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!

The fieldbase family gears up for trek training!

(The team, roughly from left to right: Andrew, Girish, Lucy, Vijay, Ivan, Matt, Jen, Julie, Amanda, Joe, Deepak, Peta, Caz, Caroline, Liz, Paul, Neil, Mark, Peter, Dani, Gavin, 60/60, Dr Andy.)

Raleigh India field base is at Latitude 12 degrees 17’451 and Longitude 76 degrees 40’234.

It took most of this morning for the staff team – including the 10 newcomers who arrived early on Wednesday morning to Bangalore airport –to sort out the exact location of Field Base on the international scale during map reading training.However with careful guidance from Country Programme Manager, Mark Ashby, the team has got it now and has been busily plotting the weekend’s trek training route on to maps. (right: the main staff team en route from Bangalore check out fellow road users)

It has been a whirlwind tour for the newcomers to fieldbase, which includes:

Andrew and Dr Andy, our new medics who have been carefully stocktaking the FB medic office with Advance Team medic Caz.

Ann, our wonderful photographer has joined the Public Relations office. Ann has already confessed in real life she is an accident and emergency nurse who danced at the Moulin Rouge as a 20-year-old.

And our crack squad of Project Managers (PMs) Matt, Neil, Liz, Jenny, Peter, Joe and Caroline have joined Ivan to complete the team.

(Left: Matt during boot camp discovers the steps of Chamundi Hill)

Like the advance team, it was a veritable baptism of (very much voluntary) fire as Deputy Program Manager Dani and resident blogger (PRO Peta) ran a quick boot camp on their very first morning.

For most, it was a great chance to see the outskirts of Mysore come to life and get their first taste of the steps of Chamundi hill.

From there, it was an intense morning of phonetic alphabet training and we all learned that spelling Kalayanahala (the location of the Raleigh India 09C eco-sanitation project) using the phonetic alphabet sounded an awful lot like “alpha alpha alpha alpha.”

Today (Friday) started with a sock war which Jenny emerged from victorious – you’ll have to play the game as it’s pretty hard to explain in writing but let’s just say she had a secret strategy of managing to get fellow team members separated from their chosen footwear.

Tomorrow we head off for a two-day trek training course which will be lead by Ivan and Peter who have been briefing the team on exactly what to pack in their rucksacks.

The answer to which is, of course: Not much.

For a bit more random stuff, check out this link to get the recipe for Australian damper which was whipped up and cooked over the open fire to feed the troops at dinner on Australia Day. Although there were a few substitutions made in the recipe as self-raising flour is hard to come by in India... as is fresh milk.

And bookmark this page: I promise you Monday's blog will be full of news from trek training!

96,000 light bulbs and Republic Day in India

The Maharaja’s Palace of Mysore is lit up every Sunday night from 7pm to 8pm by 96,000 lightbulbs.

As a result the marvel of the palace was even more spectacular to see for the Advance Team on their first Sunday night after a week of fairly regular power cuts.

It was also a bit of a cultural experience, with thousands of locals crammed at the gate of the Palace just before 7pm waiting to get in. The queue stretched around the block and the carpark was a chaotic yet coordinated field of auto-rickshaws, cattle-drawn carts and vendors carrying wares such as glowing tiaras, balloons, watermelon and roasted nuts.

It was worth taking the brief time-out ahead of life and Fieldbase getting busier up with the remainder of staff due to arrive within days and a full and exciting training programme about to kick off.

(Above: DPM Dani, Medic Caz, Admin Lucy and PRO Peta outside the palace)

The palace was another great sight of Mysore that the team has taken in since arriving, the first being the market and the second, a quick jaunt up all 1100 steps of Chamundi hill on Saturday morning to check out the Chamundeswari Temple at the top.


(Above: finance Paul and admin Lucy at about the 660-step mark. Below left: the Chamundeswari Temple queue)


It was a timely reminder that India is full of life: Even at the top of the mountain, there was a school and a busy temple packed with people.

Meanwhile, our Deputy Programme Manager Dani has taken the pressure off boot camp (which is purely voluntary!) and we substituted with a rather relaxed yoga session instead on Sunday morning.

Driver 60/60 joined us again, and put us all to shame in the lunge pose! We’ve got plans to do it again, with a suitably-titled “Shilpa Shetty’s yoga for beginners” DVD procured at the local bookshop.

That might have to wait until tomorrow though, because today – January 26 – has turned out to be a pretty busy day.

Firstly, it’s India’s Republic Day so many of Mysore’s residents are on holiday. It is India’s 59th Republic Day, which marks the signing of the national constitution.

It is also Chinese New Year and in recognition of the Year of the Ox, Chinese stir fry will be served at field base.

And last – but not least – it’s Austraila Day and as resident Aussie, the PRO has arranged shrimps on the barbecue (seriously), a there's probably a game of Frisbee on the agenda. (below: DPM Dani - who has lived in Australia for six months - HCV coordinator Vijay and PRO Peta in front of the Australian and Indian flags)

Everyone has been kitted out with Australian flag tattoos and stickers to celebrate, although there’s a lot of work to be done first (Dani is madly dusting the PRO desk as this is being written) in preparation for the arrival of staff on Tuesday.

We’re so looking forward to their arrival!

Oh, one last thing: Julia, our Logistics Coordinator, has returned to Fieldbase for her second consecutive Raleigh Programme. Julia has been trekking through northern India and Nepal for the past four weeks and said she’s wrapped to be back on base.

“I’m looking forward to sleeping in the same bed for more than one night in a row!,” she said.

(left: Julia with Country Programme Manager Mark Ashby)