X-Ray 4: H20 the basics

Ella-Kate of X-Ray 4 has reported on Carara National Park and the valuable environmental conservation project they are undertaking:

Our work for this phase in Carara National Park is contributing to conservation efforts, improvement of the tourist experience, making life better for the rangers and helping to combat a huge problem in the park. Carara National Park is affected by the lack of a reliable water source, currently the water for all of the buildings in the park comes from 2 natural springs. These have served their purpose well but they are now drying up and are unreliable. Therefore we are pitting our community learnt pick-axe skills, their trek learnt trail planning skills and the enthusiasm of the explorers against the jungle.

A guided tour of the Park by Jared, only 1% of Carara Park is open to visitors, X-Ray 4 are incredibly privileged to be living in this protected part of Costa Rica

The aim is to build a trench so a new water pipe can be installed. Our team is bonding well even though our work was interrupted by a group of spider monkeys. Seeing these animals in their natural environment has really helped motivate us and remind us of our purpose here which is to conserve the environment.

Jared a Carara Ranger, thanked us for our work which is incredibly important for environmental conservation

Our work here has a great local impact, Jared one of the rangers has expressed that without Raleigh to build the trenches the already stretched resources would be pushed further as the rangers would have to dig it. If the park loses its water supply entirely it is likely it would close as tourists would no longer be able to visit due the lack of amenities, water is needed to drink, toilets wouldn’t work, volunteers wouldn’t be able to come either and rangers couldn’t live.

X-Ray 4 bonding

Our pipe will guarantee water for the volunteers who work hard to maintain the park it will also guarantee water for the rangers who protect the park and the wildlife while providing invaluable information and education. The biggest development is that it will allow water sources to be installed along the new disabled access trail and existing path, guaranteeing water for visitors.

While our trench seems like a small development, it is helping protect the future of this awe inspiring natural part of the country. Globally Costa Rica is providing an excellent example of sustainable development and conservation. It is a small country but proving its power through conservation of rainforests and the environment. Carara National Park is a perfect example of the importance of volunteers and the changes they can make. 

After the working day is done, X-Ray 4 have cuddles

World Water Day is being celebrate by Expedition 13A on the 22nd March - keep in touch to find out what we are doing.

Alpha 4, 5 & 10

It has been an amazing couple of weeks for Alpha's 4, 5 and 10 and our bloggers Emma, Josh, Olly and Glyn have given updates on their progress.

Alpha 4, Carara National Park by Josh and Emma

It has been wild since Day 1 here at Carara when we came under tarantula 'attack' and met our resident iguana that we have named 'killer' for the first time. We quickly embraced our luxurious new home fully furnished with beds, showers and the occasional tree frog.

Alpha 4: Henry, George, Ben, Josh, Ollie, Emma, Celine, Emilie, Cecilia, Amy, Lewis, Adriana, Lou, Jos, Emma and Hidde

Once everything was set up we were ready to hit the ground running, lining over 100m of path with rcks. Since then our progress has continued and we have renovated many 100s of metres since including raking,gravelling and stone moving. One of the most rewarding parts of working in Carara is the instant gratification from the hundreds of tourists who visit each day and are always interested in and thankful for our work. We have felt perfectly at home here, having thrown Celine a birthday party including a magnificent biscuit cake, and have since held a jungle party with Tang cocktails and a quiz.

Ollie hard at work

We are all fighting fit and plan to continue working hard, until we cannot gravel anymore! We feel blessed to have seen all the wildlife in this magnificent park including Scarlet Macaws, an anteater, Capuchin monkey, hummingbirds, snakes and multiple agouti alongside witnessing an iguana eat a tarantula and a rare sighting of the illusive Carara puma. Every day we experience more and are so excited about our final few days and what they will bring. Pura Vida!

Alpha 5, San Lucas Island, Olly Wolrond

Celebrating St.Valentine's Day

It's hard to believe that I'm writing this blog entry on day 12 of our inhabitation of San Lucas Island. Although the phrase "time flies when you're having fun" does apply, I think it's more a case of time flies when you're working very hard. However, the palm lined Playa de Coco (literally Coconut Beach) on our doorstep does a little to ease the aches. The beach is also a reminder of our mission here to protect and conserve this beautiful island and it's habitat.

