Camp Tinangol - Borneo

Updated: Nov 17, 2020

Of all the camps we stay the longest in this one. Here for 3 weeks and I can completely understand why. There is so much to do and explore while you are here - from a gong making village to night walks so you can explore the surrounding forest. The village is such a close knit community and everyone smiled and said hello as you would walk past. There was karaoke pretty much every Monday in the village, it was lively and refreshing to see people having fun on a Monday morning. Nothing like the UK. As with the other camps I had already been too everyone was so welcoming and helpful.

Our Group

New month, new group. I have to admit I was feeling a little bit skeptical about meeting a new group of people. So many questions pop into your head: Will we all get along? How will the new dynamic be? Where will everyone be from? Will it be a mixed group or mainly females again?

But I definitely did not have anything to worry about when it came to meeting these guys. The new group of gappers I have for my second month are hilarious. We all get on so well and had the best time in Tinangol. I have definitely made some friends for life.

The Camp Staff

KENNY! (the camp leader) This guy is so funny and helpful and happy, just all the time. He makes you feel completely at home and ends up being not just your camp manager but also your friend. He makes your experience at Tinangol so much more fun, everyone that has met him through camps will definitely agree.

The staff here create such a relaxed atmosphere around camp, but also a motivated spirit at the project work. Their smiling faces and willingness to help with any problem make you feel completely at ease. Their English is amazing too, especially Kenny's.

There is no way I could fault these guys and all the work they do for us while we are staying there.

Meeting the Locals

We had a beautiful welcoming ceremony at Tinangol. Local traditional dancers who taught their dances. We were definitely not as graceful as they are.

Unfortunately, I missed the local festival, that the others were able to go to, as I was doing my Open Water Diving Course.

Teaching Kids

I have never met kids with more energy and life in them than these guys! They are funny and cute and I miss their energy already! They were only 4 and 5 years old but they take to you so quickly and make you feel like you belong there. We not only helped them in the classroom, we made them lunch and played games with them on the field nearby.

Project Work

Our first couple of days we did some perma-culture (gardening) to help grow some produce for the local people.

The camp is about 3km from the village of Tinangol, the very scenic route makes the walk very enjoyable. By the end of your time there, what was a 45 minute walk turns into a 20 minute walk. If you didn't have a very good stamina before you certainly will after this camp.

In this village we were doing the finishing touches to the new kindergarten they had built for the kids. Our tasks consisted of mainly varnishing the wood (e.g. banisters, poles, etc), painting the inside and outside walls and landscaping the area of grass and shrubbery behind the kindergarten.

Even though I personally was not involved with the varnishing, I was told it was very sticky and got everywhere. However you could really see a difference with wood that was varnished and the wood that hadn’t been. It look 100x better varnished.

Lets all be honest, everything looks better with a lick of paint. I love doing work where you can really see this difference you have made. Also the colours they chose to paint the kindergarten too were spot on, bright yellow and bright green.

We mixed a few loads of cement just to fix the ground around the area of the kindergarten. It made the place look so much neater and meant there were less sharp edges.

Finally we landscaped the back garden area so there could potentially be a playground for the children to have fun in, instead of them having to be stuck indoors as they currently have no outdoor play area.

Overall I loved the project work in Tinangol. It was fun but satisfying.