

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On the 24th of January, the Aussie Gap team moved from Camp Muhaka to Tsavo. When we arrived we were warmly welcomed by the staff here and presented with lunch. We were then given a brief overview of the camp and its projects. These included making elephant dung paper, the tree nursery, sanctuary maintenance, Sasenyi School, wildlife monitoring, the bush adventure and lastly the safari. While listening to all of these I could tell that everyone was excited and looking forward to our time here.

On our first official day here at Camp Tsavo we made elephant dung paper. Although this may sound bizarre and even a bit gross, it was actually quite interesting and fun. We were showed how to make this by some staff members who also explained to us how important this paper was to the local community. We smashed the poo, mixed it with glue and panned it. We then left it to dry and some of us even added some flowers to it. Overall this was a different, yet interesting and worthwhile experience. We also got to spend the afternoon working in the tree nursery, where we filled some plastic bags with soil ready for planting, cementing the bottle well, removing aloe vera plants and chilli picking. Overall these projects were relaxing, yet eventful.

During our stay here we also had the opportunity of working at Sasenyi Primary School. During this time we did demolished an old school building, in preparation for the building of a new one, cementing the walls of a newly built room, and some of us even had the privilege of being inside the classrooms with the children supervising and teaching. Our time here was precious, as we all felt the work here was helpful and it was also amazing being able to talk to the headmaster about the school and also experience some time with the children.

We also got a chance to visit Imani Womens Group and were surprised to see how women have worked together to improve their living standards as well as tackle their daily challenges. We visited the local community and worked in their farms by helping them harvest green grams and cowpeas. In the afternoon we made bracelets and necklaces from locally purchased beads. It was amazing since everyone came back to the camp with a souvenir of a bracelets and necklaces.

One of the projects we also got to take part in was sanctuary maintenance, which involved filling in the pot holes and ditches in a road on this ranch. Although this work was found a bit hard, it was worthwhile. We also got to take part in wildlife monitoring, whereby we had the exciting task of spotting animals and listening to the staff tell us interesting facts about them.

We also got to experience a bush adventure during our last week here at Tsavo. We got to go on a game drive where we left the buses and looked at the many different footprints. We were also taught how to identify the footprints which was very fascinating. In the afternoon we were divided into three groups and had a competition in building huts. We then got to try and use a bow and arrow and shoot the target, which ended up being harder than it looked. Then we were shown how to light a fire without using a lighter or matches.

On our last full day here at Tsavo, we spent on safari. We got to explore Tsavo’s East National Park where we saw giraffes, baboons, different type of antelopes, zebras, buffalos and many elephants. From living in Australia where you can only see these animals on TV or in a zoo, to seeing these beautiful animals in their natural environment was fantastic and presented us with some amazing photo opportunities.

 Our time here at Camp Tsavo and been a brilliant one. We have been able to experience Africa in a way that normal tourists couldn’t. From being able to see beautiful creatures while just driving into Voi, to the amazing staff, our experience here is unforgettable and unlike any other.

And a big congratulations to our Camp Kenya gap year students at Camp Makongeni for completing a new house in less than two weeks!…

What a week!! Reunited together we finished Mama Maimuna’s house, well structure, and had an amazing opening ceremony with balloons and singing. Other smaller projects included making a bin for the community of Makongeni, we collected rubbish and did another day at the wicked.

So, Harlie and Rory on the ball for this week’s blog. Liking it so far? Well, we worked very hard on mama’s house. We did things from mudding walls, and we dug hole the height of Jackson (and that’s deep), completed the mangroves, all contributing to the income of the community.

However, it wasn’t all work and no play! Good old Gladys organized games night (even better than bingo) we had potato slinging, balloon popping, (some of the guys had to get extra close)and water weeing into a cup! Safe to say the boys lost! To finish our awesome week we had a ‘friendly’ match of netball with the local school kids, leaving the campers a tad bruised!

Rory was manager and wasn’t very good at it! Onto the latest goss… Solveig conquered her Essex accent! Nonie got the award for monster eater! And Stephen was crowned Prince of Holland.

Tune in next week! Laters babe!

And the Gap Year in Africa diaries continue on (thank you Chloe and friends)…

It’s safe to say that our experience at Camp Kenya has been anything but ordinary. Over the past two weeks we have come together as a group, working on each of our projects and bonding with the camp staff. The three projects that we worked on include Mama’s mud house, the grey-water system and the bottle house for the polytechnic school.

Working in the heat and humidity was pretty tough, but all our hard work paid off once we saw the progress that we had made on each of the projects. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t finish some of the projects, because we know that we have made a great contribution to each of them. The team that worked on Mama’s house with Sampuli exceeded their personal expectations by shoveling clay into wheelbarrows and pushing them through soft sand; quite a difficult task for a group of girls (excluding Matt). The teams that worked on the grey-water system and bottle house found it very rewarding to contribute to sustainable projects that will help the community in Muhaka.

In the evenings and the weekends we enjoyed spending time with the community, playing soccer, teaching netball and exchanging language tips (although some were better at learning Swahili than others!). I don’t think that any of us will forget witnessing a brawl between the monkeys at camp, especially when one of them took refuge in a room with girls that were sick in bed! Most of us also had the opportunity to spend time at the local schools and dispensary. Those that participated in the optional activities were able to spend a day snorkeling in the marine reserve near the border of Tanzania and Kenya. Here they swam with stingrays, dolphins and a wide variety of tropical fish.

