Slideshows for end of phase one are finally ready...

The slideshows of all the photos from phase one are finally ready – hooray! Sorry for the delay in getting these up – Fieldbase has been a tad manic over the last few days. Despite everyone only having about 3 hours sleep in the end last night trying to get packed and ready to leave for phase two, everyone was up and ready to head out for phase two at 4.30 this morning and all the new groups are currently on their way to their new projects.

Shortly we will get up the allocations for phase two so you can see where everyone is headed to today, but firstly here we go with the first of the slideshows with the Corcovado trekkers of Alpha one…

Some of the groups also wrote a summary of what their project was like so here is what Alpha one had to say about their experience...

From day one team spirit was high and usefully so as this was the day we got stranded between two rivers whilst on our lunch break. The result was having to spend the night in an unused farm house in the middle of a tropical storm and consequently losing a day and a half in time.

The team was determined to make up the time however, and after a great night spent on the floor of a church, complete with HOT showers, we had the opportunity. We set off before sunrise with the intention of completing one and a half days - an 800m climb through the jungle, a steep descent through waist high grass and then back up the other side. We had cut it fine but the promise of a spectacular view from the top kept us going up the second hill, with the help of tang and granola bars of course.

The view turned out to be spectacular – we could see the Pacific Ocean and the peninsular which is the home to the Corcovado National Park which we were to cross over the coming days. Corcovado National Park is the fifth globally for bio-diversity and it didn’t disappoint - Monkeys swinging from the tree above our tent, tapirs asleep on the beach, an anteater feeding next to the path where we were walking and even pumas, although only a few of us were lucky enough to see them.

With its spectacular beaches and incredible wildlife, the tough climbs became worthwhile. And our sense of accomplishment, especially at making up the time we lost, was an incomparable feeling of elation.

(Louise Rea and Rosie Ford)