Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Team Gets Stuck Into Project

The Team have thrown themselves into their project in the Elijio Panti National Park. On arrival special incense was burnt as an offering to the Jungle Spirits.

The Team digging the longdrop dug 5ft in one day;



Another group of trekkers started constructing the frame for a fire shelter;


















Whilst another group was working on maintaining the steps which take you down to a beautiful waterfall;


















As all this was going on the admin team whipped up a delicious lunch of tortilla and hummous!

The Team will spend a further 6 days at the waterfall site. They will then move up to the Cave site, where they will be making the steps that take you up to the Cave, an old Mayan offering site.

After that it is off on a six day trek through the rainforest...

Sunday, 27 July 2008

08B2 have completed jungle training and are heading off to project site …

After a rather wet ride from the airport everyone arrived in high spirits, met by their staff team. After an initial few days at Sylvester Village learning amongst other things first aid, camp layout and machete use the group headed out into the trees.

The first night in the jungle was quite noisy with the bugs, mosi’s and sounds of trekkers falling out of their hammocks! Soon getting the hang of jungle living the next few nights were a lot more comfortable. The group was treated with a visit from a troop of spider monkeys who dropped by to see what was going on.

The last day of jungle training was spent learning jungle survival skills with the help of Tino our Belizean Jungle Warfare Instructor. Learning shelter building techniques, water collecting methods and about the plants and animals the trekkers had a great day. The highlight for some being Sophie pulling the head off a chicken!!

As I type the guys are loading up their transport with all the rations and equipment they will need for the next two weeks on project site. The group will be undertaking important maintenance in the Elijio Panti National Park, including building a fire shelter, upgrading the step network, clearing some new trails and building a changing area at their beautiful waterfall.

Keep checking in to see how the guys are getting on ….

Tuesday, 1 July 2008

Pirates of the Caribbean

With all PADI open water and advanced certificates gained the only thing left for 08B1 was to dress up as pirates (and parrots!) and sail off into the sunset! The guys had a great time diving seeing sharks, rays, turtles and a whole host of fish. As luck would have it, it was also ‘lobster fest’ Caye Caulker’s annual lobster festival whilst the group was there.



Fieldbase is currently putting the finial little bits together for the summer expedition - Trekforce Ceiba Creek …