On behalf of everyone, we would like to thank all the staff at Camp Kenya for making our experience so memorable. Eustace was a fantastic father figure while we spent time away from our families, and each team leader was a great mentor and friend. As we leave to continue our journey in Tsavo, we are going to miss everyone that we met in Muhaka, and hopefully one day we can meet again!

Our two month and three month Camp Kenya Gap year volunteers have just finished their first week in Camp Makongeni after spending their first two weeks at Camp Tsavo. Gladys, our Camp Manager at Makongeni, Jackson Reid and others have sent a short blog on what they have been up to in Makongeni and more importantly the story of a mother’s life that’s about to change…

The last four days have been epic. In that time we have started the main structure of a house for a local mother in the community. After a long time of struggle Maimuna Hamadi Redano now has something to smile about. Maimuna is the lady whom we are building a new traditional house for. Maimuna is a single mother after her husband died and left her with 7 children and no were to called home.

She used rent a single room for herself and her children in the village which she could not manage to pay the rent every month and at the same time providing for the children. She doesn’t have any source of income and even she tried to start a business in the village, she didn’t have enough capital to keep it going. After the business was unsuccessful, she moved to her aunt’s house where she stayed for 1 year. It was becoming a big burden to her aunt who told her she could no longer manage. The Makongeni village Chairman choses her as the first priority for the house building program and now the volunteers are doing an amazing job building her house for her. In 2 weeks time Maimuna and her children will have their own place to call home…

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The group have also already immersed themselves into the the Baraka Women’s Mangrove conservation project…

Also we have reinforced the walls of a local pond which the local mothers rely on for an income. This includes planting hundreds of mangroves trees which help increase the local fish population. We can’t stress the amount of fulfillment and joy we have experienced here in Makongeni.

Today being Friday, we have enjoyed the comfort of a fire and the sweet taste of beer to bring our group even closer together. With the addition of simple games such as limbo and musical statues we have truly formed a bond that will last longer than our trip here in Kenya.

Not to mention the food is fantastic!

Camp Tsavo continues to buzz over December with school groups from Australia and Kenya as well as families from the UK. Steve Mwasi and Peter Kai share a brief report on this little melting pot of cultures in the heart of the Tsavo ecosystem…

Camp Tsavo receives volunteers and school group from different all over the world and once the teams arrive they participate on various areas of our ongoing sustainable community and habitat conservation projects in and around Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary. And of course what makes this place one of a kind is that everyone has a chance to spot wildlife on safari in Tsavo East National Park and just about everyday on the sanctuary where the camp is based. This month, Camp Tsavo was the meeting point for two schools from two different continents: Melbourne School from Southern Australia and Brookhouse International School from Nairobi, Kenya…

The first school to arrive was Melbourne from Camp Makongeni, a group composed of 17 pax who worked so hard in some of our youth projects in the Makongeni community in the last two days before they made their way to Camp Tsavo. After briefing, the group relaxed and enjoyed watching the stars in the evening across the beautiful Tsavo sky.

The following day the team got their hand dirty working on Elephant Dung Paper, one of our sustainable income generating projects which benefits the local community and is always a lot of fun. In the afternoon the group headed out to the bush for tracking and monitoring wildlife within the sanctuary.

The next day, we headed off to Buguta Primary School and managed to complete the floor for the new school kitchen which we started during the summer and is now successfully completed and ready for us when school opens in January! The third day was spent at Sasenyi Primary School mixing cement and ballast to lay the foundation floor of a new class which was also started earlier this year.

Brookhouse arrived a day after Melbourne and was a group of 32 pax comprised of 29 students (year 13), 2 teachers and 2 Assessors fully dedicated to Community Service. The main aim of this short trip was to complete the Presidential Service (PS) award training Gold Class (the Kenyan equivalent of the Duke of Edinburgh Award). For any participants to attain the Gold award, one has to complete 4 full days supporting sustainable environmental projects and offer services to less fortunate communities.

In addition to the solid hours of community and environmental service, Brookhouse also had a chance to participate in our basic Bushcraft skills course and of course making some paper from poop which left a lot of students smiling ear to ear. Some of the students even sang and turned the place into a  dancing floor!

On their third day, the group helped digging a drainage system which collects water in one of the most utilized elephant water holes just close to the camp. The ground was sticky and muddy due to the recent rains but this lot found their rhythm and literally stuck with it to the end.

Usually our school groups focus on their own projects and will then socialize together in the evenings around a camp fire or over dinner. It was a real pleasure to see Melbourne and Brookhouse take this one step further and decided on one day to mix project teams…

One group went to Imani Women’s Group to support the women in soil erosion control by planting vetiver grass within Imani camp compound. They also learned to how to make jewellery from beads and learn about the challenges that women face in the community. The second group went to Sasenyi primary school where they got involved in making gabions to secure the school from soil erosion. This was great a combination that has never been done before, the teams worked so well and the rate of motivation between themselves was high which led to great project impact in both teams.

A big congratulations to both schools and a big thank you from all of us at Camp Kenya. It was a real pleasure to work alongside such focused young people and feel so much more confident knowing who our future leaders will be…