May 28, 2012
May 27, 2012
July 31, 2011
Feathers and Fangs! A bird and herp experience at Hunsur
Feathers and Fangs!
2-4 September 2011
By the end of August the South-West Monsoon is petering out, most water bodies have filled up to capacity and are teeming with life. Fish have spawned, local migrations of birds have started to find nesting grounds and herps and reptiles will also be bringing forth their young.
The Gerry Martin Project will be taking a group of enthusiasts to Ossie Martin's Farm on the banks of the Devikere lake to witness and experience the beginning of the life-cycle.
Located at the village of Rathnapuri, 10 Kms from Hunsur, the farm is a great place to experience smaller and lesser known wildlife. We will go for surveys through fruit orchards, fields, marshes and hedgerows at the farm, get up close with reptiles, birdwatch around the lake and also do excursions into Nagarhole and Ranganthittu Sanctuaries.
Some of the things we will do there are
- Go on night surveys
- Learn camera trapping
- A game drive to Nagarhole
- Excursion to Ranganthittu
- Setting up pit-falls and drift fences
- Getting up-close with reptiles
We will be staying at the farm in shared tents and coconut shacks on raised platforms. Bathrooms are permanent structures and have running water. Food is a combination of vegetarian and non-vegetarian local delicacies cooked by our in-house army of cooks.
Dates and Logistics:
We will leave Bangalore at 5:00 am on Friday, 2nd September and drive for about 4 hrs to the farm. On the return we will depart Hunsur on Sunday, 4th September at 3:00 pm.
To register for this program or to know more please get in touch with Conan on +91-9972068300 or on conan@gerrymartin.in
May 27, 2011
Young Naturalists camps - July 2011
What’s this all about?
With an exponential rise in the number of children inclined towards Nature, it is only logical that there exist more avenues for Children to learn about, interact with and experience the Natural World. Unfortunately, this isn’t true for most city dwelling children. Children seem to possess more information today than ever before but are unable to test their knowledge or hypotheses through experience. Consequently, they don’t actually learn much.
If experience and life are our best teachers, then it is only fair that we offer children the chance to learn about what they are passionate about through experiences that we bring to them.
This July, The Gerry Martin Project (TGMP) will be running two ‘Young Naturalists’ Workshops’ at different locations, focusing on separate learning objectives from Crocodile Biology to Game tracking.
1. Reptile Biology at The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (MCBT)
We will be working on reptile biology here, focusing on management of reptiles in captive conditions. There is also a very interesting field component to this program. To enable us to focus on non-captive scenarios, we will also be heading out one morning with the legendary Irula Snake catchers and experiencing their incredible bush wisdom and skills. Children will get hands on experience by working with the staff and specialists at the Croc Bank as well as shadowing the Irulas during their snake hunt.
Some of the topics addressed are Reptile Captive Management, Safety Protocols, Small Wildlife Tracking, Reptile Veterinary Care, Survey Techniques, Field Techniques in Crocodile Research, Snakebite First Aid Protocol, etc. Dates- 04th to 08th July 2011.
Age bracket: 12 to 19 yrs.
Age bracket: 12 to 19 yrs.
2. Naturalist Skills at Romulus Whitaker’s
Rom Whitaker is a pioneer in reptile conservation and has been at the forefront of the field for around four decades. He founded the first snake park in India, the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team, Irula Snake Catchers’ Co-operative Society among many other achievements and endeavours. Rom now lives on the edge of a reserve forest about an hour away from Chennai. He has set up a small campsite to allow enthusiasts to experience Nature and also build skills in field biology.
The Gerry Martin Project will be taking a group of 18 kids over to Rom’s campsite to run them through the basics in field biology. They will learn outdoor skills, camera trapping, biostatistics, reptile biology, bird watching and a lot more.
Dates- 11th to 15th July 2011.
Age bracket: 10 to 16 years.
Faculty: Dates- 11th to 15th July 2011.
Age bracket: 10 to 16 years.
Each of the workshops will be led by a person with relevant skill and experience. There will be also be support faculty who will help children during the activities and see to their general wellbeing and safety. We will maintain an adult to child ratio of at least 1:5 where we will only count actual faculty on the program and not include other adults who work at the locations. All our faculty will be screened and have prior experience with children. Safety:
We completely understand your trepidation about sending your children off on experiences like this. When it comes to safety, we keep a constant vigil on children to ensure that they don’t get hurt, physically or emotionally. The ratio of adults to children that we maintain ensures that children are never alone and unwatched. We also keep a keen eye out for interpersonal dynamics and will step in if any children are being bullied or put down. Our equipment is all tested and cleared. Wherever necessary, we have certified and experienced instructors.
To register or to get more details, please get in touch with Conan on 9972068300 or email at conan@gerrymartin.in or Gerry on 9845779666 or gerry@gerrymartin.in.
April 4, 2011
Nature Summer Workshops at the Martin Farm
A lot of parents and kids have expressed interest in nature workshops these days and do not have many options in Bangalore. In the month of May, The Gerry Martin Project (TGMP) aims to create such avenues for kids to explore and experience Nature and to apply the right context to their interests and information. TGMP will be running a series of kids workshops at our farm on Sarjapur Road. Designed for kids between 6 to 12 yrs they can choose between our day long workshops or single overnight camps here.
Each of these workshops will have different objectives and the activities are structured keeping in mind that some of these kids are experiencing nature and the outdoors for the first time. Activities will range from getting comfortable with farmyard animals, understanding different habitats, setting up miniature eco-systems, camping out, learning basic outdoor skills and much more.
Dates:Our day long workshops will be running consecutively from 16 to 20 May 2011. You can choose to attend any of these days or all of the days.
The overnight camp will be on 21 to 22 May 2011.
To Register or to find out more call Conan on 9972068300 or email on conan@gerrymartin.in .
March 30, 2011
Agumbe in the heart of the monsoons! 03 - 05 June 2011
Experience the life giving rains
The beginning of June is a very interesting time in the Western Ghats. Everything is prepared for and waiting for the rains to come. The few early showers have already caused an explosion of life and amphibians and insects abound. Snakes, lizards and other small predators come out in great numbers to feast on this abundance and many species will have timed the arrival of their progeny with this season.
Gerry Martin will be heading up to the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station to experience this transition. We will be staying at the research station, in tents and explore the surrounding streams and forests to understand how various animals adapt to this wet clime. By July, the rains in Agumbe are punishingly heavy and most life seems to simply hunker down and wait out the next two months and potentially six meters of rain!
This is the perfect time to experience the smaller wildlife and see various interactions and adaptations.
We will also learn about taxonomy of reptiles, ecological research methods, outdoor skills and guidelines for safe functioning in the wilderness.
The workshop will be a combination of activities and presentations.
Some of the aspects we will address are:
- · Rainforest ecology
- · Canopy Access
- · Stream Ecology
- · Snake Taxonomy
- · Snakebite treatment and first aid
- · Night survey techniques
We will stay in tents set on concrete platforms with a tarpaulin shelter over them. The bathrooms are permanent structures with hot and cold running water.
Program Dates: 3rd to 5th June, 2011. (The group leaves Bangalore by overnight bus to Agumbe on the 2nd night and returns early in the morning on the 6th.)
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