MOVING MOUNTAINS AFRICAMP SCHOOL EXPEDITION 2014 Africamp Expedition 19th July - 15th August 2014 (to be confirmed) Join the Moving Mountains Trust in Kenya for a month long trip of a lifetime, working on relevant, meaningful and hands-on projects which are developed and supported by Moving Mountains. Aside from the project work you will be helping to run a camp with children and young people from incredibly difficult backgrounds who benefit directly from our international development programme, climbing Mt Kenya and finishing the expedition off with an overland safari to see more of Kenya s diverse culture and wildlife and the work that Moving Mountains is involved with across Kenya. We believe that this trip positively develops all who are involved, you will return home with a true appreciation for life in Africa and first hand experience of how international development should work. You will also gain personal development and communication skills as well as intercultural soft skills, all of which will be an excellent addition to your personal portfolio and international citizenship CV. Adventure Alternative will manage all the logistics and the expedition will be fully supported with a very special and incredibly lively team of experienced staff. Moving Mountains Trust is accepted as a charity with HMRC under reference XR62512 and has international NGO s in Kenya, Nepal and Borneo. Adventure Alternative has been established since 1996 and has offices located in Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal, Borneo and Russia.
TRIP ITINERARY 19th July: Arrive in Nairobi Arrival in Kenya and transfer to Indaba campsite on the outskirts of Nairobi (next to Nairobi National Park) for a team briefing and staff introductions., 20th July: Nairobi to Ulamba, Western Kenya Early morning start from Nairobi to reach Ulamba Orphanage and Community Village in Siaya District, Western Kenya for late afternoon. Transport will be provided in our converted overland safari truck. This is a long but absolutely breathtaking drive across the Great Rift Valley, and upwards through the vast tea plantations of Kericho, past Lake Victoria and towards the lush green rural villages and traditional homes of Western Kenya. Accommodation will be provided in our comfortable walk-in safari tents on the grounds of Ulamba. Ulamba orphanage is one part of a wider plan to bring education and support to an entire community, which includes 10 different schools in the District, Siaya General Hospital and Dophil Community Clinic. On the grounds of Ulamba you will find an Early Child Development Centre (Nursery!), Community Centre, Volunteer Guest Houses, a community water borehole, small farm and playground, as well as a baby care unit and boys and girls dormitories. The Orphanage itself is home to nearly 40 children of all ages under the care of our staff and a local committee. Moving Mountains provides the funding to run the orphanage and to ensure that the children have everything that they may need, from school uniforms to new shoes and games to stationery for school but our aim is to make it financially self-sufficient through selling milk, growing crops and taking an income from the guesthouses and the grounds of Ulamba which they use for camping (part of the money that you and every other person who visits Ulamba pay is put directly in to Ulamba to help in this development). 21st - 30th July: Moving Mountains Africamp Childrens Camp Children from schools that are supported/developed by Moving Mountains will join your Africamp, these kids will immerse themselves in everything that the team are involved with and are selected on their individual backgrounds and their performance over the previous year so you will soon realise that you are not only providing the tools to improve their education but also encouragement to all the children to do their best throughout the year. The majority of families in Western Kenya are subsistence farmers but the sustained drought of the last decade has made life very difficult for the local community, and Ulamba plays a big role in providing hope and a safe environment for the kids who call it home. Aside from the pre-school education that we offer there is also a bore hole on site where people have access to clean water; a community centre is open for local meetings (HIV+ groups, women s groups, etc) and the Rotary Doctors make use of our community centre to give free medical diagnosis and medicine to the whole community once a week.
