|
.: The School
|
|
| .: The Society
|
|
| .: Results
|
|
| .: Alumni
|
|
| .: Activities
|
|
| .: Sports |
|
| .: Academics
|
|
| .: School News
|
|
| .: Gallery
|
|
| .: Trips & Tours |
|
| .: Counsellor |
|
| .: Montage India |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Home > Activities > Adventure > Vanshala |
|
| |
|
| |
| Vanshala (A School in the Jungle) |
| |
The Annual Ramjas Vanshala Camp is held every year in the winter break. 85 students from all Aided and Unaided Ramjas Schools along with 17 teachers participate in the camp.
The venue for the camp keeps changing from year to year. Vanshala has been held at Mohan in Nainital district, Kannav Ashram near Kotdwar, Kalagarh, Dudhwa National Park and Pachhmarhi so far. |
| |
|
As soon as the children arrive at the camp, they are divided into five homogenous groups. The day begins as in any such camp with a prayer and then a full day of activities: leaving camp in the early morning for a long nature walk into the surrounding forest besides some warm up exercises.
Then students clean up their tents leaving them so neat that even a soldier’s tent may seem cluttered before it! Mornings are reserved for lectures and talks about the flora and fauna of the region as well as about the people residing in that area. |
|
| |
|
 |
The excitement begins in the afternoon! One group goes jungle roving to observe and collect specimens of the flora they were told of earlier. Another group visits a nearby village to observe the local lifestyles of the area; an educational trip to the village school, a local home, the farms and cultivation around the village. The outing gives the urban dweller an insight into the living conditions of the people, their methods of farming and cultivation, their lifestyles, and above all gives the opportunity to interact with the local folks.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| Yet another group visits the Corbett National Park or whichever national park is situated near the camp. The safari was through the through the national park gives them a glimpse of wild life in its own natural habitat. They hunt game (with their cameras and binoculars of course!) in this wilderness.
A jungle walk in the company of an experienced guide through the dense undergrowth of the forest reveals pug marks of both tiger and leopard on the forest paths and dry river beds, as well as close sightings of their prey species, which include the graceful chital or spotted deer, sambhar and the wild boar. Loner elephants also pass through the forests from time to time and are encountered on certain occasions. |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
 |
Return to camp at sunset. It is also the time to exchange the day’s news over a steaming cup of tea. Then, huddled in their tents they plan their next day’s activities. It is then time for dinner and then the event a camper looks forward to the entire day - the campfire! The group on duty entertains all with a repertoire of songs, dance and skits.
A trek to a village some fifteen miles away on top of a ridge or some other equally exciting and camping there overnight is the crowning moment of the camp.
|
|
| |
|
| The camp has its memorable moments too, such as occasions when two huge tuskers came visiting the camp one night! Needless to say the jumbos took everyone
by surprise and made everyone scurry into the shelter of the rest house building! |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
 |
| |
Finally, it’s time to return to Delhi. As one student put it,
“We came away happy and humbled by the sheer beauty of this wilderness, a magical creation of nature that human hands had nothing at all to do with.” |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
