Science Trip and DP1 Orientation in Kitulgala – Part 2

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Morning warmup led by Sam and Liam – Photo by Mrs Harrison

We woke up in the cold morning and got ready for the trip. The evening was cold (just like the water haha) and I struggled to sleep, but I felt refreshed in the morning, maybe it was something about the activities we did the day before, or the disconnection from any screen, whatever it was, it was good. I soon discovered that I got up much later than the others, as everyone was already at the main hub of the camp, chatting and getting ready for the morning activities.
We all gathered around and participated in a warmup led by Sam and Liam. The guides told us afterwards, that they had volunteered to lead the warmup, and I thought to myself I wanted to lead the warmup the next day. After the warmup and the games, I found myself in a river bath, going upstream with everyone else, and then letting the current take me back down. The cold and rushing water against my body was refreshing and made me feel awake.

Quadrat sampling with Filip – Photo by Mrs Harrison

We headed to the rubber plantation with the Biology group, our equipment in hand. making our way to the top, and fighting off terrible leaches, we reached the site where we were going to do our quadrant sampling of the plant coverage and type. I was paired with my bestie Filip, and we did our sampling in the next-door tea plantation instead of the rubber one. The main thing I realised here, was how much work professional scientists put into their research. The data collection was somewhat tedious, time-consuming and somewhat difficult. It brought out the worst in my and Filip, where we were arguing as to whether or not to include this plant in our quadrant, since the plant was present in the quadrant, but its stem was outside of the area. In the end, we knew it was pointless to argue under the increasing rain, and instead, calmed down and has a simple debate, which was much more efficient. Finally, once we got to our third quadrat, we were working efficiently.
I collected some flowers off the ground (dead ones, no life was harmed) and returned to camp with the rest of the group. We knew that we would be exploring a rainforest in the afternoon, and that filled us with excitement. We had our lunch and we were on the way. The bus dropped us after 30 minutes, and we had to cross a river with a ferryman to get there. in the rainforest, we did some lichen sampling and anti-leech warfare. The sampling was stressful, as every extra second, you spent standing still made you feel like you were a meal presented to the leeches on a silver platter. Unfortunately, even while we were rushing, by the time we got back to the ferry to cross the river, the tide had increased, and the sandbags that led us to where the ferry would pick us up was underwater, except the ones that were too far away.

Crossing the River with the Ferry, and Dry feet – Picture by Mr Duncan

That is, too far away from where we were standing. The water looked dirty, and I wasn’t going to get my shoes wet just now. I looked to my left and there was a steep muddy dirt wall, with trees, too steep to go back, but it was feasible, to use it and sort of wall-climb across to the rice bags. So I went for it. I jumped up onto the wall and hooked my arms around the tree trunk. I slipped a few times, but I held on tight and made it to the next tree, and then the rice sack. I felt, pleased, and encouraged Federico to do the same, which he did with a lot more ease. We got to the other side with our dry feet and made it to a hotel to have some tea.
We were talking about the secondary trees in the forest, including ones from Brazil. We had a good time and the tea was good too. It was a nice respite from the leech war (which they won).

Tea TIme – Picture by Mr Lockwood

We returned to camp to have dinner and reset our pitfall traps. Not before another river bath though. Afterwards, we relaxed in the main area and started singing along to songs, and dancing like fools, really just having fun and enjoying the evening. We finished it off with a long dance train and headed to our cabins for the night. This time I was prepared for the evening. I was wearing long pyjamas, socks, long sleeves and a jacket. Still cold, however. So so cold.
The next morning, We were outside for the warmup, and the guides asked us if we wanted to volunteer to lead this time. Yangki and I went up and lead the warmup, I’ll admit, a little worse, but I felt good doing it then, and I feel happy now that I did it. We finished it off with a fun game where we were running in queues and the last person had a tail which needed to be caught. after that, however, we had another, you guessed it, RIVERBATH! Which was great.

Playing Catch – Photo by Mr Duncan

The Bio group headed off to do some sampling in the river while the Physics and ESS group went to visit a cave. We went back to our original canyoning spot where we were collecting samples in the water. When we were done, we started playing bug catcher with the others and used our nets to catch bugs. I got pretty adept at catching damselflies, and some of us caught waterbugs. We returned to the camp and did another sampling where we had the river bath (a recurring theme).

Damselflies caught by me – Photo by Mrs Harrison

We got to packing and placed all of our luggage in the hub area, and had one last meeting by the campfire, where we reflected on our trip and left to return home.

Meet up next to campfire – Photo by Mr Duncan

This was an unforgettable experience, and won’t be like anything I’m going to be experiencing soon.
Learning objectives:
  • Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
    • Working with Filip over the course of this trip deepened my bond with him and allowed me to understand what was necessary for teamwork.
    • Overall, interacting with my peers is a much more enjoyable experience than doing things alone, and I hope to continue doing so in the future.
  • Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.
    • We talked with Mr Lockwood about the conservation of the rainforest we visited, and the way the wood had been used for industrial purposes in the past and needed to be conserved today, also focussing on the invasion of foreign trees. This significantly ties in with Science, Technology and Environment Global Issue.
  • Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
    • I challenged myself to volunteer to do things, even If I didn’t necessarily want to. I usually procrastinate and try to do as little as possible, but doing this allowed me to enjoy the day to its full potential.
    • I also grew as a leader. By taking on the responsibility of directing people, and describing the actions they needed to do, I got more comfortable in my communication and in my responsibilities.
    • I’m glad I decided to volunteer.

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