Gap year & Travel News

Hello

Really sorry for not replying earlier, have been really busy and not got a lot of interent access! Having a really great time here in sunny and very hot Borneo, we’re all very sad to leave Tinangol after an amazing first 3 weeks, left  feeling like a little family getting on great with everyone on the team and  expectations have been more than matched! Spent the night in the jungle on Monday,
scary but good fun…especially when the hammock was invaded by a couple of moths!

We have also climbed Mt. Kinabalu, renamed Mt. Shitabalu whilst climbing it, toughest thing i have ever had to do but well worth it  after reaching summit at sunrise and making it down again, not sure my legs would agree though!

The mighty Mt Kinibalu!

Will try to keep you posted a bit more whenever i can

Best wishes from Borneo

Eilidh x

Hi from sunny Ecuador to everyone in the office!

Our first week in the Rainforest consisted of gathering huge palm leaves, learning to fold them in a rather intricate way, and using said leaves to thatch the roof of the newest addition to the cultural center in the Tsachila community of Búa. We also had the opportunity to help sand and paint a bridge that will service a large number of people in the area and bring better business and educational opportunities to the community.

In our afternoons, we learned about traditional culture and way of dress (including the bright achiote berry used to dye the men´s hair), took walks through the rainforest, and enjoyed sharing a mutual love for Harry Potter with one of the young men in the community. This weekend found us in Baños for one night of fun out on the town and the second day in Latacunga  for the famous MamaNegra festival which consisted of hours of street dancing and music as colorful parades filed down the streets.

In addition to all this, everyone is in good spirits and great health!

Signing off,

Rebecca x x

Traditional hairstyles!

Traditional Dress!

Hi Guy and all in the office.

Its been another successful week with community work. The girls taught at
Shama College and spent some time at Sivudendela home based care.

This week ahead is conservation week and they will be doing a few mixed
projects including bush clearing after the fire that come through just over
a month ago, brush packing to reduce erosion as the rainy period is close
(brush packing is when you pack branches on top of each other on the bare
ground or in gullys, this reduces the speed of the surface runoff which in
turn reduces the erosive power of the water).

They will also be doing their 4×4 driving, shooting and the hike on the reserve to wilsonskop. The
rehabilitation excursion is also this weekend. So another busy week ahead!

All are fine and in good health too.

Nearly crunch time in the world cup! Scotland v England was a good one!

Regards Luke x

The girls on a Dohw trip in Mozambique!

Kitty and Rosie in Mozambique aka Heaven!

Completion of the classroom at Sharma College!

Teaching at Sharma College!

The Girls!

At a Rhino Sighting!

The Wildlife of South Africa!

Hope you’re well, Shireen and I thought we’d write you a joint email just to let you know how it’s all going over here in Argentina on our Polo Leap mission!

We are lucky enough to have our own house here on our host Marcos’ estancia, which is comfortable and as expected. Both of us are getting accustomed to having Wilma, the housekeeper, pick up after us, make our beds and clean the room daily!

Marcos has exceeded our expectations with the amount of polo we get to play. The week is generally made up of lessons on game tactics, stick and ball, baby chukkas and longer chukkas at weekends. However, our tack and corral cleaning also keeps us busy during the week!

Marcos and his family are very welcoming and incredibly hospitable. Everybody goes out of their way to help with whatever we need and nothing, it seems, is too much trouble.

So far particular highlights of  the trip include a match played with Marcos, Shireen, I, Sophie and 4 others comprising of a neighbouring polo player and some polo playing expats from Buenos Aires. Despite the pressure to perform wearing club colours and upholding the El Retiro name, we won the match and celebrated with an ‘asado‘ afterwards, which the gauchos very kindly cooked for us at the club house. Eating local Argentine cuts of beef washed down with lots red wine as the sun went down was the perfect way to end a hard day on the field!

Soaking up the cafe culture in Buenos Aires

The next day, on our day off, we headed into Buenos Aires and explored the fashionable Palermo Viejo district. Shireen and I spent most of the afternoon window shopping in boutiques and then relaxing in one of Palermo’s many cafes. It’s safe to say, we’re certainly getting used to the Argentine way of life!

Photos to follow…

Lottie and Shireen x

Hi to Guy and everyone in the office!

The girls are doing really well. They are now about to finish their third week and are now doing painting work at the Moshono government school. Last week they finished doing construction work at the Faraja Center.

Mbasa and I are putting an impact report together with pictures that we will send to you for the website. Sarah has decided to sponser a girl from the Faraja Center and we plan to send you her pictures as well.This weekend we will head out to Lake Manyara for the eco-lodge phase of the program. I will let you know before we depart.

