Andaman Discoveries Blog
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Holiday For The Kids!
A Little Jungle Hike, Camping, and Environmental Education
On a fresh Saturday morning, Andaman Discoveries, along with a team of very willing volunteers, decided to give the children from the Southern Thailand Orphanage project and the Youth Group from Ban Lion an amazing holiday. We arranged an adventure-packed weekend for the children to our nearby islands on the Andaman Sea.A few drops of rain in the morning did not keep us from jumping on the boat! Our poncho's all packed, we were off to Koh Ra for a hike in the pristine jungle. There were 50 children excited to run through the jungle and explore the area, and enough guides to help them through the days activities!
After a hike of about 1.5 hours we arrived at the beach with wild waves crashing onto the shore. Children were running around on the beach playing with the waves. Just as everyone arrived the heavens opened and we had an adventurous wet lunch - food was never eaten this fast!
After the lunch we came back to our starting point, and the children went for another swim at a waterfall.
The boats were then ready to pick us up and take us to the island Koh Phrathong, were the children of the Southern Thailand orphanage set up their tents ready to stay overnight! The next morning the children got up early to explore the nature of Koh Phrathong and learn about the ecosystem surrounding them - a beautiful savannah on a deserted island.
After an educational and fun day, the children packed up and headed back to the Orphanage. We hope to see them again soon!
Labels: jungle hike, Koh Phratong, orphanage, southern thailand orphanage
Monday, January 11, 2010
Children's Day
by Jenny Lovell
I arrived in Kuraburi on Thursday morning to begin my 6-month internship. After a couple of days of orientation, we had an office field trip.
On Saturday morning we took a ferry to the island of Kho Phra Thong for Children's Day at one of the villages we work in. Getting on to the boat you had to watch your step because the pier was slippery and you could easily fall into the muscles that clung to the steps. Sharp as razors, those sneaky muscles!We were in the lo
ng boat for about a half hour when we arrived at the pier and jumped out onto a pristine beach. Then we took a janky tractor to the village...I kid you not, the fan belt popped off half-way there and we had to wait for the driver to put it back on. I should have know this would foreshadow our ride home...We got to the village where they had (once again) extremely yummy food! We all lined up and had our fill, then came the dancing and cute kids everywhere!
Once again...cute kids, great trees.
On our way back to the dock, we crammed about 18 people onto our tiny tractor. About 10 minutes into the ride, the axle just couldn't take any more. The wheel popped off and we all had to jump. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but the owner of the tractor was in a bad spot. He was very gracious about the accident, but I can imagine having his tractor out of commission will be a big problem.
When we got back to Kuraburi, we rented motorbikes and went for an offroad adventure. We went up the a waterfall and had a swim just before it got dark.It was a great first weekend in Kuraburi for me!
Labels: Koh Phratong
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Freshman Year
Villagers Experience First-Hand Training
The village of Ban Lion on Koh Phratong became a real-life classroom for two days in June. Built after the tsunami, Ban Lion is a collective of people from many different villages and cultures, yet they live together harmoniously.We held a training and pilot tour on how to manage and develop activities for tourists, with help from the Mangrove Action Project. The villagers’ enthusiasm was encouraging...
“A place is about the people. The people of the Ban Lion Village made the experience. The guides and homestay hosts exuded an enthusiasm that cannot be imitated. Their pride and willingness to share their way of life was remarkable,” said Program Development Manager Mimi Cheung.
Ban Lion is surrounded by a fertile mangrove forest and swamp forest, and the villagers take pride in the biodiversity in and around their village. There are marine animals such as sea turtles, dugong, and dolphins. Bird watchers rejoice at the abundant avian offerings, including the rare lessor adjutant stork.
Ban Lion Village was built with the support of Lions Club International for tsunami-affected people from several villages on Koh Prathong, including Pak Jok Village, which was totally destroyed. The ultimate goal of the training is to promote development of community-based tourism. “By sharing their lifestyle and the jewel of Koh Phratong, the villagers pride increases as well as their motivation to preserve the place they call home,” said team member Leslie Welshimer.
Koh Phratong’s stunning environment has made it a focus of conservation groups like Naucrates and Mangrove Action Project (MAP). Andaman Discoveries, North Andaman Community Tourism Network (N-ACT) and MAP (Mangrove Action Project) collaborated to offer the training for Ban Lion village in June (with funding support provided by the Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism).
Jeannine Curd, volunteer English teacher and pilot tour participant, said, “I feel honored to have been a part of the first group to come to this village on a CBT program. The people were all very helpful.”
Jaruwan Kaewmahanin (Ning), Thailand Field Project Manager for MAP, said, “Ban Lion is unique because it is a collective of people from many different villages and cultures, yet they can live in a harmonious way.”
Read Leslie Welshimer’s pilot-tour participant story.
Labels: Ban Lion, biodiversity, community tourism, Koh Phratong, Mangrove Action Project, Pak Jok Village
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]