They’re Off! The Teams Depart For Their Phase 1 Projects

Early mornings for all today (Thursday) to load everyone and their kit on to the buses and a truck.

First away was Tango 6 at around 06.00. They have the longest drive – about two days to their trek start point.

Tango 6 loading up as dawn breaks

Tango 6's first navigational challenge - getting out of the car park

Next off was Tango 5, with a more modest 4-5 hours’ drive.

Tango 5 packing as the morning grows lighter

Tango 5 - second team away

Then came Echo 3 followed by Charlie 1 at around 08.00. Both had shorter journeys.

Echo 3 - 'Okay it's light but it's still early'

Echo 3 about to leave with the truck containing bamboo for their bashas

Charlie 1 - 'My bag's bigger than yours'

Charlie 1 - with musical accompaniment

Tango 5, Charlie 1 and Echo 3 have already phoned in to say they've arrived at their destinations.

I’ll aim to provide at least a couple of updates on each project during their nineteen-day deployment on phase 1, plus any interesting snippets as I hear of them.

PS: Just to remind you, you can use this blog to communicate all non-urgent messages to your family or friends in the teams. Just post a comment below any post stating the person’s name and team and we’ll see that it reaches them as soon as possible. While the teams are out on Expedition, we'll gather up messages for them, print them out and send them with the 'Loop' - the vehicle that visits them every few days.