Let the games begin

(Above: Alpha 2 PM Joey leads a group on trek training around the base of Chamundi hill. From left: Annabel, Sarah, Ricardo, Seb, Zoe, Frankie and Tom. All pictures by Ann T unless otherwise specified. Click on images to see a larger version)

Hello hopefully-avid blog followers!

Welcome to the latest update on your friends and family who are out on expedition with Raleigh 09C. And the expedition has started in earnest the last bus left fieldbase at 10am yesterday (Monday) and we have heard from all the Alpha groups who have reported that they are safe and sound right on schedule.

So let's start with the latest news first! The sorting hat has spoken - rather literally - and our venturer group has been re-arranged and despatched in their new Alpha groups.


(pictured: Frankie finds out she's joining the Alpha 1 trekking group during the Raleigh Potter sorting ceremony. The three wicked witches of Amanda, Julia and Peta lead the sorting ceremony... funny hats all-round)









They are as follows:

Alpha 1 Misappuli Mala trek group with Liz, Peter and Andrew the medic: Alexandra, Edmund M, Fiona, Frankie, Hamish, James W, Ella D, Joanna D, Mubarak, Parthi, Rebecca, Roo Glatman, Sarah K, Shenola, Sophia, Tjebbe and Larry. The trek group is larger than the other Alpha group as all Venturers are scheduled to participate in the trek. The trek travels through some of the most scenic and remote parts of southern India and includes two days of rafting. The trekkers left before sun-up yesterday. Expect some good pix in the next few blogs as our photographer Ann has joined the first four days of the trek.

Alpha 2 Kalainhnahalla eco-sanitation project with Joey and Caroline Savage: Chris, Claire, Esmee, Hannah, Joanna M, Leanne, Lucy, Murgesh, Nadine, Ricardo, Sumith, and Tom D. Kalainhnahalla is a remote village on the banks of a huge expanse of still fresh river. It is probably one of most picturesque projects and the venturers will be sleeping in the local school. (pictured: Chris, Jo M and Lucy I board the bus to Kalainhnahalla. Ricardo and Leanne gear up for their first expedition with Raleigh India 09C)












Alpha 3 Kapikadu tribal housing project with Caz, Matt and Lucy: Annabel, Edward K, Eveline, Felicity, Guna, Tilly Wallis, Petrina, Sebastian, Sreejith, William and Zoe. Alpha 3 is a new project for Raleigh India 09C and will take the Venturer group to some of the most remote and remarkable communtiy villages in India. (pictured: Tilly, Zoe, Seb, William and Guna board the bus)



Alpha 4 Anaikatti elephant-proof fencing project with Neil, Ivan and Jenny: Akhil, Angel, Charlie, Edmee, Emily J, Emily W, Emma, Hobby, Holly, Mani, Remi, Rosanna and Tom M. The gang heading to Anaikatti will be sleeping in basha beds and spent much of their preparation time yesterday loading and unloading bamboo. Last night they slept in the Anaikatti community centre and today will build the campsite that will be home for the next three weeks while they repair 5km of elephant-proof solar-powered fencing. (pictured: PMs Neil, Jenny and Ivan in front of the bus with their Alpha group. The gang loads a proverbial tonne of bamboo to build their campsite








So that's the latest news but we know you're probably keen to hear about everything else...

First up: The expedition cook-off was won by the culinary genius of Alpha 3 lead by Murgesh and his exceptional hat (see, told you it was all about funny hats at field base) who came up with a stunning mushroom risotto, trifle with creme brulee -style crackle and tuna pasta. The whole thing was cooked on a trangia stove using ingredients dished out of the logistics store which the groups have taken to their project sites. (pictured: Murgesh in his hat, Julie and DPM Dani in the logistics storeroom sorting three weeks of food for almost 70 Raleigh 09C expedition members)



Logistics food guru and cook-off judge, Julia (who has two Phds and is quite sure it takes both of them to calculate the food required for Raleigh India!), said the main aim of the cook-off was to encourage the groups to get excited about their food and not fall into the trap of two-minute noodles every night.

