Gap year & Travel News

Hi Guy,

The leapers have been very busy during the last few weeks.

The first week: They removed fences from the old horse paddock for the new elephant paddock. The started to build the dam in the elephant camp for the tame elephants going in there too.

On Friday the leapers left for their excursion to Sabie, there they did an assortment of adventure sports, bridge swinging, caving, canyoning etc. The second week: This week was community week, so we took them to a school in the local community where they started sanding the walls of one of the classes to repaint it for the kids. On tuesday they started painting the base coat and the first two layers. It was raining and after lunch the rain was so bad that we had to abandon the painting as the water was washing the paint of the walls. The next day (wednesday)  was even worst rain, and we had to stay on the reserve. We couldn’t do any work on the reserve either as there was so much rain.

On Thursday we did some much needed road maintenance on the reserve as the roads were too bad to drive to the community. On the Friday we fixed a section of the fence at the river bed that was washed away when the river came down. On Saturday the volunteers did a morning bushwalk and then had some time to relax after which they went to town to do some shopping and stop by the internet cafe. Saturday night was Party night! Sunday was again a day to relax and do some reading and/or swimming.

The third week: Monday everyone went to the local school to finish painting the classroom. On Tuesday they helped plant poles and string wire on the fence of the new elephant enclosure. This morning they did a bird drive, where we split them into two teams and they tried to spot as many birds as possible. This afternoon they are doing road maintenance as the roads are only drying up enough now to really do something to them.

On Thursday and Friday everyone will be going back to the community to put the finishing touches on the wall and then help the children with lessons and teaching and playing sports with them. This weekend they will be going to moholoholo animal rehabilitation centre, which will be fun and a chance to get up close to some more African wildlife.

On Tuesday next week, we will be darting the 2 tame elephants to bring them into the new enclosure. The leapers will have the opportunity to see this happen and to touch the elephants before they are woken up.  This will truly be a once in a lifetime experience for them!

Thanks,

Charlotte x

Jambo from Tanzania,

The team at the (newly constructed) Maasai School

We have had a busy first three weeks with the Leap Team in Arusha,  Safari Capital of Tanzania! After the classroom construction in the Maasai village of Olkokola in week one, the Leap volunteers moved on to painting a government school called Moshono and visit the Orphanage Center in Arusha.

Danielle in the Masaai Village

Making new friends!

Team tower

Over the weekends they have visited Lake Duluti and the Meserani snake park taking their first ever ride on a camel. The team are planning to do a safari to Ngorongoro and the Serengeti National Parks toward the end of their Eco-Lodge project phase in Lake Manyara. A couple in the group plan to do a Kilimanjaro climb with two Leapers from Kenya in the middle of February.  We’re looking forward to seeing Guy and Milly from Leap HQ who are coming out this weekend…you’re in for a fun time and lots of sunshine!

Kwaheri,

Mathias (Leap Tanzania project host)

Hi Guy,

Jan Leapers are all at Batu Puteh at the moment. All good. They left Kipouvo on the 24th of Jan. They should be there till the 28th and not depart for Bongkud till the 13th of Feb as planned.

Over the last week the guys have been working hard and partying just as much with the locals as well. They participated in a ‘Gotong Royong’ (village clean-up day), swam in the rivers, visited the local ‘Tamu’ (open market for local produce) and made the initiative to have a cook-out night where they cooked delicious meals for themselves and our local staff. They had alternate days of teaching English at the kindergarten in the evenings after dinner. They’re quite an independent good spirited team!

The team also enjoyed some rice wine and merry making in the village and had a good laugh!

Aron, Alex, Daniel and Nicola have organised a OWD (Open Water Diving course) add on towards the end of the week with Borneo Dream from the 21st-23rd of Jan, whilst Tom, Tim and James did some fun dives on the 22nd. All enjoyed it.

