Just Desserts

As Marie said, the crème brulée offered more than a huge sugar rush for our PMs, it also revealed their destinations for Phase 1 of 10E. 

Shady, Geoff and Clare found Koolal in their pudding and will be heading up our community project based in the Nilgiri Mountains in Tamil Nadu.  This terrific trio will work alongside the local tribal community to build a preschool for children from Koolal and surrounding villages.  Tribal people in India face many challenges and one of the most pressing is the lack of access to education.  The preschool will help develop not only learning but also the social skills these little ones will need to fit into mainstream education. 

Clare, Shady and Geoff

Revisiting Mutilmoola for some inspiration from previous groups in 09I and 09J

While the setting is idyllic - Koolal is set right in the middle of a tea plantation - monsoon has certainly arrived in Tamil Nadu, and making peace with the rain and mud will be one of the challenges these guys will face as they work to build the school.   The community were thrilled to meet the group on their project planning visit inviting them into their homes for chai and curry served traditionally on banana leaves. 

Meanwhile heading off in the quest to build an elephant-proof fence and trench on the environmental phase are Julie and Shane.  The duo were joined by our blogger Marie on their recent visit to stake out their campsite and plan how they will live at one with nature and most importantly and fittingly...elephants. 

Human-elephant conflict is a big issue here in India and Huskarhadi, the small hamlet located in the Mysore region is no exception.  Elephants spend 16 hours a day eating (my personal dream) and with the depletion of their natural habitat they are increasingly looking towards crops as a way to meet the demands of their stomachs.  Unfortunately these crops are the livlihood of local farmers and so protecting them is their highest priority.  The competing needs often cause clashes and result in loss of both human and elephant lives.  In fact it is estimated that 20% of all elephant deaths in India stem from direct and at times extreme actions taken by people.

Shane inspects damage caused by elephants just days ago

The solution comes in the form of solar powered elephant proof fences combined with elephant proof trenches.  For general knowledge sake should you ever face such a question at your local pub quiz, an elephant proof trench should be 2 metres deep, 1 metre wide at the bottom and 2 metres wide at the top so that it resembles a wedge of cheese.  Rumour has it that these highly intelligent animals can sometimes outsmart this by knocking over trees to make bridges or indeed act like a bulldozer and push in the sides, so the addition of the six foot fence is seen as the perfect combination.  This expedition we will build 1.5 km of fence and 500 metres of trench, no mean feat especially when one considers the additional challenges that living in a self-sufficient jungle camp bring to the table. Fortunately the worksite is just a few hundred metres from a stunning reservoir, perfect for cooling off in the afternoons and soothing the aching muscles brought on by digging.

While Marie and Julie do their best to recruit some local support -girls I think they may be a little too young to dig

And finally, flushed from the success of recent trek training, Nick and Louise will be pulling on their boots to lead the first trekking group through 200 kms of the beautiful Kerala.  It will be a baptism of fire for our trekkers who will face the second highest peak in Southern India, Misapullimala - around the 2,500 metre mark, on their second day.  From there they will head down to lakeside for some rafting and a survival challenge before continuing on through the Western Ghats.  Their journey will be punctuated by forests, tea plantations, backwaters and of course the wonderfully friendly locals. 

Now it's a 1.5 day journey to the start of this trek and so with just 3 days to complete their project planning visit, Nick and Louise had the chance to flex their muscles on our new 3 day trek for our recently arrived Wembley group. 

Nick shows how to pull off leech socks - these will be needed people!

While Louise adopts the popular clothes catalogue pose to show where they have come from or perhaps where they are heading

Simply stunning - the views of Kerala!

Meanwhile back at the ranch or field base, Jo will be keeping us all healthy and well as fieldbase medic.

Jenny won't have time to lie around as she oversees the logistics for 4 different programmes

Fortunately she is ably assisted by Robin - see how excited he is

And Pete......the tiger???

The gorgeous Neelima will not only help us work out how one uses one's hand to consume rice, but slighly more importantly will ensure all of our admin needs are taken care of

While Marie will be roving - taking it all in to ensure you are kept up to date as it happens and finally

Anita will be taking care of our safe and managing our money.  She has also taken on the challenge of managing our growing photo collection so we can share them with our friends and family back home.

It's 12.31am on Sunday, we have just finished our staff induction which culminated in an adventure race organised by Veejay, taking in the highlights of Mysore including (in no particular order of importance) Pizza Corner, the central fruit and veg market and of course Chamundi Hill.  It is a tired but highly excited crew who are bedding down tonight in their comfortable wooden frame mattress less bunk beds.

We can't wait for Tuesday!  Safe flight venturers.

PS - should you feel the need to bring me licorice that would be fine