Another edition of the Summer Nature Camp for Children at Seetanadi Herpeto Camp.

Part I

Acclimatization 

The river bank was the most accepted place for any discussion.......

Every May, for the past seven years we have been going out to the Western Ghats along with children to give them a prolonged exposure to Nature. Like most of the camp sites we choose, Seetanadi Herpeto Camp near Hebri is also cut off from the outside world, in spite of being on the main road. In the earlier years we simply stayed within the campsite and carried out hands on activities. Now, with the students coming back time and again we started to move about into different forest types and terrains during every camp. In less than a hundred kilometers you could be on a peak surrounded by lofty green mountains and also be on sandy beaches to experience the splash of the Arabian Sea. You could sit under a huge tree on the banks of a gushing stream or even roll down the grassy hills of the Shola forests.

Agamya was a favorite among everyone

There were twenty eight participants and four resource persons making the class ideal for out door activities. The fresher to regulars’ ratio was also ideal making the children even more safer. For us it was a challenge to keep them both engaged in a lively mode. There were about half a dozen kids bellow class five and the youngest was the notoriously calm and cool girl called Agamya aged six. She had boldly come across the table and stood aside where we had a discussion with her parents in a restaurant in Mysore. I was answering a gamut of basic questions about the camp to many parents. Her sister’s along with her friend’s participation was confirmed. As per our modality she was under aged by two years yet she was persistent to join in. Looking straight into my eyes she asked ‘can I also come to the camp?’ I pulled her closer to my mouth and whispered in her ears “Can you take care of your toilet issues?”  She yelled with a glee “Oh yes” with immense confidence. The parents must have been astonished about the million dollar question her daughter had answered to win through her entry to the camp. 

A frog the toilet seat

The teams from Mysore and Bangalore arrived in good shape and instantly fell in love with the camp site. Their only issue with the camp site was the presence of frogs in the toilets. Of course what else could you expect in a tropical rain forest? Nasty ants, colourful geckos, or even millipedes and scorpions; anything could be a game based on the season. In the first round of discussion among the resource persons after the Ice breaker and introductory session, we decided to orient the camp towards the creepy crawly things in these forests. After all our sole intention of the camp was to immerse the children in Nature and allow them to explore and enquire for themselves. We tried to focus more upon the lesser forms of these forests.

A regular customer in the folds of the tent

Among many routine activities based on leaf collection such as observing shapes and color, collage making out of leaves and twigs was a favorite among the children. There was drawing and many observation sessions which some took it seriously. While Adithi a tenth grader was a meticulous dairy writer many simply hated to put their pen upon notebook. Children get acquainted to the camp site very soon and never missed out any activity. They ate more and without fuss. They never minded skipping their personal time in order to be with the group and the leader. But for the most awaited audiovisual sessions in the evenings there was a serious set back. That afternoon on the very first day of the camp while the children sat drawing in the pergola there was a sudden thunder storm. The participants were put to sleep to avoid the wrath of scorching heat and humidity. In no time it transformed the entire ‘forest scape’.

One of the best activities to beat the tropical heat

The tall trees that stood dead still all day started swaying violently and the leaf litter went up in whirls creating a backdrop for a scene from a horror film. It rained and rained till darkness and there was no power for two days. We had to restore to story telling mode in the evenings. We intimately narrated about the canopy dwelling mammals of these forests.

Everybody likes a good Rain

The dark nights in the wet forests are an ideal situation for the frogs and insects. It gave us ample scope to pick up a frog and explain about them. The initial screenings at the touch of a slimy object gradually dampened with their familiarity to the subject. Some even collected nasty looking dung beetles. 

This year we tried out a new method to keep the parents informed on a timely basis about the where about of their children. An exclusive What’s ap group had been created for the parents and some well wishers. Geetha madam was entrusted with the extra duty of posting updates of events to the group.

The What's Ap broadcasting station

She did a marvelous job of handling the parents as well as the many odds on the ground. It rained right on the first two days and there was no power for both the days. Leave aside the Audio Visual sessions; there wasn’t any power to charge the mobile phones and the cameras. As ever, the mobile signal was too weak and she roamed around the campus and found a special niche on the riverbank from where she could get connected to the outside world. She had to take upon the oddest of queries from the parents. 

 " The beautiful world I have stepped into" -by Pawan

‘Why is there no sign of my son in any of the sixteen pictures?

Even before six in the morning a message shot her ‘Please wake up my daughter; she is missing out a wonderful session.’ 

“Why are you posting only the pictures of girls” and so on?

Occasionally she had to trundle back and forth to us aloud some of the messages. A few of the messages which she announced louder would embarrass certain participants.  The typical one was “Mrs. So and so asks Manu Sir not to let her son so and so to the water at any cost !”  

"My daughter has been bitten by a leach itseems please take her to a doctor in Manipal"

In such cases we were deliberately making the communication loud so that the children realize the ground realities in a camp site and the imaginary world their parents live. Also it is good for the children to know that  parents  often  express their love through fear.

-Pics and Text by Manu K