Project – They’ve completed 90% of the community homestay’s toilet and shower blocks including roofing, cementing, plastering and painting – all of these were involved in the building process (all the piping work will be completed by the local experts). They have completed a store room building at a single-mothers home next to the homestay and they managed to build two long dining tables for the primary school canteen on top of all the main projects at Kipouvo. Great work all around.

Perfect for diving!

They had a great farewell night at Kipouvo with all the gongs lined up and lots of traditional sumazau dancing and ‘a bit’ of rice wine!

Cheers from Borneo!
Mel x

Dear Guy,

I hope you’re well! The volunteers have completed the house building and pumping well for the community now, which is fantastic! They’ve also been teaching at the orphanage centre in the afternoons.

The Cambodian Children Painting Project in SihanoukVille is expecting them to be there on 15 Feb and start works on 16 Feb. The volunteers are going to travel to Sihanoukville on the 11th Feb and are going to spend a long weekend there before starting their project work on the 16th – This means they’ve got some time to explore and enjoy this beautiful place before starting their project work with the children.

Beautiful photos of Sihanoukville!

Many thanks and best regards,
Hun Socheat

Jambo from Makongeni!

The Kenya Team has had an exhilarating 2 weeks so far with lots of different activities and experiences.  After arriving at Mombasa we travelled to our first camp located in Shimba Hills in the Mwalunganje Elephant Sanctuary.  The camp far exceeded our expectations and it quickly began to feel like home. We were staying in tents of 2, however most free time was spent in the spacious communal area with panoramic views of the surrounding hills.

Elephants abound!

The Ecotourism project

Our home for 2 weeks!

We got straight into project work with a game drive, and managed to spot our first elephant close up almost straight away!  We were then introduced to Ngonzini Primary, the school where we would be doing the majority of our community work.  The teachers and pupils were so welcoming and they were very patient with our limited Swahili.  Our main focus at the school was fixing the main road leading into the school, which is obviously vital as it improves access to the campus, and also clearing and replanting the Tree Nursery (which was set up by the school’s Environment club).  It was hard for the group to get used to working in the heat at first but we all soon threw ourselves into the tasks.  The children were also very willing to help, either physically or keeping us entertained with conversation or songs.  Another project was the maintaining of the school’s nature trail, where we weeded the path and cleared the area surrounding it.

Teaching biology at Ngonzini school

Every weekday afternoon we would go to our classes and teach either science or maths.  This was a daunting prospect as for many of us it was our first time teaching, especially to classes where there were as many as 60 pupils!  This was a particularly rewarding experience for us as we found the children willing and ready to learn.  We all became very friendly with the children, especially Rama, Nawa and Juma (‘Moonfaced’) and they all greatly improved our Swahili.

Improving our Swahili (slowly!)

 The food in Kenya is so much better than we ever dreamt it would be, every meal is fantastic and we’ve even managed to find salad cream and peanut butter to go with the delicious local cuisine! We’re being very well looked after by Gladys, Peter (Pedro) and Combo (G-Unit) and we couldn’t have asked for a better team.

Clearing the community nature trail

Getting our hands dirty!

Deworming the villagers goats.

On our last night we celebrated Henry’s 19th birthday with a barbecue and some drinks which was the perfect end to our stay at Mwalunganje.  The next morning we left bright and early for our next camp “Makongeni” where we are writing from now.  This camp is so luxurious and we are all looking forward to our first beach trip tomorrow.  We will write more soon, but until then,

Kwaheri!

The Kenya Team x

Hi,

This week has been really exciting; we have learned a lot from each other and about the customs of Ecuadorians. Today the last team member (Rob) arrived safely and enjoyed a delicious breakfast for dinner we all shared!

The team have been learning Spanish and started working on Monday in two different groups:

1. One group of volunteers worked at the school (INEPE) where they have enjoyed getting to know with kids of diferent ages and from very different backgrounds. The Leapers have helped with a variety of classes including Aikido, music lessons, teaching English and working in the organic garden. They have also enjoyed  sharing lunch with the kids after work.

