Class Camping Trip Niger River

February 26 and 27

It seems to be turning into a tradition for the grade 5/6 class to go on a yearly camping trip. I was more than eager to continue this tradition, to the delight of my students. I wanted to give each student the opportunity to experience the adventure of camping in Niger and the thrill of being immersed in God’s amazing creation. And of course, the outdoor enthusiast and camper in me wouldn’t pass off this opportunity!

There would, no doubt, be an educational component to the camping trip. We had just finished reading a novel about a boy who was very knowledgeable about surviving outdoors. Many of the students were inspired by this story and were interested in learning some camping skills, such as making a fire and setting up a tent. In science, we were studying about space and our solar system. This camping trip would give the students the chance to study the moon and the constellations at night, hopefully with a telescope or binoculars. In social studies, we had been learning about famous explorers of the past and present. Before and during the trip, we would practice using navigational instruments similar to what some explorers used, such as a compass, an astrolabe/quadrant, and a sundial.

“Be prepared!” The Girl and Boy Scout motto. We spent two weeks preparing for the 24-hour campout! Deciding the food, making a packing list, learning about fire safety and fire building, learning how to set-up and take down a tent, studying constellation charts…the list goes on! The students were divided into 3 teams of 4. Each team would be responsible for planning a game for the trip, presenting a campfire skit or story, leading a few songs at the campfire, and helping cook or clean-up. Teamwork, leadership, accountability. These are qualities I was trying to develop in my students.

The day we were waiting for dawned hazy and hot! So much for trying to avoid camping in the hot season! Fortunately, the nights are still cooling off nicely, so we slept quite comfortably. We managed to pack all our camping gear (backpacks, sleeping bags, pillows, tents, food and water coolers, guitar, telescope, firewood) and 12 students and 4 adults into two land rovers!

We camped upstream along the Niger River on a piece of property that the school director rents along with a couple of other families. The small riverfront property is enclosed with a grass fence, contains a round hut for storage and a nicely designed latrine, and has four large mango trees growing on it.

The first thing we did upon our arrival was head straight for the shade of the mango trees. Seconds later, the kids were up the mango trees and hanging from the leafy branches! After setting up the tents, we settled down to the game that quickly became the card game of the trip: “Apples to Apples”.

"What time is it Mrs. Mattimoe?”

I don’t know, Lachlan. Why don’t we check on the sundial?”

Sure!”
Make sure the sundial is pointing north.

"Approximately what time does it indicate”

Wow, it’s already about 4:30pm!”

Then it must be time for the “Saturn’s Rings” team to lead us in a scavenger hunt.”

After the scavenger hunt, we did the fire-building competition that the students had been gearing up for all week. The objectives were straight forward: gather the wood needed to build a small fire, use only 2 matches to light the fire, get a small can of soapy water to boil over. This activity was aflame in creative chaos resourceful problem solving as each team struggled with similar problems: a broken match, the wind blew out the match, thorny branches, the string on the can got burned and the can of water spilled.

One team tried persistently, although unsuccessfully, to light the fire using a magnifying lens. Another team learned through trial and error how to keep their fire going without smothering it.

How fitting that the “Super Survivor’s” team were the winners of the fire competition. Coincidently, they were also in charge of making the fires for our supper. Hotdogs accompanied with cooked veggies in tinfoil.

I was really impressed by how well my students played and worked together. There was little arguing during the games, and each team willingly took their turn to cook or clean up. The aptly named “Bubble Buster” team was certainly the most cheerful group of dish washers!

The stars weren’t as bright as I had seen only a couple weeks earlier in a village. The sky was a bit hazy, mostly due to the harmatan (sand) in the air. Even so, we did manage to spot Orion and the Big Dipper. The North Star was too low on the horizon for us to see it very clearly, so we didn’t get to try out our “homemade” astrolabes to calculate our latitude. It was also rather disappointing that we never had a chance to use the telescope that Mr. Golde had set up for us to observe the moon. The moon was waxing after the full moon and lunar eclipse a week earlier. It didn’t appear in the sky until much later in the night.

After a number of popular evening running games, we gorged ourselves on roasted marshmallows, Smores, and banana boats (banana with chocolate chips and marshmallows and wrapped in tinfoil for the fire). The campfire program followed, and lasted until close to midnight! All of us were tired and by 12:30am, we were all drifting off to sleep to the tune of croaking frogs and buzzing crickets.

Favorite Campfire Memories

Funniest skit: “Bring me my royal papers!”

Silliest song: “Making Melodies in my Heart”

Most creative new song lyrics: “If I were a Firefly”

Scariest moment: Hearing the grunt of a hippo nearby

Breakfast was pretty fancy for a campout! We had fresh fruit, plenty of home-made muffins and a never-ending pile of warm French toast! Mr. Bliss and Shelley had 2 pans going on the fire pit. Christina and I mastered the art of cooking over a buddy burner (upside-down can with an opening for a small fire under it). Those who preferred a fried egg were invited to come and cook it themselves.

After a time of devotions, we broke camp and started to pack up.

Meanwhile,

Mr. Bliss was taking three students at a time out in his canoe to get a look at the hippos on a nearby sandbar. It was reassuring to learn that even though the hippo’s grunting sounded close by the previous night, it was probably several hundred metres out past the island of grazing cows.

We arrived back at school tired, thirsty and hungry, but full of great stories to share with our friends and family. The students and I have all agreed that it takes too much effort to organize a camping trip for just 1 night. Next year, we would suggest a 2-night camping trip!

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