Grade 6 (Yr. 7) Camp to Cuc Phuong

On Monday 9th May the 38 Grade 6 (Year 7) students along with their homeroom teachers and The Learning Project guides left Hanoi for Cuc Phuong National Park in Ninh Binh province. We stayed for two nights at the guest house inside the park where we were pretty much the only guests. Our students had plenty of new challenges, from rooming with classmates far from home to completing long walks, spending all day outside and only having access to their mobiles for an hour in the evening. 

During the days, we visited the three animal rescue centres in the park, learned how to survey insect life in the jungle, and explored a fascinating cave. The students walked between 5 and 15km most days, learning how to pace themselves and how to be mentally strong. In the evenings, we completed night hikes and we went back to the conservation centres so as to see nocturnal animals and learn more about their behaviour.

Our guides from The Learning Project, Mr Kym and Mr Minh looked after us well. The Cuc Phuong Forest Rangers, Mr Phuong and Mr Bay shared their expertise with us throughout the visit.  We learned a lot about the difficulties of caring for rescued, endangered animals; about breeding programmes in different parts of the world; and about things we can do to help.

We had plenty of time to socialise, as well as lots of space for group games. We encountered bugs of all kinds, including huge stick insects, colourful frogs, toxic insects and beautiful fireflies. We looked after each other and made the most of what we had. All in all, the Cuc Phuong camp experience helped to bring us closer together as a group.