Alpha 5: Sally, Jade, Greg, Kate, Gina, Holly, Nick, Olly, Matt, Emily, Kat, Anna, Ben, Charlie, Paul and Job

We hope to keep the island as untouched as possible, preserving it's status as a nature reserve and allowing future generations to enjoy it as we have; while at the same time helping the Rangers to protect the island from poachers who take trees and animals from the islands beaches and forests. By far the most vocal species of animals at risk from poaching are the Howler Monkeys (surprisingly tiny for their loud calls), we thought they were massing for attack the camp however we have since become used to the maniacal calls that occur throughout the day and night.

Hard at work on the trail

Monkeys however are not the only animal to contend with on the island; ants, stick insects and most memorably a tarantula have all wandered into our kitchen. We've also seen an armadillo, hundreds of hermit crabs, have been set upon by bees whilst working and we also share our food store with bats! However we have also seen the other side of the islands natural habitat stargazing on the jetty and seeing for the first time the island's fluorescent water plankton which gives the sea a sparkling glow.

Howler monkeys up in the trees around camp

In building our trail across the island we hope to protect this habitat by providing a new path for the Rangers which will allow them to better patrol the different beaches from the threat of poachers as well as clearing and maintaining the beaches from rubbish which comes on shore from the sea. Taking down buildings is also part of our task and we hope that we will create an environment which will attract responsible tourists to the island both to view the infamous prison and admire the unspoilt natural environment. In terms of global impact we hope that our part in promoting conservation areas in Costa Rica will add to it's global reputation in providing the right way to protect the natural environment.

Alpha 10, Arenilla Miraflor

Raleigh is working alongside the local community of La Arenilla in Miraflor to build sustainable housing. This encompasses levelling the terrain, laying foundations and making adobe (mud) bricks to build new houses.  These solid, low-tech and durable homes replace makeshift accommodation that cannot withstand the storms and rains.

The view from our homes

Raleigh’s Expedition 13A Alpha 10 group came to La Arenilla with the aim of progressing building work on 60 to 70 percent of the locals’ new housing. That aim is near completion.

This project is to provide the people of La Arenilla with safe and stable housing. This project is not just to build sustainable housing, it is to secure a future for the children and grandchildren.  Somewhere for them to study, somewhere for them to be safe and confident that when the wet season comes their homes will not be washed away.  We are proud that Alpha 10 has helped this community realise its ambition to adapt to the climatic conditions, to withstand the rains and to carry on into the dry season without rebuilding every year. 

Tomorrow a social justice blog from Alpha 8 and an update from Alpha 7.

On the first day of Christmas Zulu 3 gave to me...

Hello there everyone I'd like to start this blog post off as we start every morning: 21 days 'til Christmas!

And just under two weeks until we will all be either continuing our travels or heading home. The last 9 days here at Carara have flown by. We started our work here by joining forces with some local volunteers to move rocks from one section of the park to another. The week that followed was a blur of rakes, gravel bags and wheelbarrows. Although we all felt a bit like worker ants marching along the same stretch of path over and over again, we managed to finish gravelling at least 100m of path.

Lots of gravel...

Along the way we were met with many nods of both approval for the good work we'd done so far and disapproval from some very keen birdwatchers whom we probably disturbed with our squeaky wheelbarrows. For the most part though the people we've come across have thanked us for the work we're doing or have stopped to chat for a while. We even hosted a tea party with a couple who happened upon our lovely Casa Verde.

Speaking of accommodation we've got a pretty sweet setup over here. Proper beds make for an excellent night's sleep and flushing toilets are a welcome change after our trek and community phases. Showers allow us to stay fresh and clean after a hard day's work and a fully functional kitchen has made for some exciting new food creations. Pork and beans have never tasted so good. We even have a girls vs. boys energy bomb competition which the girls won for originality and healthiness but the boys ultimately took the prize for their enthusiasm during presentation.

Full store cupboard - pork and beans top left

Besides keeping ourselves full after a long day's work we spend the evenings relaxing in hammocks or playing games. Obviously ninja has continued to be a source of great entertainment. The other day we played a round with some visiting university students who have been keeping us company. No doubt due to the amount of practise we've had team Raleigh emerged triumphant as our PM Vic defeated the visitors in a 1 to 1 showdown. Uno and chess have quickly become the other go-to games of choice.

Although our current jungle surroundings don't remind most of us of our typical winters back home, we've come fully prepared to celebrate the holiday season. A Christmas tree and Santa hats we've brought with us will be put to good use at Playa Hermosa once we move there on December 6th and most definitely won't look out of place.

by Sophie, Project Comms Officer

Which Zulu are you?

