Trekking in India

Hi Everyone! Back from the mountains and had an amazingly successful trek recce. The first of 5 days took us on a cultural extravaganza of “Little Tibet” as Ladakh is often known. Indispersed between hard, hot and long days trekking, we visited many gompas or monasteries which are the focal points for each village. They often reside at the highest points of a valley overlooking their community which does not bode well after a long day’s walk! It is fascinating to see how Buddhist culture features in daily life in these rural areas; houses and mountain passes are covered in colourful fluttering prayer flags who’s prayers fill the sky with blessings when the wind blows. There are other religious structures such as pepper pot like stupas and mani walls filled with carved stone tablets along footpaths and at community entrances. Ladakh is rich in culture and is rightly proud of it.
The second half of the trek took us over a number of passes just short of 5,000m which was quite tough going. As the first people over one of the passes since the winter we were not sure what to expect but the snow had melted sufficiently to enable safe passage. I always feel deeply privileged when I look up into the sky and spot a distant aircraft vapour trail and then told that it is the only aircraft we will see that day. I am now back in Leh and leaving tomorrow having spent 2 weeks in the magnificent country visiting nine projects and reccing two short treks. I will definitely be back again and perhaps this time for a little longer!

Trekking in Ecuador

Wow! What a busy week, and what an amazing country. This recce has had two key objectives, one being on the mainland and looking at new treks and ensuring that all of the documentation that we send out to our leaders is of the highest quality and the second on the Galapagos (where I go tomorrow!), but first this week. After several meetings and lots of very official form filling I got to get out onto the hill and do one of the things I enjoy the most – trekking. One of my jobs has been to check on the suitability of a new trek in the Piñan lakes area, and I’m pleased to say it is stunning! I’ll included a couple of photo’s next time for you to see and I hope that the teams will enjoy it as much as I did (all-be-it in a slightly more relaxed way, we did the 4 day trek in 2 days!). The first day will be a good amount of uphill, but you are rewarded with a great little campsite and then 3 more days of amazing views (weather permitting!). Plus, we didn’t see a soul – my kind of walking. From here I went to check on our horse riding provider in the Machachi valley where I got to see a number of the wonderful mountains in the area. A brilliant spot and if your itinerary goes there then there are a number of walks or rides that you can do. I rounded off this week by visiting the Cotopaxi NP to see one of our most popular treks and it’s not hard to see why! A beautiful mountain and a landscape that genuinely makes you feel like you’re in another World. Top tip though, make sure you take some good warm clothes as it can get a little on the cold side out there.

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.