We're Back (with news from the Alpha groups)

Vehicles Bravo One and Bravo Three have now returned to Fieldbase, full of all the news from our three Alpha groups. All groups are working really hard and are progressing fantastically. Each group is also bonding really well and some true friendships are being formed.

Read on for the reports on each Project Site from our Fieldbase teams who went out to spend a few days with them.

Alpha One - Hosekerasunda Community Project







First stop for Bravo One was to the Community Project in the village of Hosekerasunda. Our photographer, Brian, spent four days with the team there:



















This is Alpha One, or as they like to call themselves, ‘Team Compost’. During this phase the group hope to complete 10 toilets and they are well on the way to achieving this. Without going into too much detail the finished units consists of two chambers, one of which is in use (as a toilet) whilst the other is converting the waste matter into very useful high grade compost for their farming. It is reportedly a very efficient decomposing machine.

Oliva, aka "The English Mason"

The participants start the day with radio comms, have a breakfast of porridge and are ready to start work at 8.30 am. Alas, the masons are not always so keen to start at the same time. There is a ‘day leader’ who allots people to specific tasks and the day usually gets underway by 9.00 am. Usually the alpha group breaks down into four smaller groups to work on each of the units. As the day warms up, lunch at 1.00 pm cannot come quick enough and the locals cook an excellent curry.

The participants work through the afternoon as well and it is very very hot and oppressive. All the work is labour intensive, aggregate, sand and cement is all transported by hard toil. Yet the group are well focused, and they know that at the moment they have to keep going to get all ten completed by the end of phase. Every aspect of the construction, including mixing concrete, cutting steel rods, and bricklaying is done by the participants with the local community helping.







When time allows, the group take delight in social interaction with the local community. Josephine and Georgia were robed in exquisite saris, and others taught the ‘hokey cokey’ to the young school children. I was invited in to ‘take tea’ with a family. Sometimes, just going for a bus ride to the local town is an exciting, invigorating and educational experience.
















At the end of the afternoon, just before dinner, most participants go for a well deserved swim in the local reservoir. Bobbing around in warm water amidst wonderful scenery, when the sun is low in the sky gives a relaxing yet spiritual uplifting to the end of a day.

Alpha Two - Nagarhole National Park Environmental Project

Next stop for Bravo One was to Mettikuppe Inspection Bungalow in Nagarhole National Park. When we arrived in the late afternoon, the team were relaxing in the shade after a physically demanding day on one of the elephant-proof trenches. Some members of Alpha Two were busy painting the gazebo in the garden, another project that the group will be working on in Phase One. The designs are looking really good and the task is bringing out everybody's creative side.

We were given a tour and then treated to some face-painting and games as evening set in. After dinner, the guitar came out and everyone joined in with classics such as 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'Tears from Heaven' and 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', although it seemed we only knew up to the first chorus of every song, so Fieldbase have offered to send out some song lyrics on the next 'loop' trip.

After an early night, the group were woken at 5:45am and on the worksite by 7:45. The work is physically tough, but everyone works amazingly well as a team and has so much enthusiam that time seems to pass quite quickly. Each task is rotated among the group, either loosening the soil, digging and shoveling into buckets or passing the buckets up above the trench where the soil is then levelled out to make a barrier for elephants if they come close to the edge. This soil is secured in place behind a fence, constructed out of long branches.

Alpha Two at work in the trench

The finished product

The afternoon was then spent showering and washing clothes as well as catching up with other chores at the bungalow and continuing work on the gazebo. A day off for the whole group was planned for the next day and Alpha Two were also looking forward to a safari in the park with the rangers, which was being organised for the following week.

Thomasin and James collecting water

Laurie, Bella and Maud teaching games in a break from work at the work site

Alpha Three - Chattamunnar Trek
Bravo Three meanwhile, headed down to Kerala to check up on our trekkers:

Sal, Paul & Deepak's Travels

Sal and Deepak

On Tuesday, the Logistics Team ( Sally and Paul) and the Facilities Manager (Deepak) left Fieldbase at 6.30am and headed to the neighbouring state of Kerala. After 12 hours in the car, we arrived in Munnar, a small town high in the Western Ghat mountains, surrounded by tea plantations.

The next morning, after a breakfast of curry, we set off to meet the trekking group, Alpha 3, to replenish their food supplies, and to look out for the elephants that Deepak had promised us. We met them in a village called Surinelli and they looked hot, tanned, fit, tired, grubby, bedraggled and ever so slightly smelly. As the trek was only short that day we met them at the campsite at lunch time, and everyone was looking forward to the afternoon of relaxation.

The campsite was awesome; at the side of a lake, surrounded by thick forest and scrub, at the end of a virtually impassable (by vehicles) track. The site had been cleared especially for us, with platforms for the tents, a freshly dug toilet, and shower area. Mountains surrounded us, and all that could be heard was the sounds of the forest, birds singing, monkeys chattering, and Indian music drifting from the nearby tree house where the owner of the land lived. Everyone dropped their kit and jumped straight into the lake which was warm, clear and extremely inviting. Legs were shaved, hair and clothes were washed, mainly by jumping in wearing them all and thrashing about lots, as it was the first chance they had had for a wash in 5 days.

One daring Project Manager (Matt) even let Monnie cut his hair. She did a brilliant job, considering the tangle of curls she had to start with, and an audience of 20+, all of whom were shouting instructions and advice, mostly contradicting each other. We listened out for elephants all day, but saw nothing other than fresh dung and footprints. A number of locals came over to stare at us too, either in their fishing boats or on foot, with slightly bemused looks on their faces.

The day leader, Charlie, did a magnificent job of organizing the food into piles for everyone to carry for the next few days, and making plans for the next days’ activities. Everyone took advantage of the chance to chill out and spent most of the afternoon sunbathing, chatting, and comparing blisters. We shared the gossip from Feildbase, passed the messages on from the blog, and sold all of the stock of chocolate, crisps and pop from the shop within minutes. Dinner was cooked expertly for us, pasta and fresh vegetables from Surinelli, on an open fire, and tasted all the better for the charcoal and ash from the fire. Almost all had an early night, and we were woken at 5.30am with boiled eggs and fresh bread for breakfast (a present from the Logs Team) with jam.

We left the trekkers shortly after dawn, as we had to make our way to the next food drop in Vagamon, another beautiful site, with the camp halfway up a mountain and a fresh water stream running through it and views of the surrounding hills and valleys in every direction. We then had to make our way to the final camp of the trek, on the south west coast of India by the Arabian Sea. The beach was stunning, golden and black soft sand, waves crashing against it, a cooling fresh breeze and lots of coconut and palm trees. The locals were extremely friendly and inquisitive, especially when we got our jeep stuck in the sand, which they found highly amusing.

We then had the long drive back to Fieldbase, approximately 500km, all starting to look and smell like the trekkers had. We left at dawn, and only stopped for toilet and coffee breaks, finally arriving back ‘home’ at 5pm. Oh, and we finally saw some wild elephants, 70km from Mysore, 7 adult females and 2 babies, having a drink and bath in a lake just at the side of the road.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our trip, especially as it gave us the chance to get to know the trekking group better. They were so friendly, happy to share their food with us, so organized and all enjoying their journey. Alpha 3 rock!