"It's really amazing what you can cook with not much, and the quality of food in India is actually pretty good," she said.

It was also Valentine's Day on the weekend and Saturday night Fieldbase was decorated up in paperchains and hearts for a party. Hobby, James, Sreejith, Petrina and PM Neil carved up the dancefloor to the cheers of everyone.

Venturers were invited to write notes of appreciation to their newfound friends on expedition, which were distributed on their return from trek training. The game gave a very tired, hot and dusty group of venturers a much-needed emotional lift.

And then there was trek-training on Friday and Saturday..

After their first day of trek, Mysore's famous Snake Sham brought six snakes - including two cobras - to the campsite to show the group and many had a go at holding some of the non-venemous snakes. Sham told the group snakes were crucial to keeping rodent numbers under control in India and said he was called out almost every day by residents in the area to retrieve snakes which had slithered indoors to escape India's scorching heat.

Pictured: Emily J and Tom D, at campsite, One of the trek groups takes a break en route to the summit of Chamundi hill, and (from left) Guna, PM Caz, Hannah, Holly, Jo D and Streejith walk through the village at the top of Chamundi hill .




And that's the latest news.

And finally, here's the answer to a few more Blog FAQs:

Reader Q: In some blogs, when I click the picture, it doesn't go big which makes it hard to see my friends. What's going on?

Editor A: Sorry, that was my bad. I made some of the photographs smaller as my laptop was struggling a bit working with the large images sizes. The pictures on this blog are bigger than last time, so when you click on them, they will enlarge so you can see everyone.

Reader Q: Can my friends/family respond to blog comments I've posted?

Editor A: Yes they can, and some already have responded to comments! The Venturers can read the blog comments, as they get printed out and put on a pinboard near the dining room. During changeover (so in three weeks) everyone can then write their response message in a book, which will then get posted to the blog by the editor.

So most of the blog comments from "Raleigh India", come from a Venturer. It should be pretty clear who has responded to what.

Reader Q: My comment hasn't appeared, what's going on?

Editor A: Yesterday we had a power failure of epic proportions and about 20 or so blog comments (to the editor's absolute horror) disappeared into the abyss of cyberspace. If your blog comments haven't appeared... please comment again and accept my apologies. I have learnt my lesson and will work to minimise the impact of India's fluctuating power supply on the blog. Anything comments posted on or after February 16 will probably need to be sent again.

And from the editor... To everyone who has posted to a blog for the first time: Congratulations! There are quite a few of you!

Dealing with the blog comments is the most rewarding part of my job as PRO, seeing the faces on the Venturers when they read a comment addressed to them is just brilliant and their responses have been heartfelt. Please keep it up!

Next blog is scheduled for about Friday. We will have the next batch of pictures from the static sites and the trek early next week, as the photographer and PRO will be visiting the Venturers from Thursday until Sunday.

Stay tuned!

And they're off and... trekking

(above: the Raleigh India 09C cohort learns building skills from resident PM and qualified builder Joey)

As dawn cracked this morning, the 53 Venturers who now call the Raleigh India Feildbase home were already up and packing their rucksacks in preparation for today's trek training.

(left: Tom M and Mubarak during communications training) The group has been split into preliminary Alpha groups to undergo communications training, gear training, cultural awareness training and of course the ever-popular get-to-know you games. They will be allocated their official Alpha groups, with whom they will spend the first 19-day phase on project with, tomorrow.

(left: Jo D, Hannah, Tilly, Holly and Rebecca M during communications training)

Last night Alpha 1 emerged victorious from Jules and Neil's Thursday Night Quiz, which saw all the Alpha groups using a myriad of musical instruments as "buzzers."

