SCHOOL TRIP TO NEPAL

Fourteen senior students are departing this month (5 April) on a three-week trip to Nepal. The purpose of the trip is to give students an opportunity for personal growth through experiential travel in Nepal. The trip also gives students the opportunity to experience and gain perspective of what life is like in a country that is very different to New Zealand and Wānaka. 

The trip involves two days of rafting and canyoning near the border with Tibet, four days in a village homestay doing community service, seven days trekking in the Langtang Valley and a few days to finish exploring Kathmandu. Nepal was chosen as New Zealand has a special connection that goes all the way back to 1953 when Ed Hillary climbed Mt Everest, and students from our college also have a special connection having completed charity work in the Khumbu valley with the Hillary Foundation. Our town of Wānaka also has important connections with Nepal through companies such as Adventure Consultants. Nepal has amazing and challenging trekking through the Himalayas and provides opportunities for our students to give back through community service while in a village homestay. For example, on the previous trip in 2019, we ended up building a stone wall around a school as well as painting several classrooms. By trekking through the Langtang Valley, we are able to provide work and income for the villages that were hit hard by the earthquake in 2015. Students have been working hard to raise funds to help meet the costs of the trip.