Activities during the camp will include camping, cooking, organising games, camp fires in the evening, day visits to local attractions, visits to the other schools and projects supported by Moving Mountains, educational/health classes with the kids and home visits (many of the children who have lost parents will still have elderly grandparents who were unable to support or raise them but we believe that it is very important that the kids from Ulamba keep in touch with whatever family they have and we encourage them to visit family as much as possible, for you to be able to see how people live in Western Kenya is a big thing and the kids will feel very proud to have you accompany them). Aside from the camp there will be the renovation/building project and will involve working alongside our Moving Mountains Work Team (a group of former street children who are now fully trained in a range of skills and employed by Moving Mountains to work and develop all our projects in Kenya) in a real hands-on and hard work experience. The project will be confirmed at a later date. There will also be some camp competitions and we ll try to involve all the kids from the orphanage as much as possible. During the afternoons you can get involved with one of the local Primary Schools, and take some English lessons and classes, you ll find that the kids have a real thirst for knowledge and love having visitors come in to help and in the evenings our Black Cats team trains, so if you are interested in sport then you will be able to get involved here. You ll also be expected to sit down with the kids during their homework, some are struggling with their Primary education and we need enthusiastic and patient people to help in this area. Our hope is that the trip will show you a new world and give you the chance to live and work with children from some of the harshest and poorest backgrounds. Perhaps for the first time you will come face to face with poverty and witness first hand how hard people work just to get by. Hopefully you ll also see how people are so happy and friendly - it's a humbling and wonderful experience to work in an orphanage and community village in an area of Kenya that truly needs the support and to see first hand what it means to really tackle aid in Africa. 31st July - 7th August: MOUNT KENYA Mt. Kenya is an ancient volcano, much older than Mount Kilimanjaro and the plug which remains has been eroded into the complex jagged outline of central peaks which is visible today. From a distance it dominates the surrounding slopes and valleys. Elephant, black rhino, buffalo, colobus monkey, and many species of antelope and giant forest hog can be seen in the foothills of the 228 sq. mile National Park. The 31st July will be a travel day from Western Kenya to Naro Moru and the 1st August will be our final mountain prep day, where we ll sort out the food, meet the guides and porters, check weather, kit and discuss route. There are three main routes up Mt Kenya; Sirimon, Chogoria and the Naro Moru route; each one starts off in impressive rainforest in the lower reaches, featuring abundant wildlife and beautiful alpine scenery higher up. The forest gradually turns into moorland covered with giant heather before becoming sparser, with giant lobelia and groundsels dotted around. This expedition will use the Sirimon route for the ascent with the option of either descending back down the Sirimon route or down the Naro Moru route.
We ll be on Mt Kenya for 5 days/4 nights from the 2nd - 6th August and the final camp is based at the start of the summit circuit on a lava plateau and will be our final stop before attempting to summit for sunrise early on the morning of the 5th August. After summiting we drop all the way down to about 3,000m for our final night on the mountain. We will be off the mountain for lunch on the 6th August which will give everyone an afternoon to relax, get a well deserved shower and sort out their kit before the safari. We ll have a bit of a celebration party in the evening with our Guides and Porters and the 7th August will give us a chance for some R&R and to get out to visit some of our Moving Mountains projects in the area, including the villages of Solio (7 x villages set up to provide homes for internally displaced persons) and Tigithi Primary and Secondary School. Full details of all our Moving Mountains projects can be found on our website www.movingmountainstrust.org MAP OF MT KENYA
