Have you ever thought about how good it would be for a child to have fun when they are learning?

What a joy it would be for them to wake and to be excited about what the day holds for them?  For my son, this is his life as he travels the world, and he loves it. We call it worldschooling.

Recently we chose to stay at Turtle Bay Beach Club, at Watamu in Kenya Africa, and one of the reasons we selected to stay there was because this resort was so involved in the community and responsible tourism.

Each day we stayed here was exciting (you can read more about their amazing property here), and we were able to involve world-schooling and education as part of the fun we had every day, and my son loved it so much!

In fact, world-schooling was so much a part of our stay that I’m writing two articles to share with you about it.  Here is the first part where we learned about recycling.  It was an incredible time! And read on to see what happens next.

©Exploramum and Explorason – world schooling on Turtle Rock, Kenya

We are privileged to have one of the knowledgeable Kids Club staff from Turtle Bay Beach Club offer to take Explorason out on a kayak as we are staying in Watamu Marine National Park.  I came along for the ride, and to paddle!

(A great thing about staying at Turtle Bay Beach Club is that the National Park fees for snorkeling etc are included in our stay).

First off our guide found a ‘living rock’ right out in what seemed to be the middle of no-where in this vast ocean. Here he located a white mass in the water, and they both then hopped out of the canoe for the first part of their exploring and education time.

The current was quite strong, and it was a fair challenge for me to keep the kayak in proximity to even take any photographs, but I managed.

They swam quite a distance and ended up on a sandbank.

They hopped back into the kayak and we then paddled over to Turtle Rock as the tide was out.

This was a real marine biology lesson for Explorason.

The rock was alive with crabs and other life forms and they had a great time identifying and learning all about them.

Then it was over to the rock pools.

We found some fabulous shells (as they crawled away much to our amusement), and saw incredible fish too.

Then in the afternoon, the same wonderful staff member from the Kids Club at Turtle Bay Beach Club escorted us in a tuk-tuk to the Local Ocean Trust: Watamu Turtle Watch.

With a donation that helps support their work, we entered to learn all about the rescuing and care they give to the injured sea turtles.

Explorason soon grasped all the varieties of turtles they had here.

One had ingested so much rubbish it was floating. We learned it isn’t a good thing for turtles to float.  They had for many weeks been giving this turtle a laxative like medicine to try and remove all the waste he had eaten.  It was really sad.

Another had been stabbed by a spear gun.

And this last poor sea turtle had its two hind legs bitten off by a shark.

You can watch the video as Explorason talks about it here

Another day we went to the Community Recycling Programme.

Not only did we learn about recycling, we learned about the local volunteer programme, and the plants they have introduced in their community garden. The crops can then be sold to local restaurants, hotels, and resorts.  Below is a young Neem tree and useful for anti-malaria. They can make soaps and juices etc with by-products.

After this, our lesson continued with Steve to nearby Mida Creek Mangroves and to see the famous Crab Shack Mangrove Restaurant.

Recently we had started to learn about the mangroves when we stayed on Chale Island (you can read about that here).

But here they have an education center here and a staff dedicated to teaching locals and visitors JUST about the importance of mangroves.

Some of the things we learned included:

• Cause and effect of mangrove destruction for local timber use.

• Importance of mangroves for filtering impurities including their root formation acting like a ‘strainer’.

• An alternative industry like crab farming instead of mangrove lumber; restaurant; tourist attraction etc. including sourcing alternative and greater incomes.

• Mangrove pods and germination.

• Mangrove sea life/creatures.

• Mangrove Organic Honey Industry.

• Species of Mangroves grown here.

As a parent, I find I am constantly learning with my son.  We both admitted we never really liked mangroves before this, but now we understand their importance, we will look at them very differently in the future.

Turtle Bay Beach Club can organize these and more great world-schooling excursions as part of your stay.  Just ask.  We are so glad we did!

This is our world schooling world, and we have so much fun learning as we go.

………………….

Steve Trott – Projects Development Manager

Watamu Marine Association – PO Box 120, Watamu 80202, Kenya, Africa

Website – http://www.watamu.biz/

Bookings for Turtle Bay Club: Click Here

Website: http://www.turtlebaykenya.com

Turtle Bay Club Address: Mida Creek Road, 80202 Watamu, Kenya, East Coast of AFRICA.

Questions and Comments

• Do you believe in world schooling?
• What do you love about it?
• Let us know by leaving a comment below. We will appreciate it.