What is DP 1 orientation: 

As mere fledglings about to face the Diploma Year’s Programme (DP), our school was kind enough to organise a three day class trip which pushed us to be in the right mindset for the next two years but also helped us grow closer as a batch. The trip was made possible by Borderlands, who had an action packed schedule full of white water rafting, canyoning, and hiking (…you know, your usual school field trip). On September 28th, 19 of us alongside two teachers – Ms. Melinda and Dr. Leigh set off towards the small town of Kithulgala. The most notable feature is that the town is adjacent to Kelani River, which is the 4th longest river in the country that runs from the Sri Pada mountain range into Colombo. The area we were heading to is perfect for white water rafting. After a bus ride filled with interesting to say the least conversations, we thrusted straight into the river. A mini baptism for the next 3 days. After that, the founder of Borderlands, Wade, taught us “how to read a river”. So we learnt how to identify different features of a river like upstream and downstream V’s, eddies and wave trains. Finally more practical advice like how to turn your raft and what to do in the case it flips. Something that resonated in me was that Wade promised after this experience, “we will never look at a river the same way again” and honestly that rang so true. Because over the course of the next few days unconsciously in the morning, I would find myself assessing the river to kill time.

Day 1 – White water rafting:

Day 1 – Canyoning:

Day 1 – Takeaways:

Day 2 – Canyoning: 

Day 3 – Team bonding: 

Day 3 – Beliana Cave: