All IB geography students have to do an Internal Assessment (IA) related a topic discussed in class. To do so, students have to come up with a research question and gather primary and secondary data, analyze this data and come up with a conclusion to the research question.

Our geography teacher, Mr. Lockwood, takes the IB geography class every year to the Sinharaja Rainforest (UNESCO World Heritage site in Sri Lanka) to not only explore the rain forest but also to interview the people living in rural areas to gather primary data to for our IA’s. This activity not only helps us to improve our social skills when we have to interact with people from the local community but also helps the students to work together as a team.

Before leaving for Sinharaja, the students had to have come up with a research question and questions to be asked from the local people in this area in order to gather primary data. Then we added all our questions to “Survey123” and the students were divided into pairs and one pair had to complete 12 surveys. I was paired up with Arnav, who I’ve never worked with before going on this trip so this was a good chance for me to get to know him better and the both of us kept motivating each other during the long and tiresome hikes we had to do in order to gather the data.

Day 1

We left for Sinharaja on the 4^th September 2019 after lunch. It was a 2.5 hour drive away from Colombo. I was very anxious to go on this trip because I’m not an outdoors person but I knew that my classmates would be there for me at any time so that comforted me a bit.

We hiked to the lodge which took us approximately 45 minutes. After changing, we all headed down to the common area where Mr. Lockwood did a briefing of the plan for tomorrow. We then got a chance to carry out a practice survey by interviewing the owner of the lodge.

After dinner we headed down to the stream to do some frog watching but it was unsuccessful because we were only able to spot two frogs. The highlight was when everyone switched their flashlights off in the middle of the forest in the night. I’ve always wanted to do this and I’ll never forget that moment.

Day 2

The teams left the lodge right after breakfast with a ranger to different residential areas in Sinharaja to do surveys, but Arnav and I could only get 6 surveys this day, but this day was very challenging and fun. I think overcoming the challenges made me feel strong and accomplished. We did a lot of hiking and it was raining cats and dogs that day and there were a lot of leeches crawling up my shoes. I’m usually very scared of leeches and throw a fit when I see one but this day I didn’t. Partly because my teammate had a leech spray and mostly because I couldn’t say no because that would’ve meant that I was letting all my classmates down.

So, I did it! And that gave me a lot of confidence to do the other hikes that were coming up but also showed me how strong I am if I set my mind on doing something.

Everyone was knackered after lunch, so we all headed back to the lodge and went down to the stream to have a dip. Mr. Lockwood had spotted a Sri Lanka Green Pit viper snake and all of us took some snazzy pictures of it.

During the orientation trip to Borderlands, I had to go down to a similar stream and I was very scared of slipping and injuring myself but this time I didn’t care because all my classmates were very supportive of each other and I just did it! I was very happy that I did it and my classmates were very surprised. We played cards and did a reflection session with Mr. Lockwood before dinner.

Day 3

This day was another day of hiking and doing surveys. We were able to finish all our surveys before lunch. The hiking wasn’t as bad as yesterday because my body had got used to all the climbing and slipping and the constant spotting of leeches. I wasn’t at all worried because I knew that Arnav would have helped me if something bad were to happen. In fact, I was helping Arnav spot snakes because I had overcome my fear of reptiles yesterday which is great.

The food at the lodge wasn’t great so we were snacking on our own snacks and we were running out of snacks and everyone was tired especially thinking about the long hike we have to do tomorrow to the Mullawella peak, the highest point in Sinharaja. I had told Mr. Lockwood that I was not going to do this hike because he himself told me that it’s very hard and he wasn’t forcing us to do it. One of my friends also had told me that she was not going to do it, so I didn’t mind not doing it.

Everyone was tired and wanted to go back to the lodge, but we still hadn’t spotted the Serendib Scops Owl. An endemic owl to Sri Lanka and is very hard to spot. So most of the birdwatchers in my class and Mr. Lockwood himself were disappointed.

After heading back to the lodge all the students were begging to go down to the stream again but Mr. Lockwood was very reluctant to send us because it was getting dark but he let us. On our way to the stream we were able to spot a baby Hipnali Hipnala snake, a venomous snake and I wasn’t scared at all.

We then played an intense game of cards and had a nice long chat. Seth, performed a rain dance so that we won’t have to do the Mullawella hike and it started raining. Everyone was surprised and we had a good laugh but ironically the sun was out bright and early the next morning.

Day  4

I was not going to do the hike until last night where I spent some time thinking about it. I was happy for myself because I had already done a lot of hiking and I never thought that I was able to do that and I was not scared of leeches and snakes by this point so I told myself why not do it because all of my classmates are very supportive of each other and I knew that they would help me to do it.

So, I did it! It was very hard and tiring. I was complaining a bit and was the last to reach the top, but I didn’t care because the most important thing was the fact that I did it and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I could do it. Everyone was very happy and surprised that I did it and I am very proud of myself for doing it!

After lunch we headed back home to Colombo and on our way Mr. Lockwood and the 2 birdwatchers in my class got off to see the Serendib Scopp’s Owl but all the others including me were very tired and so decided to stay back in the bus but not for 1 second did I regret my decision because I was do proud of myself for everything I’d done on this trip.

I have been so worried about going on this trip for a very long time but it turned out to be the best trip where I overcame some of my fears, challenged myself to do things that I never knew I could do and got to know my classmates better while working collaboratively with others.

I must thank Mr. Lockwood for being a wonderful teacher and challenging us to go on this trip and I thank all my wonderful classmates for supporting me and for being there for me throughout this trip and for making it the best class trip that I’ve ever been on!