November 2011
12 posts
community, thoughts, your next step
An early start and we set off back up the dirt track towards Mombasa. The long dirt road, the dodgy main road and then a ferry trip back in to the city.
At one point we had a stop off at a resort. We drank smoothies, someone parachuted in and landed on the beach and a man was offering camel rides on the postcard perfect white sand. The change in surroundings from the roadside poverty to the...
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dolphins, sharks and lots more dolphins
I woke up, had breakfast and took my Malaria tablet. We met up at the gates of the complex, met up with the volunteers and headed to the pier where the boat picked us up. It was a very bright day and the open water smelled of salt, by 8.30 we where cruising along at great speed. The team onboard was made up of a Spanish phd student – Sergie (he had spent time all over the world monitoring killer...
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forest, children are children and fish
I slept straight through and was up all excited for the day ahead. Breakfast was fruit and coffee, we met the team at the gates of the resort. I was assigned to the south forest group, apparently I look ‘big and strong’, hmmm, what would I be doing? It took about 40 minutes to get to the edge of the forest, and then an hour and a half of climbing, crawling and walking to get to our destination. We...
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Watchroad tripping in Kenya!
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the real Kenya
The next day I met the group of people that I was travelling with, a couple of Americans, Brits, a Swiss, Swede and a Dutch guy. We where all excited and enjoyed the hotels pools and bars in the glorious weather. The group was a well travelled one; every continent had been checked out – although this was all of our first time to Kenya. At about mid day we climbed in to a small battered 9 seater...
departure
5am start, why can I never go to bed early pre-flight? Very excited and Sophie drove me to the airport. First flight to Paris, not too bad – then off to Nairobi. 8 hours, luckily I got economy plus so I had plenty of room. Flying over Europe the sky was pretty clear – I spotted Naples and Mount Etna. After a couple of hours I saw the African coast – a huge expanse of desert disappeared inland. We...
Travel books have arrived
Lots of books have arrived and I have started to learn all kinds about Kenya – its neighbouring countries and national parks. From huge flat lands to mountain ranges, stories of dolphins and lions. I have spent a lot of time on the FCO website trying to figure out what is and what isn’t safe out there. At the minute I believe that the best advice is to stay away from the north and away from the...
trip idea settling in
Sooo…. I had some crazy dreams last night – as soon as I awoke I jumped online to see all of the programs we work with in Kenya… the answer – lots of them. My background is in youth development – so any programs that work with children will definitely be of interest to me. There are programs that work with communities, conservation and more. The dolphin conservation program looks interesting,...
Kenyan Opportunity
As a member of the Smaller Earth staff, I have been given the opportunity to head to Kenya to visit some of the voluntary projects that we work. The aim is to understand what they do at these projects and what they strive to achieve. I found this out recently and I am very excited! Taking a step back – this emotion is not something I am used to dealing with. I am a 29 yr old male from the North of...
August 2011
1 post
May 2011
2 posts
Holly and Becky’s USA Summer Adventure!
After months of preparation and excitement English & Drama students, Holly and Becky are all set to head out to the states to start their summer job in New York. They both have a job working in a gift shop on Liberty Island, yes that’s under the Statue of Liberty!
Becky is most excited about living in New York and being able to experience the real American culture – not just as a...
March 2011
2 posts
Fancy meeting white lions face to face? →
“Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.” Frank Borman”
– http://thinkexist.com/quotations/exploration/
February 2011
2 posts
sok765 asked: Thanks for following mate. Appreciated. Love your website - and have been planning to utilise your resources as soon as I can afford it.
Canadian Opportunity
We have just heard from great contact in Canada. Basically, a Lodge in Jasper National Park is looking for staff and they have asked us to help out. The roles are diverse, from positions at their ranch, in the offices, in various restaurants and bars too.
Jasper Nation Park is in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, bears, wolves and eagles are a common sight. The area has a long and rich history,...
January 2011
2 posts
The Outdoor Show
What a great week! We spent last week at the show meeting people interested in our programs based all over the world.
The Boat Show was in the same building, it was incredible. Hundreds of huge yachts had been arranged inside the arena, from 20 foot dinghy’s to 150 foot super yachts!
The event allowed us to tell people how cost effective a 2 week experience working on one of the projects...
December 2010
1 post
This guy has been around for a while, however he... →
November 2010
2 posts
Why?
Why travel? Why volunteer? Why invest in a building in a far flung corner of somewhere you may never have heard of? Why give more than you have before?
The classic answer that springs to mind ‘because it is the right thing to do’ doesn’t drive everyone to action.
There is far more to it. A two week project can profoundly change the lives of many people. At first, I didn’t...
could you do this? →
October 2010
1 post
check out this amazing travel blog! →
September 2010
2 posts
This week...
This week all of the staff at Smaller Earth are bouncing idea’s off one another, finding out how each of our country offices work and getting excited the programs that we offer.
Seeing this energy build for the programs and philosophy that we follow ties in with the return of Ben, our Managing Directors son from the Seychelles where he took part on the Diving Program. He was able to develop...
Now this is a road trip... →
July 2010
2 posts
where are we?
The past few weeks I have been on a road trip traveling throughout the mid-west of the USA. This has meant limited internet access as I have caught up with participants of our summer camp program. Lots of people have been doing great work in the camps I have stopped by, these range from traditional, special need and inner city camps.
If this sounds interesting to you head to...
Off on a trip? Check this link out. →
June 2010
7 posts
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
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Off into the field...
We have had some great guys sign up for programs last week, here is a little snap shot of what they will be doing and how they will be helping people in very different corners of the globe.
Joe will be flying out to Peru in a few months to an Indigenous village south of the Peruvian Andes. He will be working on a two week project helping to supply water to homes where supplies are scarce. The...
Lets start at the beginning ...
Welcome to our new and exciting blog! We hope to give you an insight to all kinds of different things that we are involved with and excited about. Hopefully over the next few weeks these pages will be bubbling with infectious personality.
As a company we are all about traveling, cultural exchange and development. We have all spent lots of time on the road. Between us have all kinds of fun trips...
WatchSmaller Earth is hosting this amazing competition. You can win a year long journey around the world meeting inspiration people. The best part is - it’s FREE to enter and you can do it right now at http://www.yourbigyear.com
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
– St. Augustine, Philosopher and Theologian
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Smaller Earth Internships
Do you have a passion for travel and want to further your knowledge, education and practical skills in a different cultural environment? Here at Smaller Earth, we offer a wide variety of internship programs, from helping to protect precious rainforest and aid community development to providing you with the opportunity to make a real difference to important wildlife research and conservation...
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Smaller Earth launches new conservation programs...
Smaller Earth has just launched three brand new conservation projects in the Great Barrier Reef area of northeast Australia. Imagine contributing in a practical way to help in the conservation of one of the most unique natural environments in the world, while getting the opportunity to live and work in the real “Australian Outback”.
We now offer three unique programs in Australia: From...