They were out of their comfort zones, but the 31 urban teenagers who took part in the BRATs Year-End Journey in Sepilok, Sabah, threw themselves wholeheartedly into the experience - be it trekking through the rainforest, or wading into the mangrove swamps, or learning how to tie crabs' claws.
When we arrived in Sepilok, Sabah, most (if not all) of us thought that our BRATs year-end journey would all be about cuddling furry orang-utans and taking lots of photos worthy of sending home. Well, the theme was Swinging in Sepilok...
But we were not allowed to touch the orang-utans we met. So there went the plan of e-mailing our mothers a photograph of us holding an orang-utan each as it gazed fondly into our eyes.
The trip wasn’t what we thought it would be and we were not surprised. That’s because the first lesson we learned was about using all about senses to make the most of our experiences and encounters. As soon as we arrived at the bed and breakfast we stayed in, the BRATs were handed a funny looking fruit and were told to guess what it was. Of course, we couldn’t gather much from just looking at the tarap.
Then, we were asked to explore the fruit freely. We tore open the fruit, scrutinised, touched, tasted, smelt and felt the ‘alien’ fruit. It looked like a thorn-less durian from one angle, smelt like butter and was basically something none of us had seen before.
When we arrived in Sepilok, Sabah, most (if not all) of us thought that our BRATs year-end journey would all be about cuddling furry orang-utans and taking lots of photos worthy of sending home. Well, the theme was Swinging in Sepilok...
But we were not allowed to touch the orang-utans we met. So there went the plan of e-mailing our mothers a photograph of us holding an orang-utan each as it gazed fondly into our eyes.
The trip wasn’t what we thought it would be and we were not surprised. That’s because the first lesson we learned was about using all about senses to make the most of our experiences and encounters. As soon as we arrived at the bed and breakfast we stayed in, the BRATs were handed a funny looking fruit and were told to guess what it was. Of course, we couldn’t gather much from just looking at the tarap.
Then, we were asked to explore the fruit freely. We tore open the fruit, scrutinised, touched, tasted, smelt and felt the ‘alien’ fruit. It looked like a thorn-less durian from one angle, smelt like butter and was basically something none of us had seen before.
Continue reading (incl. pics) at: Our Tarap journey at Sepilok
No comments:
Post a Comment