And all too soon we have reached the final phase of the 12L expedition.  We've gone from Alpha to Zulu and these are the new group allocations.  Deployment was bright and early on Friday morning with everyone now on their way.

Remember to quote the Zulu name in any messages that you send in via the blog, even though they aren't published on the website we do make sure that they are given to your nearest and dearest as soon as we can.


Zulu 1 - Coast to Coast Trek, Costa Rica
Claudia Fiedler, Claire Skelton, Sarah Crawford,
Henry Anderson, Ziggy Parris, Angel Mejia, Paul Darius, Ben Byers, Mela Piedra, Lilian Keller, Patrice Hollywood, Bo Brand, Eveline Kroese

Zulu 1 - Coast to coast

Zulu 2 - Miratombo Trek, Nicaragua
Sarah Flynn, Jim Howard, Barney Harker
Alex Robertson, Hidde Van Lent, Callum Blues, Jose Quesada, Hester van Marwijk Kooy, Jakeling Escoto Rivera, Frankie Owusu-Brobbey, Yorleny Bermudez, Andrea Grundke, Vinnie Moriarty Barron

Zulu 2 - Miratombo Trek

Zulu 3 - Environmental, starting in Carara National Park, Costa Rica
Jae Quiros, Vic Lapsins
Jonas Koch, Luke Waldock, Jonathan Corrales, Pedro Ocon, Archie Finlayson, Anika Kandola, Anna McManus, Arlene Rodriguez, Sophie LaMarre

Zulu 3 - Environmental

Zulu 4 - Los Loros Water project, Nicaragua
Florian Cross, Charlie Cox, Karen Malone
Marco Mora Jimenez, Diego Molina, Matt Whiteside, Ben Hilton-Delhaye, Omar Ochoa, Carlyn Brown, Puck Van der Vet, Suwen James, Shannon Potter, Claudia Audlie

Zulu 4 - Los Loros

Zulu 5 - Miraflor House building project, Nicaragua
Natalie Metcalfe, Pauline Wright, Nicole Ferris
Ben Persofsky, Jack Moxham, Louis Tindall, Harley Decker, Dave Rosen, Gustavo Granados, Floor van Selms, Vera Juarez, Tiggy Taliadoros, Vic McIrvine, Aishath Green

Zulu 5 - Miraflor

X-ray 2, moving mountains to send messages home

X-ray 2 - welcome to the jungle

Sitting here in Carara you can really appreciate the beauty of Costa Rica as the lush rain forest provides shade from the beating sun. We now have the strange feeling of a roof above our heads as we are staying in Casa Verde, the rangers station.

Our home - Casa Verde

Having been here for 4 days we're getting settled in and beginning to bond even more as a team through  group activities, quizzes, card games and working together (rather than in separate shifts as we did in Playa Hermosa in our work with the turtles).

We've been perfecting the third trail system alongside one of the leading rangers Oscar.  At the sprightly age of 56, Oscar is there for us 100% working and sweating with us, as well as bringing us coke on the rocks and bananas. He's told us many things about this wonderful place that is our home, the great trees and insects, the scarlet macaws and even the endlessly fascinating jungle cats.

We've gravelled and laid the big stones for about 50m so far and we have a lot more to do. We wake up each morning excited for the day ahead and as we put down the fingers for the days to come we realise how every day is special and we make the most of it even more.

from Ben P, Project Comms officer

Aishath carrying gravel

Nicole carrying more gravel

Suwen carrying even more gravel

Ben coming back for yet more gravel

Aventura de un voluntariado anunciado - X-Ray 3

Tres en punto de la mañana el equipo de Raleigh esta listo para despertar a todos los aventureros, algunos duermen sobre las frias tables de las tiendas del campamento; los mas intrepidos pasaron la noche en la calida terraza del hogar temporal de voluntariados.

El sonido de las llantas de un gran pickup cerca de las tiendas de los aventureros acompanado del pito resonante despierta murmullos, illusion, risas, abrazor de despedidas y mises de sonrisas.

Musica teckno motiva a los voluntarios a cargar con su equipaje y emprender el viaje con sus nuevos grupos asignados.

X-Ray 3 en el Parque Nacional Carara, Jaco Puntarenas Costa Rica.
Catorce aventureros inician la historia de su segunda fase en el bosque del pacifico, los guardaparques nos Sorprenden con su hospitalidad y la curiosa forma de indentificar el olor de las serpientes.