Emma W impressed everyone by knowing the hometown of Brian from Monty Python and Chris A finally found a use for all his Star Wars general knowledge by reeling off the names of the six films without hesitation.

Our host country venturers Akhil, Parthi, Samith, Sreejith, Mukesh, Mani, Guna and Mubarak proved popular by helping out with the India section, particular when it came to cricket details. They were also stars on the vollyball court when an impromptu game started up during a break between rucksack packing and phonetic alphabet training. (picture: the HCVs arrived a day ahead of the main cohort and were greeted by their PMs and Fieldbase staff.)

For everyone else, the past two days have been a little overwhelming as they get to know each other whilst undergoing everything from building instruction to swimming tests.

(Right: Ricardo D with Raleigh driver Girish - back - and good friend of Raleigh India, Ravi.)

Tonight the Venturers will camp at the base of Chamundi Hill, just like the staff group did last week, and tomorrow will summit the hill before coming down the other side and practising a casualty evacuation. Some of the group will be building bashas to sleep in and talk about the best construction methods is already underway.

(picture: Mountain leaders Peter and Ivan detail what is - and is not - essential to take when trekking.)


The Fieldbase staff have a few tricks up their sleeve for Valentine's Day tomorrow before everyone is deployed on Monday, and the Raleigh India 09C programme starts in earnest.



To everyone who has commented on the previous blog: THANKYOU! All the comments have been posted, printed off and pinned to the Venturer notice board so have been seen by everyone. We have a blog reponse book as well so expect some notes back before deployment. It's been a big relief for the Venturers to know that everyone at home knows they have arrived safe and sound.

Standby for more news from the sub-continent!

News flash: The troops arrive!

Just a quick note to say: The Venturers have arrived! The Raleigh India 09C cohort were collected right on time at Bangalore airport in the early hours of this morning and transported by bus to Fieldbase in Mysore.

They were met at base by our eight host country participants and the remainder of staff and are currently learning their way around their new home for the next four days.

More updates tomorrow!

D-Day at Raleigh India

(Above: volunteer staff attempting to learn to build a bamboo and tyre raft.)

The day this blog started, the Fieldbase advance staff were madly dusting off the office and opening the windows in preparation for the main staff arrival.

Today, blog-writing is again being disrupted by a mad cleaning frenzy, but this time it is for real: at midday, our Host Country Venturers will join the Fieldbase family and then tomorrow, the rest of the Venturers will arrive, scheduled to arrive at Bangalore airport some time early tomorrow morning.

So, a quick update: Yesterday staff learned how to build bamboo and inner-tube water rafts whilst dodging monkeys, resulting in a bit of healthy competition.
The combined Alpha 1 and 2 group (PRO inclusive, thanks) reigned supreme on the day but the opposition (Alpha 3 and 4) did manage to make light of it by singing whilst paddling.
(Left: Mark "Pirelli" Ashby, Country Programme Manager.)

Planning for our phase one projects is pretty much completed with campsites, water sources, strategic partnerships, and of course staff training all sorted out.
(right: Students at Kebepura primary school check out the new magazine during an 09C Alpha 2 PPV visit. The children could spot and name Venturers who they remembered from the previous project.)

Fieldbase is spick and span and nerves are running high as it has dawned on the volunteer staff group that our expedition is about to get serious.

And everyone is claiming their project is going to be the best: The Alpha 2 PMs, Joey and Caroline are sure the Kalainahnahalla eco-sanitation toilet project will be brilliant.

Liz says the Alpha 1 Misappulimala trek with Andrew (medic) and mountain leader Peter will be incomparable.
(left: Liz and Peter descending the Misappulimala mountain, 2nd highest mountain outside the Himalayas, into a tea estate. )






"The views are just amazing," she said.
(right: Views across the tea plantations.)

For Alpha 3's Caz, Lucy and Matt, their new tribal village housing project at Kapikadu will break new ground and as for Alpha 4...

...Well, they're so excited, they wrote a blog entry about it! Read below.

