Incredible India Experiential learning for students 7 days, Kotagiri, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, hiking, camp craft, cultural experiences, charity and wildlife lessons. Travel Date: 27th May to 03rd June 2017

Day 1: Kotagiri Let’s begin our journey in Kotagiri, one of the main towns in the Nilgiris, which enjoys the second best climate in the world. The name Kotagiri means ‘mountains of the Kotas’ (the Nilgiri hills have been the traditional home of the Kota Tribe). India has the World’s largest tribal population and the Nilgiris is home to six Primitive Tribal Groups (PTG) with each having a rich heritage of traditional healthcare practices and knowledge of medicinal plants and their uses.

Day 2: Bikkapathy The next morning, we’ll start our day with an introduction to yoga. Yoga is a series of physical and mental exercises aimed at attaining harmony, and promoting self- healing and self- awareness. After breakfast, we’ll begin our hike in the hills. Each day we’ll start with an orientation and set our goals for the hike. Goals can include, distance, pace, teamwork, bird identification, self awareness or plant identification. On average, we will cover a distance of 8-10kms of hiking from around 9 am till our finish at around 5pm.

Day 3: The people of Irula and climate smart livelihoods Day hike to Aracode area to understand human wildlife interactions. We will meet people from the Irula community to learn about their livelihoods, their interactions with wildlife and to understand their relationship with the forest and agricultural.

Day 4: Yoga, history and hydrology Today we’ll start with a one hour introduction to yoga, a series of physical and mental exercises aimed at attaining harmony, and promoting self- healing and self- awareness. After that we have two choices: a hike with a history focus or an introduction to hydrology (the science dealing with the occurrence, circulation, distribution, and properties of the waters of the earth and its atmosphere).

Day 5: Kotagiri – the impact of tourism Waste management strategies; Managing e-waste. Clean Coonoor campaign. Cleaning urban areas. Interactions with local organisations/individuals who work on waste management. Impacts of Tourism. Visit to Ooty to understand the issues of tourism on mountain ecosystems. Discussion on urban/rural issues.

Day 6: Nilgiri Mountain Railway After a leisurely morning, we’ll do some eco shopping which will include: Toda embroidery work, honey, spices, incense sticks and CHOCOLATE. Handmade chocolate is famous in this area so get ready to try some delightful flavours such as fig and honey, butterscotch and cashew crunch! We’ll then catch the coach from Ooty to Mettupalayam station aboard the 1897 UNESCO Heritage Train.

Day 7: Return to Coimbatore for the flight home What you will see: the rolling grasslands, dense Sholas (the Sholas are a mosaic of montane evergreen forests and grasslands. They are found only in high altitude (>1500 metres asl) regions within the tropics, and are limited to the southern part of the western ghats), waterfalls, streams, lakes, tea plantations, vegetable gardens, spectacular viewpoints, an amazing variety of flora and fauna, fabulous trekking trails, innumerable heritage sites, spellbinding sunrises and sunsets, magical light, pollution free atmosphere, mist, clouds, fog, star studded skies and serenity make this the perfect place for young people (and teachers) to learn about incredible India.