Students slum it in Borneo jungle

Nov 20 2008 By Greg Burns

Fifteen students from Dr Challoner's High School swapped their creature comforts and went back to basics on a three-week Raleigh trip to Borneo.

The group of Year 13 students from the school, in Cokes Lane, Little Chalfont, jetted out to the Sabah District of Malaysia after raising £3,000 each for the trip and were accompanied by one of their teachers Laurence Devaux, her partner Rob Smith, and two Raleigh volunteers.

The expedition included three days in a Traverse Activity Centre where they slept in bashers and learnt some essential jungle skills for their up and coming expedition including how to cut bamboo with machete.

The group then went on to complete a community project in the tiny village of Kampong Notoruss in Babagon, Sabah, and the students were amazed at how welcoming the villagers were while they repaired and improved the village's gravity feed water system.

This involved cementing and laying piping and the girls slept in the village hut, cooked their own meals, and had to build their own shower and toilet.

Kirsty Robson, of Chalfont St Peter, said: "'The Raleigh experience is like no other - I was pushed to the limit for the entire duration of the expedition, but this made it all the more exciting."

Camilla and Libby Rouse, from Gerrards Cross said: "This experience has been a trip of a lifetime, it has not only helped us to learn a huge amount about ourselves, but also a great many skills that we can take on to the rest of our lives."

After leaving Babagon the team travelled to Batu Puteh where they visited the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary and also travelled down a jungle river.

A two day jungle trek in the height of leech and rain season followed before a coach trip back to capital city Kota Kinabalu saw them board a flight home.

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