Meanwhile, check back again on Thursday to see photos of the arriving Venturer group. And we have a few answers to Raleighindia blog FAQs below.

Blog frequently-asked questions:

Q: "I have a friend/family member going to Raleigh, can I contact them through this blog?"

A: We do accept (in fact, we encourage!) personal comments for individuals through the blog but they will be posted for all to see. The messages will be conveyed to project participants via communications systems.


Q: "I posted a comment, it hasn't appeared. What's going on?"

A: The PRO had some early blog comment moderating teething problems but they're all sorted out now! Comments will not be edited before posting and will definately get published unless they contain inappropriate content. If your comment doesn't appear, feel free to comment again!

Tales from Anaikatty

Special guest blogger: Alpha 4 Project manager Ivan Phillips
(Pictures courtesy of Ivan and Neil)
Tuesday morning saw the Alpha 4 crew of Ivan, Neil and Jenny – and 09C photographer Ann pile into trusty Bravo 1 with 60-60 driving, for the 3.5 hour drive down into the Nilgiris Biosphere wildlife reserve to the small tribal village of Anaikatty, situated on the Silgur plateau at the foot of the Nilgiris Mountains.

After a quick stop at the nearby Elephant training camp (and a heartbreaking farewell as Neil had to say goodbye to his latest admirer in the form of an orphaned elephant), we arrived at Anaikatty village.
(Right: Neil and a baby elephant.)

Enduring searing heat and lack of shade, Alpha 4 were shown some of the 5km (now not-so-electric) elephant fence that we would be working on, by our WWF project partner Ravi. It’s safe to say Alpha 4 didn’t anticipate the extent of damage, to the now not so electric elephant fence, and were committed to making this project a success, thus allowing the local tribe to return to the agriculture which is so critical to their livelihoods. (Left: Anaikatty Village and the Silgur Plateau.)

Along with investigating the fence Alpha 4 also had to identify possible living quarters for the Venturers. Ann was busy at work taking plenty of photographs for the later planning stages, whilst Jenny and Neil looked at health and safety risks, camp layout and aspects of integration of the camp with the local village.


Ivan (ed: who has been dubbed ‘Bear Grylls’) meanwhile assessed the logistics involved in constructing each campsite, in terms of water availability, camp size, emergency access for vehicles and helicopters. The group also had to assess how to construct the camp with minimal impact on the environment.
(Left: Ann and Ivan assessing one of the campsite options.)

Having met the local Forest Department Range Forest Officer, keen for the project to be a success, the group retired to the nearby Forest Department Guest house and cooked their dinner out on the veranda on trusty trangia stoves. The warden explained how often tigers, elephants, deer, water bison and other animals often came past the guest house, but we only saw a few water bison and a couple of dear. (Right: Anaikatty Guest House.)

Following a trip to Masinigudi to assess the local amenities, it was game on and Alpha 4 cracked on with more investigations into accomodation options. Hygiene is a primary concern and the group looked at several locations for washing clothes or areas where the group could go to bathe. (Left: local river bed for bathing.)

Following a planning meeting with WWF partner Ravi, sunset saw Alpha 4 go for a meeting between the Tribal elder, local tribesmen and Raleigh. We were soon seated on plastic chairs alongside the head of the tribe with various village men all standing in a small crowd. Ravi and 60-60 started off by introducing Raleigh before acting as translators for us so the discussions could begin in earnest. Despite Ann and Jenny feeling a little uncomfortable as no women from the village present, Alpha 4 decided show how on the project women would be equal to the men and they got stuck into the meeting as well. Not speaking the language, meant the only clues as to how the meeting was progress was the body language of the Tribal leader and the crowd of men.

The meeting broke halfway through for a ‘chai’ break (hot sweet tea) served by one of the villagers – during this time no discussion took place, the tea drinking taking on an almost ceremonial nature. At the end of the meeting Alpha 4 and Ravi had several notes, even more requests to take back to ‘Mr Gavin’ for approval, but a feeling that the villagers were highlyy committed to the project and that it should be achievable within the three phase deadline.

