NGHS India Trip 2016

Quite a view to have our morning coffee with! Birdwatching in the jungle!

Back at Sangam after a long drive, broken up with a fabulous visit to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery at Bylakuppe and a Jainist pilgrimage site at Shravanabelagola (742 steps 😱). Glad to be back at our Indian home ❤️

Western Ghats: a trek through the forest 😊

Western Ghats group photo 😊

So today has seen us having a very early start, to see one of the biggest banyan trees in India, followed by a study of the Indian silk industry, visiting farmers and the worlds second biggest silk cocoon market. We had a wonderful boat trip at the Ranganithu wildlife sanctuary seeing loads of different birds and even the odd crocodile!! We've arrived at the Chingaara coffee plantation for a 2 night stay in the rainforest. Hoping to possibly see elephants tomorrow!

The preferred group shot 😉

A wonderful couple of days meeting young Indian people and fantastic institutions. Great learning, exploring and sharing xx

Today continued in a similar, yet different vein to yesterday. We visited TVS school in Tumkur, where there students took us on a walk through a wildlife park, and to some spectacular viewpoints. We got blessed in a mountain temple, and then headed back to the school for lunch and a session comparing issues in human geography for both India and the UK. Some special friendships and ties have been made along the way too.

Yet another amazing experience for the girls here in India. Today we have been working with the Baale Mane girls home, for girls from difficult or deprived backgrounds. Our girls donated lots of items including knitting equipment, football kits and footballs; and we played lots of games too. Finished off with home made pizzas cooked in the pizza oven at Sangam! The girls are gaining so much from this experience, and a massive thank you needs to go to Mrs Gill for making all of this possible.