8th August: Naro Moru to Masai Mara An early start to reach Masai Mara in the afternoon, where we ll camp in this famous Game Reserve 9th August: Masai Mara Masai Mara is a Park which needs no introduction. Mara is a large open plains Reserve on the border with Tanzania split in two by the Mara river. Most famous for the Great migration that starts at the end of June/start of July, the Park has an abundance of wildlife all year round and is one of the few places in Africa where you have a good chance of seeing all of the Big Five in one day. Full day inside Masai Mara, dawn and dusk are the best time to view animals but you ll have the full day to explore the Reserve and enjoy picnic lunches overlooking the Mara River. 10th August: Masai Mara to Lake Naivasha After an early morning game drive and breakfast we ll transfer to Lake Naivasha where we ll set up camp on the shores of the lake 11th - 13th August: Lake Naivasha Three full days in Naivasha where there are a number of activities that are available and we ll arrange an early morning or evening boat trip on Lake Naivasha to see the wallowing Hippo and, if the group are interested, a visit to Elsamere, the former home of the late Joy Adamson who, together with her husband George, became world famous for their pioneering conservation work and relationship with the lioness Elsa (Born Free). There are also some great walks around the lake and swimming at the campsite but these days are also a chance to get some R&R and reflect on what will have been an incredible month. We ll also visit Hells Gate National Park where you can walk, cycle or drive amongst the plains animals (there are no resident Big Cats) and stop at the entrance to the gorge and walk down to see the steaming waterfalls and hot streams. This geothermal area provides much of the electricity for Nairobi and there are two walks to do, one is about 1 hour and the other is 3-4 hours. Hells Gate is regarded as the most scenic of all the Parks and is where a lot of the film Tomb Raider was shot, there is also a lot of Masai history attached to the area. 14th August: Naivasha to Nairobi Morning to enjoy Lake Naivasha before returning to Nairobi after lunch; we should be able to fit in some souvenir shopping in the afternoon or visit one of our projects in Nairobi or just return to Indaba to relax over a couple of drinks and an African sunset! In the evening the staff will throw a party for everyone who was involved with the trip. 15th August Depart Kenya Our team will drop you back to the airport to catch flight back to the UK
TRIP COST Adventure Alternative per person cost: Minimum Moving Mountains fundraising target: 1,495 (teachers pay 525/1 teacher free) 500 per student Adventure Alternative is independently certified to comply with the British Standard 8848 for overseas expeditions and we will organise all the logistics on the ground, provide all the back up, vehicles and transport, accommodation and staff for the expedition. This includes all tourist attractions visited, National Park entries and camping fees and all meals and bottled water provided throughout your time in Kenya. The amount paid to Moving Mountains UK gives students the chance to raise money for the charity directly and make use of fundraising sites like MyDonate which can add gift aid on donations from UK tax payers. This amount funds the project which the team will be involved with, the kids camp, offsets the running costs of Ulamba Orphanage (where the camp is held) and helps Moving Mountains Kenya continue with its support of individual children and other projects across Kenya. Costs not included International flights, visa (currently $50 or 30 bought on arrival in Kenya), personal travel insurance, vaccinations and anti-malarials and personal spending money for souvenirs, soft drinks, laundry, etc. Accommodation and equipment provided Accommodation throughout will be provided in our high quality safari tents which all have built-in mosquito nets on the doors. It is also worth noting that some of the facilities will be limited at best and you should be prepared to use shower tents and long drop toilets during the expedition, this is not a holiday but a challenging expedition. An experienced and enthusiastic team of staff from Adventure Alternative and Moving Mountains Kenya will be with you to deal with the cooking, however you will be expected to help, hopefully you will learn and develop life skills that can only be gained by camping. All group cooking equipment and group first aid kits will be provided by Adventure Alternative. Equipment Needed A 65-80 litre rucksack or duffle bag a small rucksack (25-35 litres) which you can use as hand luggage (and to use on day visits in Kenya) will be good for day trips. Clothing should be comfortable, quick drying and loose fitting and it is best to bring clothing that you are not too worried about getting dirty. Work on the basis of having three complete changes of clothing for the three weeks; T-shirts, shorts, trousers, trainers, boots for working on the project (hiking boots or something similar), sandals, socks, underwear, sun hat, swimwear, sunglasses, waterproofs and a warm jacket or fleece for the evenings. There will be opportunities to wash clothes, particularly underwear and socks. You ll also need to bring a roll mat or therm-a-rest, 2/3 season sleeping bag (sleeping bag liners are useful too), plate, bowl, mug and cutlery, torch (head torch is ideal) and camera (with spare batteries), 1 litre water bottles (aluminium bottles help to keep water cool), personal first aid kit and toiletries/travel towel (don t forget the sun screen and mosquito/insect repellent!). KARIBU KENYA!