The team headed back to the community centre to setup camp; mosquito nets suspended over chair backs and dinner cooked on the trangia outside. Early the next day, Alpha 4 set off for fieldbase stopping en route for breakfast of Masala Dosas in Masinigudi and a hospital ‘recce’ in Gundlupet.
(Left: Loading Bravo 1 with our kit.)

A tired but happy team arrived back at fieldbase around noon eager to get on with the planning process proper and ready to make the Elephant Proof Fence the best Alpha project in Raleigh India 09C.

If you want to know how the Alpha groups get on with this and the other Raleigh India 09C projects then stay tuned to this blog for further updates from our resident PRO guru during the course of this expedition.

News from abroad: PPV visit reports

Special guest blogger: Deputy Programme Manager Dani Esterhuysen.

Hello everyone. Well Field Base has been rather quiet as all the Raleigh India 09C Project Managers are out on site across the Tamil Nadu and Karnatakan States of Southern India.

I've spoken to the PMs at all four of our new sites and they've given me the update so read on! Alpha 1 trekkers had a brilliant day and summited the second highest mountain outside of the Himalayas! They then had a well deserved rest with a cup of tea from the highest tea plantation on the planet! Tonight we can be sure they are sleeping sound in their elephant proof tree house.

Our Alpha 2 group working on the Kappikadu community project have amused the local villagers by going swimming (intentionally), and being chased by cows! They reported, 'today we had the best curries of our lives'! This picture shows some of the community members that we will be building eco sanitation units for.

Alpha 3 have had some excellent community meetings, and were welcomed with a tribal dance and flowers around their necks. To the left is a traditional tribal house.

Last but not least Alpha 4 have been doing a reccee of the Anaikatty environmental project. More to come from all of these when Peta our talented PR officer is back tomorrow.

To all of those venturers joining us in a few days - we look forward to welcoming you, a great adventure awaits.

India in a thousand colours

Our latest blog is below these images.

Ann Taylor, the Raleigh India 09C photographer, has joined the expedition and is already proving she has an eye for the dramatic and beautiful.

"I always wanted to come and photograph India because of the colour and expressiveness in the faces of the people. It is far better than I could have hoped for."

To see any of the pictures in a bigger size either on this entry or any others, just click on them.

Above: Children near the Chamundeswari Temple on Chamundi Hill.
Sunset at the base of Chamundi Hill. Raleigh PMs building Bashas were a strange sight for villagers...

Although probably not as strange a sight as Country Programme Manager Mark Ashby with a bucket on his head.

Basha babes and PMs get their projects

(Above: The Raleigh staff on trek including Dani, Neil, Andrew, Caroline, Julia, Caz and Peta with Mark Ashby, far right. All photographs on this blog have been taken by Ann Taylor unless otherwise specified.)


...And the sorting hat has spoken.

This morning all the staff at Raleigh 09C donned the magic sorting hat (literally – photos to come) to be allocated their projects for the first 19-day phase of expedition.

It was an exciting start to the day after the weekend’s trek. So here goes:

Alpha 1: Adventure trek phase 1 leaders will be Peter, Andrew the medic and Liz

Alpha 2: The Kalaiahnahalla eco-sanitation static site will be lead by Joey and Caroline.

Alpha 3: The Kappikadu tribal housing project will be lead by Matt, Caz the medic and Lucy our administration volunteer.

Alpha 4: Anaikatta solar-powered elephant fencing environmental project will be lead by Neil, Jenny and Ivan.

Fieldbase will be staffed by Dr Andy on medic duty, the PR office of Peta and Ann, Deputy Programme Manager Dani, finance manager Paul, logistics coordinator Julia and of course our permanent staff Host Country Venturer coordinator Vijay, logistics manager Amanda, Country Director Gavin and Country Programme Manager Mark.

