Matt in Ecuador

Hi Everyone!

I arrived into Quito in the early hours of the morning today after our flight got diverted to Guayaquil, it is something that happens from time to time due to poor weather, and whilst frustrating, the airline was very helpful and we all got here in the end. The altitude in Quito is notable but I know it is good acclimatisation for the trekking that I am going to be doing later on this week. The people of Quito are very friendly and the area that we stay in with World Challenge groups is very nice (La Mariscal), with a good selection of restaurants and a wide array of artisan goods to buy, I can see that I am going to have to buy lots of nik-naks for the team back in the office! I will update further once I have more news.

Matt.

Leh - Trekkers Paradise

After my first blog I took the one hour flight north of Dehli to small town of Leh which sits sandwiched between the massive mountain ranges of the Himalayas to the south and the Karakoram to the north. The town is located at 3,600m on a dusty desert plateau and is a trekkers' paradise. Tomorrow I will be doing a technical recce for 9 days to open up trekking areas for our teams, and cannot wait to get into the vastness of this north Indian region. I am very jealous of all our teams going this summer and spending the best part of a month in this stunning area.

Whilst visiting projects yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a local festival where Ladakhis proudly demonstrated the different tranditional dances and costumes mainly to local school children audience for their education. Our In-country Agent and I were also invited to have lunch with the monks in the monastery which is the venue for one of our projects this year, and which sits perched on top of a hill with tremendous views of the Indus valley beneath and views of snow capped mountains above and around. This is an inspiring place to be and is in complete contrast to the bustle of Delhi I left behind a few days ago.

Will be in touch again once I get back from the mountains.

Take Care,

Holmes

Holmes arrives in Delhi!

I arrived in the plush new international airport in Delhi earlier today at the beginning of my 2 week recce around northern India. The new airport express into central Delhi is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone! Cheaper than taxis and avoiding the crazy congestion of the roads, the air-con is a welcomed respite from the heat that hits you as you step outside! My cool, calm and relaxing shuttle took me straight into the madness that is the main central railway station, where an Indian family were creating a bottle neck at escalators as they had evidently never been on them before and were clearly terrified to take that first step!

After shuffling through the crowded streets where I was bombarded at every corner by the sights, sounds and smells of the Delhi traffic, I made it to my hostel in Pahargani covered in sweat and tried to cool down under a fan that is far too slow for my liking. In about 10 minutes I will head out to check the accommodation we have booked for our teams this summer, and then try my luck at a local restaurant I passed on my way here for dinner. May be out of contact for a few days but will keep you posted on my travels very soon!

Ex Challenger returns to project site to continue charitable work!

In 2010 The Wheatley Park School undertook an expedition to Nicaragua and completed a project within the rural communities surrounding Granada, successfully helping with the renovation of one of the local schools. The team undertook their project work alongside the charity ‘La Esperanza’ translated as ‘The hope’ in English. The team’s efforts had such an impact that one challenger has just returned for a three month placement to continue working directly for La Esperanza.

Just another reason why Latin America offers some of the best projects within the World Challenge portfolio….

The project is run by a group of volunteers. 'Born’ in 2002, they started helping in one small village on the outskirts of Granada, and now help in seven - from building new classrooms, to paying a local nurse to visit the schools, to making copies of exams for the children and helping women start handicraft groups. The work is funded solely through donations and 100% of the money goes towards the project. At each school the funds pay for at least one teaching assistant or "Ayudante" - a local student who helps out co-ordinating foreign volunteers and teaching. The Ayudantes usually speak a little English and the NGO also pays for them to go to college at weekends.’

World Challenge supports the UN International Year of Forests 2011

The World Challenge website is now displaying the IYOF logo in support of the UN awareness campaign, promoting the importance of forests to people around the world.

As a company, we have been actively involved with environmental projects for several years, working closely with local communities to help promote sustainable development and resource use. On top of other environmental projects around the world this year, World Challenge have committed additional funding and manpower in Kenya and Tanzania to ensure that every person climbing Mt Kenya & Mt Kilimanjaro will plant a tree on the slopes of the mountains. This will help combat the deforestation in the area and minimise the damage this causes to local communities.

Peru sustainable project

To coincide with the re-branding of our Northern Peru expedition to ‘Andes & Amazon’ we have recently secured an exciting link up with an environmental project in the Tarapoto area. We have been awarded additional sustainable project funding to support this initiative for the next 3 years, starting in 2011. This gives us a great opportunity to build on the platform established by previous World Challenge teams who have visited the area. The project is focussed on the Cumbaza River watershed, part of the Amazon basin. This is located in San Martin, the most deforested region in Peru.

In conjunction with our project coordinator, Rodrigo Ponce we are part of an initiative to promote ecotourism and teach environmental techniques, such as permaculture in local communities. Several communal reserves will also be created in order to protect the rich biodiversity of the area. I visited the community of San Roque de Cumbaza on recce and the area is stunning - a truly magnificent setting for a World Challenge project!

If you need any more information on this exciting project please don’t hesitate to contact us

Chris, Expedition Planning Manager, South America

Earth Hour

World Challenge continues to look at ways to reduce its impact on the environment and help combat climate change. This Saturday, the world is invited to take part in Earth hour, where lights are switched off around the globe to help save electricity and give the earth a break. Earlier in the year World Challenge switched to green energy so that electricity in our head office now comes from sustainable sources, and World Challenge is now supporting Earth Hour by shutting down all non-essential office equipment, and encouraging staff to switch off lights in their homes at 20:30pm. Follow these links for more information on Earth Hour, how you can get involved, and what World Challenge do both in the UK and overseas.

Earth Hour
World Challenge's sustainabily work