Iran, Czech Republic, Armenia and Poland says 'Hello' from Kapan!:)
As promised we continue sharing our daily activities from Kapan Eco Camp ARK Armenia FB page.
Iran, Czech Republic, Armenia and Poland says 'Hello' from Kapan!:) Volunteering is the main instrument of operating at ARK ecological NGO. We receive volunteers from all over the world, long and short time volunteers, institutional and non-institutional once. Each of them bring something new to us, we learn and teach from each other, closely cooperate and become friends forever. All our volunteers are so efficient and helpful, they breathe new life in ARK. We are very grateful to all of them. They help us from marking trails from Tatev to Kapan to permaculture gardening and construction works. Not to lose the track of them we ask them write their blogs on FB, which we will share every day. DAY 1 Hey everybody! My name is Kasia and I come from Poland. I have the pleasure to cooperate with Siranush and Armen from ARK Armenia. During this month I will be providing You with some info about what's going on in the ecocamp in Kapan. Have a nice day! :) DAY 2
Today we cut out the side bushes. No more hide&seek game with the snakes. We have had great news recently.
Our Tatev-Kapan trail was tested. And it worked. Travellers from Germany Eric Heinz and his daughter Liz hiked from Tatev to Kapan, staying the first night at B&B in Aghvani village, the second night at ARK camp "The Dach" in Arajdzor village and reached ARK Kapan Camp on the third day of their hike. We are really excited, because they liked the experience very much. Tatev - Kapan trail now tested is waiting for travellers. Now ARK is working to find more B&B partners in Aghvani or Tandzaver villages, for bigger groups to stay and we are also looking for a partner in one of the villages to organize a camp site for those who travel with their tents. That is what Eric writes in Lonely Planet travelers forum. "From Tatev we did a 3-day hike to Kapan following a trail suggestion by ARK Armenia (see www.arkarmenia.com), a small but active NGO working on developing ecotourism in the Kapan area, and a useful address for travelers anyway. One night we spend in a villagers house, the others in camps provided by ARK. We stayed 2 days in Kapan doing some local hiking trails." Find the entire report here. You can read a more detailed report in Greman here. We arrived in Kapan and on the spur of the moment decided to find out about WWOOFing in the area, having been WWOOF hosts in Australia for 20 years, and being WWOOFers in the England Scotland and France a few years earlier. One call and we were to meet Armen and Siranush in 30 minutes to go to their country house, around 20 minutes from Kapan. We got the cute red Lada taxi to the old house, high up in the mountains with fabulous views over the mountains, valley and villages. The weather was perfect and the birds sang happily. We spent four days with them helping them out with the huge amount of work needed to be done on the property. As you know, Armen and Siranush are building an eco-tourist facility for long distance trekking stays. The house is two room dormitory style, with a makeshift bathroom attached and a lovely deck overlooking the valley. The toilet is a squat toilet out in the garden. The garden includes plenty of old and new fruit trees, and we munched on the ripe mulberries. They haven’t had a chance to work on it much yet, but plan to clean it up and set up a vegetable garden. Our work included cleaning up the yard which had many years of accumulated garbage and weeds. We established a small natural shade garden next to the tent camping area. But our big project was to convert a steel water tank and platform into two bunk houses. The water tank was used by Armen and his family as a swimming pool when he was young. We attached timber boards to the outside to soften the look and insulate the bunkroom, and put on a roof frame. Paul was very frustrated, being a professional builder, with the extreme lack of tools, as due to limited funds ARK can't afford for example to have several drills for different purposes to which Paul is used . Besides the quality of tools and instruments and their spare details in the local market is quite law as the importers import only those which the buyer can afford. But progress was great, and we left the completion for others. We also got to do a wonderful hike from Vahanavank Monastery to Halitzor Fortress, being forced to stop on the way to join a BBQ and vodka drinking session with the locals, then walking down the hill back to Kapan. We had many very “interesting” conversations with Armen and Siran during our stay. We soon discovered that our beliefs and values were quite different, and after some intense times, agreed to disagree! But Armen has an incredible knowledge and understanding of history and languages and is a very patriotic Armenian, so we learnt so much from him.
