Expeditions
Expeditions have been a part of life at Balcarras for many years. Pupils have had the chance to visit countries such as Namibia, Ecuador, India, Tanzania, Mongolia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile/Bolivia, Borneo and most recently Malawi and Thailand/Laos. The month long trips are organised in conjunction with Outlook Expeditions with the aim of allowing students to experience cultures and environments completely different from their own. They are a life changing experience for the participants themselves and the communities that we visit. The expeditions are broken down into three phases.
The Adventure Phase
In most cases this will involve pupils completing some form of trek or PADI. This has included pupils successfully summiting Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and navigating their way across the glaciers of the Arctic whilst in Alaska.
Latest Expedition News
This July (2024) the expedition team are off to Costa Rica. We fly to San Jose before trekking through the various landscapes of Rincon de la Vieja National Park. The park covers 141 square kilometres the land varies from green pastureland to dense jungle, to dry, open volcanic landscapes. We will be able to see a variety of volcanic activity such as bubbling mud pools and fumaroles as well as bathe in thermal pools. During the trek phase of our trip we will be camping and cooking our own meals on stoves.
We are then planning on heading south to the western coast of Costa Rica, close to the border of Panama. We are then going to spend a couple of days in the Caribbean village of Cahuita. We will explore the tropical forests of Cahuita National Park, where it may be possible to see racoons, sloths and monkeys!
For our project phase we are hoping to help injured wild animals and educating the public on these animal’s struggles. The volunteer centre, ASIS, work closely with Costa Rica’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy and the Monteverde Conservation League. During our time with ASIS we will be accommodated by local homestay families, and will eat our meals with them each evening.
We are then going to head to Tortuguero National Park, only accessible by boat, which one of Costa Rica’s top wildlife destinations. It is famous for its nesting green sea turtles and healthy wild jaguar population. Whilst there we could see numerous bird species, sloths, monkeys and giant green iguanas. We will have a local guide with us in search of turtles late at night or spend our time exploring the ins and outs of this remote jungle paradise by organising a boat tour on the park’s network of canal systems.
We are all excited about our trip to Costa Rica and are currently in the progress of finalising plans and budgets.
We are going on an Expedition Training weekend in April. During this weekend we will venture into the Peak District with our team and leader to enhance our teamwork skills and practice some of the leadership responsibilities that our team will assume during the expedition, such as budgeting, meal preparation, and equipment management and a chance to start putting your Leader in Me habits into practice.