Rapidamente los 14 hermanos se adaptan en sur nueva casa temporal con zona de masajes llamada "Heaven in Raleigh", Restaurante trois con menu especial,

...cada mañana  avena, en el amuerzo frijoles y en las cenas sorpresas, el bar Carara nos mantiene hidrataos y despiertos al grupo mientras trabajan y no puede faltar mencionar a el rincon especial para hamacas done todos disfrutan del sonido del bosque, monos aulladores, lapas, ranas, grillos.

Mites de risas compartidas despues de largas horas de trabajo, con mucho lodo en la cara tras contruir senderos en el Parque Nacional.  Los voluntarios organizan juegos nocturnos bajo la luz de la luna y velas que mantiene unido y entretenido al grupo.

Juegos de adivinanzas, el famoso ninja, serenatas, futbol al estilo Harry Potter, son algunas de las actividades que hacen que la familia la pase pura vida.!

Ansiosos por el cambio de fase en playa hermosa con last tortugas X-ray 3 disfruta sus ultimos dias en el rio.  Continuara...

Por Vera, Project Comms officer

Coming soon... expedition 13A!

Hello All

We are very much looking forward to having you here soon. Preparations are going well and we are working furiously to have everything ready for your arrival. I'm sure you will all have a million questions, but you should find the answers in your welcome pack / emails - if there is anything else you need please do not hesitate to get in touch with David Winterflood at Head Office. Another excellent way to prepare yourself is by having a good look through this blog / watching some of our end of phase slideshows. Undoubtedly, the biggest question you will have will be about the projects you will be doing... so here they are, the projects for Expedition 13A…. See you soon!

First of all, the community projects:

Achuapa, Nicaragua - Water Project
Close to the town of Achuapa, in one of the poorest most remote areas of Nicaragua, Raleigh will be working on a gravity-feed water project to bring clean and safe drinking water to 20 families. At present the local people get their water from the river which often dries up in summer or comes from polluted water sources. This project is a multi-stakeholder partnership with the local community, the Cooperativa Juan Francisco Paz Silva and Raleigh. The group will be working with the local population to dam small streams, build tanks to collect the water from where it can run through pipes to all the local houses. The benefits of clean water will be felt by many generations to come. The participants will be living directly with families in the village and will help out with their day-to-day tasks.

 

Conte Burika Indigenous Territory – Health Post Build
Deep in Costa Rica’s tropical south, the Punta Burika peninsula runs along the Panamanian border and is home to the Ngobe – an independent, indigenous people who live by subsistence farming in this beautiful but remote area. While their day-to-day life is seemingly simple and peaceful, the Guaymi face many complicated issues ranging from losing land to more assertive farmers across the border, to having little or no access to health and education. At the request of the community of la Carona, Raleigh will build a health post in order to provide health care for a wide area and dispersed population. Tricky access means that materials will mostly came from the surrounding forest – a highly skilled indigenous sierrista (chainsaw operator) will carefully selected trees from the reserve for the team to dry, saw, plane and sand before they construct a stilted wooden building.

And the treks...

The Coast to Coast Trek - Costa Rica
This trek starts at the Caribbean Sea and ends on the Pacific Coast. It starts out close to the port of Limon, heading along railway tracks and through small communities to Barbilla National Park. From here the groups walk through Chirripó Indigenous Territory to Bajo Pacuare. They then head to the beautiful Pejibaye river and over to Tapanti National Park. The groups ascend to nearly 3000m through the park before descending down to the Pacific Ocean via the Cerro Dragon peak. The trek ends at the beautiful Playa Palo Seco, where the groups make a final dash into sea having walked an amazing 270km, with each trekker having crossed not only a country but a continent also.

Miratombo Volcanoes Trek - Nicaragua
In the far north of Nicaragua, close to the border with Honduras, this Raleigh group will walk along a mountain ridge through the pine forests above Esteli. From here you will head along a ridge that passes by the Estanzuela waterfall and protected areas going through remote communities. The trek heads towards the Momotombo Volcano from which the trek takes its name before climbing up Volcan El Hoyo with fabulous views over Lake Managua. The trek finishes at the crater lake of Asososca – a beautiful crystal clear lake that was once a volcanic crater.

...not forgetting the environmental projects.