They also have a permaculture garden close to Kapan which we only visited briefly. Overall we had a lovely time staying in the country house with Armen and Siran. They need lots of help, particularly as Armen’s eyesight is failing, so I can highly recommend a WWOOFing stay there. Robyn and Paul, Australia My name is Philip from America. I’d been traveling for two months full on, moving places every few days. So I needed to stop and take a break. Why not volunteer again? I checked on the workaway.info website and contacted a host who had an eco camp in the southern Armenia town of Kapan. A few days later I was taking a shared taxi from Yerevan. Unfortunately, it broke down on the way, but after a long delay in which some mechanics came and fixed the problem, I arrived and met with the host Armen and his wife Siranush. They lived near the center of town in an apartment that doubled as the office for their business, ARK Armenia. Two other volunteers had also come to help, as well as the organization’s content manager, Karine. The latter was an American who was living in Armenia. Every so often Karine would visit Kapan to do work for Armen, though most the time she was managing the website online from her apartment in Yerevan. The other volunteers were a Canadian woman and Belgian guy. We had dinner together not too long after I’d arrived. Sirnaush had prepared typical Armenian food and it was delicious. In retrospect I should have watched her cook during my stay in Kapan to learn a dish or two. No matter the place I’m always up for improving my culinary repertoire. One day Siranush plans to give cooking classes but not yet. As volunteers we stayed the night in the Kapan Camp, 1.5km from the center of town. It was up on a hill in a green area. The eco camp had three simple huts with two bunks each. There were also a small kitchen and place for a shower. The rest of the land was for gardening and raising crops. A work in progress, the camp was in need of weeding and other tasks to get it ready for the upcoming tourist season (June-August). I did what I could to make it nicer. For example, one morning I used a small hand sickle to cut wild grass around the perimeter. The job would have been much easier with a lawnmower and weedwacker, but in Armenia both were uncommon. When not at the camp I was usually at the office helping with the Internet side of the business. We had to update the website, and part of that required us to hike the trails in the area and map them on GPS. The first trail we took was to Baghaberd, a fortress that dated back to the 5th century. Its builders chose to erect it on a rocky hill with penetrating views into the nearby river gorge and mountain valleys. Now in ruins it had little more than a few stone walls. Still, the spectacular panorama was well worth the 2km hike from the highway. While we were up there I took plenty of photos. Karine included some in the webpage. Hopefully the pictures will inspire tourists to come to Kapan region to see Baghaberd for themselves.
The Kapan Camp aside, Armen also managed a second accommodation site in the village of Aradjadzor. It was actually a summer home that belonged to his family. In the Russian language such a place was called a ‘dacha’ and that was what it went by. This Dacha also needed some fixing up. I helped to clear weeds and blackberry bushes. Another day I painted some rusted railings. It was all hard physical labor. Perhaps had I done such work for more than a few days in a row, I’d have tired of working outside in the sun. But for the time I was in Kapan, I was happy to be of good use. Moreover, because of the house’s location in the mountains, the surrounding area had plenty of hiking trails. We charted one that led the way to Kapan, and to an old fortress called Halidzor. This was a long walk—4 hours—through thick forest. The uphill part I liked the most. I can’t really explain why but the challenge of forcing myself up a steep incline brings something out of me. If I take on a good pace I might not even rest, wanting instead to reach the top first. Anyhow, the opportunity to hike the trails was something that made my volunteering experience in Kapan an exceptionally great one. As you may know, in April, we wrapped up a crowdfunding campaign where we raised nearly $4,000. It’s now May and we want to show you how far your contributions are going. 