2. The others worked on conservation projects (Parque Itchimbia) where we have planted trees. We have also spent time getting to know the community in the park, the dogs that go there and we even set up a football match with Ecuadorians on Friday. We have
also visited a kindergarten inside the park and have spent time with the kids.

The boys planting trees in Parque Itchimbia

Meeting the park dogs!

Last weekend the group went to Otavalo with Kelly, the project coordinator. They are now wearing their new clothes bought at the market!

We love the group and looking forward to starting the new projects in the jungle and Galapagos next week…can’t wait!

Claire and Yenny

Kat and Joelle volunteered with us in Cambodia a while ago now, but had written some beautiful blogs about their time in this unforgettable country, so although late, we thought we’d share them with you! Enjoy!
You can look through lots more photo’s here too! And if you’d like more info about the project just send me an e-mail or give us a call! I’m more than happy to help. 01672 519922 michaela@theleap.co.uk In fact i’ll be traveling with the summer team this year and i cant wait, it would be lovely to have you on the team too!

Now well into our second full week here.

The sand washing is going well and I now have big biceps from shoveling sand and granite to make water filters for the community – very worthwhile indeed!

The kids at the orphanage are great. Sometimes slightly crazy, other times quieter. A lot of them wear cute pyjamas to school and one little boy wears girls clothes (I think he must have sisters!) Joelle and I have been preparing for our lessons and making up games to make sure they all understand. We are testing them at the moment as some do not know basic stuff and are really struggling so think they will move them to A & C classes next week (as we teach B class) when we have gone. I think we are a little too nice though so we are trying to be stricter!!

Cambodia has now got very hot, I think we were spoilt early on with cooler temperatures. Cycling to the orphanage in the afternoon is sweaty business in 35 degree heat!

We went to the temples at the weekend. Pretty amazing and completely vast. One could get easily lost! Watched the sunset over Angkor Wat and climbed a few steps. It is really like nothing I have done before.

Next week we move on from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville the capital for more teaching and working with the monks.

Just off for a cuppa tea now with real milk-What a treat and we’re having a delicious meal of traditional (delicious) Cambodia cuisine on the balcony tonight!

Kat and Joelle xx

Hi Michaela,

Just to let you know that the group are all doing really well! The leapers have been working on the construction of a classroom at the Maasai village. They have had a nice time and witnessed a Maasai warriors dance during their initiation at the village as well.

At the weekend the group visited the Meserani Snake Park and did a camel ride. They have also been to visit the Serene Lake Duluti on the outskirts of Arusha town. Most of the group are planning to do a safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater after their time at Lake Manyara National Park, which is really exciting!

We are looking forward to having Guy and Milly come visit and stay with us in a couple of weeks.

Speak again soon,

Mathias.

Hi Guy,

I’m on a role taking photos out here…so expect even more to come through soon! These we’re taken at Kipouvu ‘Taska’ childcare centre and there are also photos of the group making handcrafts at their homestay.

More photos to come soon!

Mel (Borneo Team Leader) x

News just in from Venezuela:

The Leap team are at the end of their first week in Venezuela and are doing well! According to the team they’re loving the “nice weather, great place to stay and great food. Very happy!”. The girls say ” this week we have worked at the school in punta moreno. Traveling by boat we painted two buildings of the school at Punto Morena, and replaced an old door with a new metal one”. They spent last weekend abseiling down a waterfall, habnging out with the other travellers, exploring the beaches, had receiving four hours of Spanish lessons. They also headed into town to Puerto la Cruz to hit the internet.

Next week the team are beginning work at Jakera club, which is an after school club that Leap volunteers help to run. They’ll be teaching sports, English, and a new subject they seem to have devised – ‘environmental friendliness’! They say ‘we´re also working in the mornings at the local school, helping the teachers to speak and teach English.

The girls are planning an island kayaking adventure tour this weekend (always maximizing the opportunities for tanning!).