Raleigh India Expedition 12J

Hello and welcome!

I’m Sarah and I’ll be the Communications Officer for this expedition - I’m delighted to be writing the first post on this blog.

There are lots of exciting projects planned for the next three months and this is your one-stop-shop to getting all the latest news and updates from the project sites and Fieldbase.

Before I start telling you about what we’ve been up to so far…here are a couple of rules about how the blog works and how to use it.

1)     We’ll be updating the blog 2 to 3 times a week so you can keep up to date with how everyone’s doing. We’ll tell you who’s doing what, how they’re doing it and, of course any project gossip! There'll also be lots of pictures so you can really see what life on expedition and in India is like! 

2)     Your family and friends can post comments on the blog – we’ll make sure that all the comments are printed out and taken to the relevant project sites so you’ll be able to keep in touch with friends and family back home

3)     You’ll also be able to give us messages for back home and we'll put them on the blog so everyone knows what you've been up to

4)     Please remember though…this is a public blog so anyone can read it. With this in mind, please bear in mind what you write  - more personal messages might be best to put in a letter which we’ll deliver personally

So, back to the fun stuff!

The advance Fieldbase team arrived on Sunday morning at Bangalore airport after a 9 hour flight from Heathrow. We were picked up by two of our drivers, small Manju and big Manju and after a four hour drive (with a Chai and breakfast stop) we arrived at Fieldbase to a lovely welcome from Country Director Mark and our Fieldbase pet chicken.

Quick Chai stop for a well needed sugar hit!

Left to right, Tim, Loggs, Sarah, Comms, Lou, Admin, Mark, Country Manager, Sally, Loggs, Andy, PM and Anthony, Medic. Taken by our wonderful photographer, Hannah

Lou making friends with our pet chicken, Julia 

After a much needed cup of coffee we were straight into business matters and had a rundown of our roles and a tour of Fieldbase.

 Mark helping us get to grips with the luxury conveniences at Fieldbase!

The advanced teams making their 'to do' lists!

After getting our heads around what needed to be done ahead of the other Project Managers arriving on Saturday we had a delicious vegetarian selection of curries for supper and then headed to bed for a much needed sleep!

What with trips into Mysore to pick up essential supplies, swimming tests in a local jungle river and lots of paper work to be completed it’s going to be a busy week!