DP 1 orientation is a three days trip based in Kitulgala, a small town in Sri Lanka. We stayed at the Borderlands River Camp engaging in out door activities that improved social relationships providing a sense of adventure and whole new experience. It was all about stepping out of your comfort zone and be engaged in the components of CAS.
Day 1:
After a long bus ride, we finally reached our destination in Kitulgala around 9am. By then, we were prepared to experience all the adventures Kitulgala had to offer us. Once we arrived at the Kitulgala rafting point, we were provided with all the necessary instructions and safety briefing that became very helpful throughout our stay. Then, we hiked up to the canyoning point where we had to jump off rocks facing the river and slide down over the slippery rocks into the water. For me, this was a whole new experience which I was extremely excited to try out. I could see the excitement among my classmates too who enjoyed it and who helped each other during the activity. Although initially I was a little scared to slide down, I started loving it after trying it out and after the motivation I got from my friends. There was a lot of leeches that disturbed our peaceful hike up to the river. We had to keep an eye on possible leech attacks and we always asked each other if there were any leeches hung on to our backs. After all this, we had lunch by the river as we were really hungry having spent a lot of energy on the activities. Once again, we hiked up to the rafting point to do rafting which was what I really wanted to do the most out of all the other activities. We got divided into groups and were provided with a guide to instruct us. Thank god, none of my group members fell off the boat even in the face of obstacles, although it happened in some of the other groups. We were able to balance our boat well, making sure everyone was safe and enjoying. This would not have been possible if not for the guide’s wise and timely instructions. After rafting, our next step was Borderlands River Camp which accommodated us throughout the stay. We had a warm soup to beat the cold while it was getting dark outside. Finally, we showered and went down stairs to have a gathering where we answered some of the booklet questions. At the end, they showed us a video of a speech of Greta Thunberg about the climate change crisis. And finally, we had dinner and went to sleep.
Day 2:
On the second day, we woke up around 6:30 to yet another adventurous day. We had our morning stretches and exercises and all of us were hyped up to start the day. We finished our breakfast quickly as we were eager to experience a really long hike to the well-known archaeological site of Belilena Cave. Again, we had to deal with the annoying leeches all the way up to the cave and struggle in taking them off once they cling onto our skin. After we arrived at the cave, we had a Theory of Knowledge lesson that was on Plato’s allegory. Later on, we had an intersting activity of mapping the destinations we covered on the same day using sketches. Next, we hiked to the abseiling point and unfortunately it started raining heavily making us doubt whether we can do abseiling or not in this weather. The raining stopped after some time making us all soaked in water. Half the students wanted to start abseiling first and half of us went for lunch. After having a delicious outdoor lunch by the river, we headed back to the abseiling point. I was reluctant to try abseiling because it was my first time and I am usually scared of heights. After some time, I made up my mind and decided to take the risk and try it mostly because of the endless encouragement from everyone around which was a great example of team building and motivation gained from this outdoor experience of 3 days. Although it was not very challenging at first, at one point I lost balance and was starting to get scared. It was very overwhelming to the point tears started filling my eyes. I asked from the guide to pull me up not wanting to continue the abseil. However, it wasn’t possible for them to pull me up so I decided to continue with the guide’s help to move downwards. With the guide’s help, I felt more confident and I could complete the activity successfully. Overall, I felt proud of myself and I started seeing risk taking as an interesting skill to practice. We hiked back to the camp where we showered and had dinner. We had a session on answering the booklet questions and we were grouped again for the interview on the next day. I was in the group where we were to interview a tuk tuk driver.
Day 3:
On the last day, we woke up at 6:30am to carry out the daily routine but unfortunately it started raining and we were not able to do a lot of stretches as expected. We had our breakfast and we were ready to explore the community of Kitulgala. Our group went in search of a tuk tuk driver with our pre planned set of questions. The interview was mainly about getting to know them better by asking them questions about their social background, economic status and about the impact of the dam that was made recently. We also enquired about the impact of the tourist industry and the recent bombings on their economy. After that, we went to take a look at the dam that was being constructed. We headed back to the camp and packed up to get ready to leave Kitulgala.
This orientation trip was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had and the memories of the adventures and the exposure will always occupy a part of my memories.