Gap Year - 14 week Kenya Challenge

Kenya conjures up images of vast savannas populated by thousands of animals; a place where elephants stride across a sweeping landscape ringed by snow-capped mountains. Giraffe graze on acacia trees while great herds of wildebeest migrate across the savannah. Leopards loll in trees until hunger rouses them to stalk and kill.

In truth Kenya is a land of beauty and diversity. Within its borders lie a diverse world of culture and landscape with 42 distinct tribes and almost every known land formation represented, from arid desert, fertile highlands, mountains and glaciers and rolling savannah. More than 80 large mammal species, including elephant, lion, rhinoceros, countless smaller animals, rich bird life, reptiles, and insects populate the landscape.What better place for a gap-year challenge.

The Laikipia plateau in central Kenya is our base for the Kenya Gap-Year Challenge. Comprising over 2 million acres of vast open ranches, shadowed by snow-capped Mount Kenya, home to ethnically diverse communities and with exceptional wildlife diversity, Laikipia is the ultimate gap-year challenge site. See our Laikipia information section for more details.

The gap-year challenge will also take you to the top of Mt. Kenya with its equatorial glaciers, into the Great Rift Valley to climb inside an extinct volcano and into the homes and villages of traditional Kenyans.

1. Introduction/Orientation – 2 weeks
An important couple of weeks that will help you learn about the local language, custom, etiquette and a good understanding of everything in Kenya. After this phase your self-confidence to mingle with and talk to people will be increased significantly. Our training centre based on Kijabe group ranch in Laikipia district is fitted out with every type of Kenyan reference material you could imagine.

• Swahili lessons
• Do’s and don’ts of Kenya
• Values, traditions and tribes
• Safety
• Weekend adventures
• Wildlife

2. Adventure Skills Training – 2 weeks
Rift Valley Adventures is an operational Outdoor Education company catering to over 2000 students from around the world on every type of outdoor programme you could imagine. In order to co-lead on Outdoor Education and community programmes for local schools and street kids we train you in:

• Wilderness 1st Aid
• Group Dynamics and Initiatives
• Group Management

After you have mastered these essential skills you can choose an area that you would like to pursue for more advanced training, this could include:

• Rock-climbing
• Abseiling
• Canoeing
• Rafting
• Kayaking
• Mountain Biking
• Trekking and Navigation
• Leadership and Team skills

After this you are ready to help and lead important outdoor education programmes to impoverished local village schools and street kid children.

3. Community Project – 2 weeks
Want to make a difference to someone, somewhere in Kenya? Are you interested in doing community service work? Would you like to teach in a local village school? Helping others less fortunate than you is often a highlight of a Gap year programme. You will be involved in:

• Teaching at local schools in the Laikipia region
• Help build essential services Eg. Schools, roads, sport fields
• Co-lead Outdoor Education programmes for disadvantaged Kenyan children

4. Conservation Project – 2 weeks
You and your team will help to provide invaluable skills to our many different research and conservation programmes. You could be involved in:

• Ongoing elephant and wild dog identification & monitoring programmes
• Tree planting and reforestation on Mt. Kenya & Maasai Group Ranches
• Wildlife counts
• Village recycling programmes
• Human-wildlife conflict surveys

5. Adventure Expeditions – 6 weeks
Throughout your gap-year challenge there will be many memorable adventures. You will get the chance to lead the group at various stages of the journey, helping consolidate those valuable life skills of leadership, working together as a team and communication. We range far and wide to places not often visited on the tourist trail. Some of the expedition highlights include:

• Rock-climbing in Laikipia
• 10 day Mountain bike journey through Laikipia
• 8 day Mt. Kenya trek
• 4 day Uaso Nyiro River rafting trip
• 10 day Camel trek in Northern Kenya
• 3 day Mt. Suswa lava tube cave exploration
For more details on this our fantastic gap-year challenges please contact Rift Valley Adventures at info@riftvalleyadventures.com or complete our online information request form (include link to info request form)

Price: $2980