90% of the money we raised was to be allocated towards the construction of our second ecocamp, which we are calling ‘The Dacha’ (the Russian word for ‘country house’, as it was once our founder’s childhood summer house). It is located in the idyllic village of Arajadzor, an area 10 km outside of Kapan. We have much work to do on this property, as it hasn’t been cared for in decades, and it’s quite old. But the view… Oh, the view! Looking far off in the distance from the Dacha reveals the light blue profile of the majestic mountains of Iran, which makes everything worth it. And as our recent visitor, the British adventurer and leader of the Transcaucasian Expedition, Tom Allen, exclaimed with delight, “If there was a place like this in the UK, it’d cost upwards of 300,000 pounds!” So, we feel pretty good about it. For the last month, we have been hiring local laborers to come and perform specialized work. Yesterday, they were working on renovating the very steep area we plan to transform into a kitchen and communal area. We expect this new kitchen area to be ready by June 10th. Eventually, travelers will be able to come and sit, eat, and enjoy the nature from here! There is also a small room, located in the upper level of our yard that we have recently decided we want to renovate into bedrooms. There’s a lot of work to do here, as the rooms are currently barren—just cold, hard cement—and is currently like a jungle, smothered in vegetation, so we had our volunteers spend the day cleaning the route. Other plans we have for the Dacha include dividing the large bedroom into two different rooms, so they will be easier to keep warm during the cold months of the year. We will also renovate the heater to be like the permaculture heater we created in the first ecocamp, to ensure efficiency and sustainability. And, we plan to turn this basin here into a pool! That’s all for now! Are you getting excited yet?!
We are. We’ve been busy little bees in the last few months. We recently wrote about how we installed a shower in the ecocamp and now, we are excited to announce yet another piece of technology: a space heater! But this ain’t just any old heater. It’s one designed according to permaculture standards. The design of our heater follows the model of the ‘rocket stove’, which was suggested to us by two volunteers from Argentina that stayed with us this past March, Francisco and Florencia. We were incredibly lucky to have them because they just so happened to be permaculture specialists and their contribution to the camp was offering their expertise in helping build this energy-efficient, home-made heater. Contrary to what some may think, permaculture is not just about gardening. Being a permaculturist means thinking about all aspects of sustainable living—both agriculturally, socially, and structurally. This includes finding solutions to heating that conserve resources like wood, coal and gas, because conservation of energy is one of the greatest ecological concerns today. According to permaculture design, solutions should get these results using natural materials and processes. This is why ARK’s newly constructed heater is made of biodegradable and re-usable materials. We created the exterior entirely out of clay and straw and the inner skeleton is an old stove we have repurposed. This means that in 50 years, if we decide we no longer want this heater, we can literally just smash it to pieces and put it in our garden and it will biodegrade. Even the steel from the oven can be used in the environment (because did you know that placing steel near apple trees produces better apples?). Basically, our ultimate goal was to create something that would keep the temperature in the heater high, so that wood and gases will burn to their full chemical potential. But truly understanding the design of this heater requires an understanding of the chemistry behind it. To do this, we first created a layer of insulation out of a clay and straw mixture on the interior of the first chamber. Then, we had to find a way to keep these gases inside the oven as long as possible. That’s why we created a serpentine route, or labyrinthe, if you will, so that gases will not escape directly and on their way out, wthey will give their energy to the whole structure. Once we had created this, we added a final touch for charm, to symbolize the help of our Argentinian friends, without whom this could not have been possible. This small mural on the heater represents the symbol for the southern hemisphere because that is where they are from.
