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.

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: 

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.

 

 

 

Venom Expedition - Arunachal Pradesh

August Expedition Write Up

 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 .

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: 3^rd to 5^th June, 2011. (The group leaves Bangalore by overnight bus to Agumbe on the 2^nd night and returns early in the morning on the 6^th.)

If you are interested in joining or need more details, please get in touch with Gerry on gerry@gerrymartin.in. 

Summer Large Game Experience

13/15 May 2011

Jungle Retreat, Masinagudi

The month of May is the harshest time of the year in much of South India. Temperatures soar, there is no rain, dust is blinding at times and water is a scarcity. The silver lining to this is the opportunity for any wildlife buff to get to experience wildlife.

A Bengal Tiger

Animals will start gravitating towards the last remaining water bodies and sources of food. Visibility is best at this time as well because the undergrowth is sparse and dry. The Gerry Martin Project is running a Large Game Experience at this time to offer people the best chance to see and photograph a lot of these animals. We will head to Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and stay at Jungle Retreat, a resort that is nestled on the fringes of the forest. 

A Spotted Deer Stag

In addition to exploring the 35 acres belonging to Jungle Retreat, we will also get a chance to camp out at their campsite high up in the hills. On a previous program, a Tiger had made its kill of a Gaur around eighty meters from our tents! 

We will also learn about camera trapping, identifying scats and pugmarks, some of the issues in the Nilgiris and more.

We stay one night in the dormitory and one night out in tents at the campsite up on the mountain. 

There are options for those who want separate rooms.

  

'Scoping' for Game

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Jungle Retreat also has numerous fruiting trees on its campus and should any be in fruit, we will have the chance to sit by and photograph or observe very rich bird life. We also share the campus with spotted deer, wild boar, civet cats, mongooses, wild dogs, leopards and more. The chances of seeing wildlife during this season are very high and this is an experience not to be missed by the Nature buff. 

For details or to register, get in touch with Conan on 9972068300 or conan@gerrymartin.in.

Western Ghats Herpetological Experience : June 12 - 22, 2011

Western Ghats Herpetological Experience - June 12 - 22, 2011

Large Game Workshop - 18 to 20 March 2011

The Lower Nilgiris

Since the latter part of the 18^th century the Nilgiris have been described in colonial journals and accounts as a place teeming with game and wildfowl. Endowed with altitudes touching 2600mts  ASL and healthy rainfall, the Nilgiris is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.

Unfortunately, like most of our wild lands, these ranges are also facing tremendous pressures from human development and exploitation. There have been massive declines in faunal populations over the last century and the total forested area has also dropped significantly.

 

However, about two decades ago, a few individuals and families started homestays and small resorts in the area. This wildlife tourism slowly began to boom and today there are numerous such places around the region. In the last decade or so, it does seem like some species are making a comeback here. Large cats, for example, are being spotted a lot more frequently and since the conversion from agriculture to tourism has been quite expansive, there seems to be a decline in conflict.

Jungle Retreat, a family run resort on the periphery of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve has been doing its bit for conservation work in the lower Nilgiris for more than a decade. The land was initially barren and stark and was used in agriculture- primarily rice, finger millet and potatoes. Farmers used to poison wild animals that strayed into the property and use electric fences tapped directly into the main grid, killing animals regualrly. Today, Jungle Retreat covers over thirty five acres of land that has been returned to the forest. Animals and birds are welcomed and watched and everything that you find in the forest can be found on the property. This is truly an example of a simbiotic improvement.

This March the Gerry Martin Project is running a large game workshop in this jungle paradise with the objective of inculcating field skills in tracking and spotting, understanding the behaviour of these animals, and looking at the relationship between man and animal in this fragile eco-system.

Activities

·         Hikes into the forest

·         Interpreting Tracks and signs

·         Birdwatching

·         Camping out for a night

·         A Game drive

·         Setting up camera-traps and hides

·         Night Surveys

Workshop Dates:

The workshop will start at 11 am on Friday, the 18^th of March and end around 1:30 pm on Sunday the 20^th of March, 2011.

Accommodation and Logistics:

We will be staying in gender specific dormitories at Jungle Retreat which is in Bokkapuram near Masinagudi, on the Mysore-Ooty road. There is a common dining area and there are attached bathrooms and toilets which are permanent structures and are fully functional.

The drive to Jungle retreat is about 5 1/2 hrs from Bangalore. Make sure you are there early so as not to miss out on any activity.

For further details or to register, please get in touch with Conan Dumenil. +91-9972068300/ conan@gerrymartin.in.


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