So that was the excitement for this morning with everyone still rubbing sore muscles from the weekend’s trek training.

The training course went of without a hitch. Well, more or less, if you overlook the wrong turn early on in the expedition which lead to a brief 2km detour through dry Indian scrub. Once we got through that, it was a navigationally-challenging course through the back-blocks of Mysore and surrounds with camp at the base of Chamundi Hill on the far side from field base. (left: DPM Dani checks the training trek route on a map.)

Medic Caz (pictured left, photo by Lucy) became a local celebrity with the school kids and Neil taught everyone an easy trick to get his backpack on… although we should mention this is perhaps not the best way to go about it.

Our mountain leaders Ivan and Peter did a stellar job at keeping the unruly mob of medics, project managers, field base staff and others in check, although the highlight of Saturday’s walking would have to be the unexpected acquisition of a watermelon which is just the thing to eat during hot trekking. (right: watermelons!)

Ann got out her heavy artillery in the photographic department and so, from your friendly Raleigh India media office, we bring you:

Mark and Ivan’s “Bear Grylls” eight-steps to Basha Building.

1. Get your required gear. You’ll an army-style stretcher, a boxed mozzie net, a heap of rope (for the Australians out there, baling twine would suffice), a tarp, some tent pegs and a mate, because this is a two-man job. You will also need bamboo cut to two lengths of 8ft, six lengths of 6ft and two lengths of 2ft bamboo.

2. Tie together three of the 6ft bamboo lengths at eye-level. Unless you’re Ivan… then it’s chin level. Just use a normal shoelace style bow. Separate to create a wide tripod and “cinch” the knot by winding another length of rope around the existing rope. This will tighten it.
3. Repeat steps one and two so you’ve got two tripods with the 6ft bamboo.
4. Thread the army-style stretcher onto the two lengths of 8ft bamboo and rest it on the wide points of both tripods.
5. Thread the 2ft bamboo onto the short ends of the stretcher above the horizontal ends of the 8ft lengths, but on the inside of the tripod legs.
6. Create a box-knot to secure the head of the stretcher to the sides, then cinch the knot and do a simple hitch knot. Tie the loose ends of the stretcher to the top of the tripod securely with a double-knot. This means when you get in the basher, your weight will tighten the knot.
7. Pull a mozzie net over the top of the basher, then using the top of the tripods as supports, add the tarp and secure it down with tent pegs and guy ropes.
8. Get in the basher gingerly with fingers crossed that it won’t collapse. Once you’re sure you’ve built it right (preferably taking instructions from an experienced person and not just this blog!!) throw in your roll-mat, sleeping bag, pillow and get ready for some shut-eye!

(Above left: Mark tests out a new basha. Above right: The camp at the base of Chamundi Hill)

We built seven of these contraptions which were divvied out using the name-drawn-from-a-hat method although rumour has it, it got a bit cool during the night. And the construction did attract quite a few quizzical looks from villagers.

A campfire, a general-knowledge quiz and a bit of sleep later, it was 6am and time to tackle the steps of Chamundi Hill, complete with a Casevac simulation. This is the Raleigh strategy to evacuate seriously injured project members from site to ensure they get the best medical treatment. (right: Neil goes all Jamie Oliver over the campfire)

Dr Andy and medic Caz both did a some Oscar-worthy acting in pretending to have suffered a snake bite and both trek teams successfully evacuated them according to plan. Caz was also keen to assure all readers that a quick stint on the hand-held stretcher was not a bad way to travel. (Right: Caz gets a lift from Caroline, Neil and Lucy. Photo: Julia)

The rest of the trekkers were just happy the simulation didn’t happen at the top of Chamundi’s now infamous 1100 steps.

Tomorrow the Alpha Group leaders head out on their project planning visits and the next blog is scheduled for Thursday morning (roughly!)

Stay tuned!