Two weeks ago, we started construction on a shower at the ARK ecocamp and since we’re all about transparency, we thought it might be interesting to fill you guys in on what was involved in the completion this project--especially if you love ‘Do-It-Yourself’ activities as much as we do. The entire shower cost somewhere around 120,000AMD (~$250). And as this was quite an intensive project, rather than relying on volunteers as we usually do, we hired local specialists to help us turn it into a reality. We also just like providing jobs and stimulating the local economy whenever we can afford to. ARK’s shower occupies what used to be an old shed that we initially purchased with the plot of land that now makes up our ecocamp. We repurposed the shed into a shower and hired someone to clean it up thoroughly, paint it and install the necessary materials. There were several stages to this project. The first was with creating the shower’s water supply. This project required us to connect the main water source, a city pipeline running underneath the camp, to a tank that will collect water overnight to be used during the day. Then, we connected the water in the tank to the shower through a hose. After that, we had to provide electricity to the shower, which will be used to install lights in the shower, work the water pump, and later, it will allow us to heat up the water (Yes! We’ll have hot showers at the camp!).
We also had someone come in specifically to help us weld the water tank that we purchased. Instead of buying a new water tank, we decided to recycle an old one, but it had many holes, so we had to close and fill them. This was very time consuming, but well worth it. Lastly, we had to clean up the old shed, paint and redecorate it, and install the shower pieces. As of right now, the shower is almost finished! We only need to purchase and install a boiler and it could be ready and raring to go by tomorrow. However, boilers are a relatively expensive investment and not always easy to find in Kapan, so it’s difficult to predict when we’ll have the funds to make this happen, but as always, we are very optimistic! Especially after our last crowdfunding campaign, which has not only brought us funding to start construction on our next ecocamp in Arajadzor (which we are calling ominously, ‘The Dacha’, because it’s the family countryhouse of our founder, Armen), but has also allowed us to reach more eyes and ears than ever before so that more and more people are coming to stay with us, volunteering, making donations, and continuing to make our organization sustainable. So, we’ll keep you posted on when it’s ready. In any case, we have a shower at our office in downtown Kapan for those of you who want to visit before the ecocamp’s shower is complete. So don’t let that stop you. Plus, there’s always rain! Is that beautiful or what?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the breathtakingly lush Shikahogh State Reserve, situated on a mysterious edge of worlds. Located in Armenia’s southern tip, it forms Europe’s bridge, through the Caucasus, into Middle East. Surprising diversity of landscape creates conditions for a jaw-dropping variety of flora and fauna, including both European and Asian species, as well as endemic ones. It is Armenia’s 2nd largest forest reserve and covers some 10,330 ha of land and is home to about 1,100 species of plants, 70 of which have been registered in the Red Book of endangered species. The fauna of Shikahogh includes rare species of animals such as leopards, bezoars, bears, snowcocks, vipers and hedgehogs. The mountains, gorges, forests and rivers of Shikahogh have preserved something untapped since perhaps even the beginning of time. If you hide yourself behind century-old trees, you may catch glimpses of this ancient past. Our current campaign is linking Tatev to Kapan via hiking trail, but ARK Armenia's end goal is to one day link Kapan to Shikahogh Forest, via professionally marked and mapped hiking trails and eco-camps. You can help us reach our goal by visiting our campaign page and making a contribution! We are absolutely THRILLED to announce that a local band in Yerevan called 1243K is hosting a concert this Friday, March 4th to raise funds for the ARK Bridge Project.
A little bit about the band: 1243K is an indie rock band based in Yerevan. Their name translates to 12 hours for 3000 Drams [~6 USD], a rate of pay in Armenia (and also the world). They took interest in the ARK Bridge project, not just because their piano player is none other but our very own campaign manager, Karine Vann, but also because this project falls in line with the issues that they sing about. The rest of the band is made up of lead singer and guitarist, Leslie Diaz, is a Mexican-American from Texas, USA. Their bassist and back-up vocals is Armine Ghazaryan, a native of Yerevan. And their electric guitarist, Lucas Perez Monsalvo, an architect from Argentina recently moved from Armenia back to his home country. Read more about their activities in the underground music scene for the last 3 years here in an article recently published by CivilNet. So go ahead, check out their SoundCloud, like them on Facebook, and make sure you don't miss the show on Friday at In Sane Pub near Cascade in Yerevan! |
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