Carara National Park – National Park Infrastructure
Carara is one of the oldest national parks in the country and an extremely important one. It holds large areas of primary tropical rainforest with high densities of mammal and bird life – as such it is one of the most visited national parks in Costa Rica. The Lago Meandrica trail is one of the most visited trails in the park as there are great possibilities for seeing mammals and abundant birdlife, however currently the trail is closed as there is no proper control at the entrance and the first half of the trail often gets flooded in the rainy season. So the national park approached Raleigh with the task of building a new trail out to the lake which starts at the visitor centre and avoids flooded areas. This important project will re-open up the park to thousands of visitors each year upon which the local economy depends. You will be continuing the good work of expedition 12 who were based in the park from September to December

Introducing the new X-Ray groups

So everyone is on their way for Phase 2!

Even though early mornings are becoming quite routine now, 3.30am is still quite brutal especially after the Halloween party the night before.  No complaints from the new X-Ray groups though.  Everyone made their packed lunches, ate breakfast, stuffed their rucksacks and loaded the buses ready for a prompt(ish) departure.

So the X-Ray groups are as follows:

X-Ray 1 - Miratombo Trek (Nicaragua)
David M, Vic L, Charlie
Marco, Gustavo, Louis, Luke, Jonas, Matt Whiteside, Carlyn, Anika, Anna, Tiggy, Victoria M

X-Ray 2 - Environmental (starting with Playa Hermosa)
Claudia F, Jim, Nicole
Diego, Ben A, Jack, Harley, Ben H-D, Ben P, Jacklyn, Mela, Suwen, Puck, Aisheth, Hester

X-Ray 3 - Environmental (starting with Carara)
Pauline, Martina, Sarah F/Natalie
Matt Wilkinson, Jose, Omar, Claudia A, Floor, Dave R, Vera, Lilian, Shannon, Nick, Alex

X-Ray 4 - Los Loros water gravity project (Nicaragua)
Florian, Claire S, David A
Pedro, Hidde, Callum, Ziggy, Archie, Henry, Yorleny, Laura, Frankie, Lydia, Patrice, Andrea

X-Ray 5 - Miraflor house building project (Nicaragua)
Sarah C, Jae, Katie
Jonathan, Angel, Rory, Paul, Ben B, Max, Arlenne, Bodyl, Vinnie, Eveline, Sophie

If you could mark your blog messages with these X-ray groups it will help us get each one straight to your loved ones.  (Even though messages aren't being published on the blog at the moment we still print them all out and get them out to venturers just as soon as we can - so keep up the words of encouragement, they mean a lot.)

And speaking of the Halloween party here's a picture of Barney to put you off your breakfast...

Pretty in pink?

Greetings from a muddy Alpha 3

Hello everyone, Alpha 3 here

We have working hard on building and maintaining trails in Carara National Park, here in Costa Rica.  It's a sweaty, humid and dirty job, but we are really enjoying ourselves.  We had a visit from the Fieldbase team who brought us some supplies and they came up with great new games in the evening.

Today we're trying to finish one section of the path.  The massive pile of gravel and rocks outside our accommodation is gradually being reduced with the Herculean effort of the team using a mixture of wheelbarrows and sandbags.

We had to do some maintenance on our water filter system this morning, we need water to drink and cook with.  But if there isn't enough to have a shower hopefully a quick dip in the river later will remove most of the mud.

Lot's of wildlife to be seen and maybe we'll have a visit from the very tame Iguana later today.



Hasta luego
Alpha 3

from Eveline, Project Comms Officer

News on Alpha 4 also known affectionately as "Fat Pandas"

The last 9 days Alpha 4 (team name Fat Pandas) have been working in Carara National Park on an environmental project.  Using manual labour, basic tools and team spirit we managed to complete approx. 150m of nature trail providing a new access route into the park.

A couple of fat pandas at work

The days were long and hot but motivation and team morale remained strong.  We never thought a group could become so close in such a short amount of time.

Spirits are high

It hasn't all been work, we still managed to find time to celebrate Hidde's 18th birthday with a party,  music, games and thanks to Oscar, the park ranger, even cake and ice cream!

Evenings have been spent playing countless games of uno, salsa lessons, massage sessions, Spanish lessons and slangtastic classes.

During our time here we have seen a variety of wildlife, from capuchin monkeys, Iguanas, and coati to coral snakes, lizards, toads and crocodiles.   We were lucky enough to have a rare sighting of a black jaguar which crossed our trail.  We found it hard to believe too when Tory first told us!

It's been a great first project and even though we'll be sorry to say goodbye to Sarah, one of our project managers we're waiting to welcome Charlie into the Fat Panda family.

Wahgwar to my bredrins at home, keep it real, safe, all bless.

Pura Vida

Words by Comms Officer Ben Byers