Regards,
Mathias x

Lake Manyara National Park!

Hi Guy,

Hope you’re well back in the UK office!

The entire group have been in Mwaluganje (the elephant sanctuary) this week and just spoke to their Program Coordinator. It’s been a great week as they celebrated Peace One Day on the 21st September at Ngonzini Primary School with the idea of human-wildlife cooperation and not conflict.

They also are officially opening the kitchen we have been building! They have done several game drives and from what I hear, have had a great week.

Next week, they are back in Muhaka to continue with their main projects, which are development of the vocational training school and completion of the furniture at Muhaka Islamic Nursery School.

Sorry, no pictures at the moment but if any of my field staff bring some in this weekend from Mwalugnaje, I will certainly send you some.

Hope this helps

Dipesh x

Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary....AMAZING!!

Hi Michaela,

All is going well here and the group have just returned after the mozambique excursion. It was a fantastic trip, everyone had the most amazing time and as always Mozambique is just as beautiful as i remember!!

In the week leading up to mozambique the group where in the community at a school called shama college where they sanded down and painted a classroom fully and it now looks magic! They’re back in the community for the rest of this week and will be working at the orphanage and teaching lessons and coaching sport at shama college .All are well.

Regards Luke

Good team times!

So we’re in week 3 of the Leap placement in Borneo (!!) and all is great here. Lovely Leaper Eilidth is working alongside 8 other volunteers from all over the world and they’re a great bunch! They have been kept busy with teaching and project work at Tinangol Kindy in the rainforest. The community here still live in beautiful traditional long houses and make sure the Leapers are treated to a dose of real Malay culture! Tomorrow all of them will depart for Batu Puteh, the conservation project where they’ll be tree planting deep in the jungle.

Coconut snack break!

Rice Wine Making

The Tip of Borneo

The breaking news is that Eilidth made it to the top of the towering Mt. Kinabalu- which at 4094m is South East Asia’s tallest mountain. Take a look at the picture below and be impressed!

Take a deep breath...

Hola from Ecuador, land of Condors and BBQ-ed Guinea Pigs!

Leap family photo on the Equator!

The Leap Team (Eliana, Alyssa, Casey, Rosy, Nicole and Emma)  had a lot of fun volunteering in their last week in Quito.  Half of them were volunteering on conservation projects at Parque Itchimbia and spent most of their time cleaning out a pond so that the local birds could better enjoy it.  They made very good use of their Wellington boots!

Getting mucky for a good cause!

The other half traveled to South Quito and assisted in a community school by teaching English to the students.  They would help them with homework, play interactive games, and sing songs like “Old McDonald“.  Afternoons were spent in Spanish class and evenings were spent cooking delicious meals, dancing salsa, and enjoying city life.

Nicole soaks up the culture

The Leaper's view from the top of the Cathedral

Guess where?

Then the group spent the weekend in the cloud forest in the little adventure town of Mindo.  Canyoning was the adventure of choice.  It consisted of rappelling down waterfalls and making their way to the bottom. They spent the night in the Mindo Bio Hostal; a cosy place with great food and run by environmentally conscious people.  Then it was back to Quito on Sunday evening to rest up for the trip to the Rainforest.

"Welcome to the Jungle"

After arriving in the city of Santo Domingo, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some snacks, and then it was on to the Tsachila community of Bua. We were welcomed by the members of the cultural center, all of whom were members of the Tsachila nation and were dressed in traditional clothing; the men with their hair painted red and the women in multicolored striped skirts. We took a tour of the community, visited the river that the group will bathe in, as well at the ecological toilets that were installed by previous volunteers! The group was understandably was very excited to start work, which will involve them repairing the roof of the cultural center (wearing safety helmets the whole time, of course!) and building a bridge across the river. It also looks like some of the girls have some squeaky roommates in their cabins - bats! They even gave them names.

I said goodbye to the group as I headed back to Quito, knowing that they will have a great time.

We’ll send you another update soon!

Kelly (Leap project coordinator)

Click here for the full story...

We are very happy to announce that The Leap have just signed up with Pricepie, a not for profit social enterprise which promotes ethical gap year companies to be honest with consumers about how their money is spent.

Guy Whitehead, Director of The Leap, has nothing to hide – in fact, he wants you to see how fairly your money is distributed, to help you feel more trust and faith in the business.

Pricepie are busy working on The Leap’s accounts now and you’ll see their logo and pie charts on our website within a few weeks. When it goes live, we’ll let you know!

Another small victory on the way to helping to sustain the ethical consumerism revolution. Viva la revolucion!