Camps International Anmeldelser 

My Camps International trip can be summarized into two words: life-changing. It was fun, impactful and interesting all of the time, and boredom was never even considered. I really felt like I was making a difference. Also, shoutout to my camp leader: Lucy! Thank you for making our trip to Borneo truly memorable.

The experience was made great by the incredibly helpful staff and guides throughout the trip. It was very challenging, especially on the trek but the staff got us through it.
The friendliness of the locals was also a major factor.
It will be a life changing experience for the young people who I had the good fortune to be with on the trip.
Safety is your highest priority but there were times when a little common sense should have been applied.

A fantastic itinerary with a mix of community-led project work and touristy experiences. The project work felt very meaningful and specific to each community. The scuba dive experience was incredible and all of the people we interacted with throuhgout the trip were really freindly and welcoming. An experience I will take with me for the rest of my life!

My daughter has just come back from Borneo (school expedition). She said it’s been the best experience of her life! She was an anxious teenager when she left and the difference in her now she’s back is unbelievable. She’s much more confident and it’s taught her just how resilient she really is. She’s loved the community work and learning about their culture. It teaches them important life skills, team work and leadership. I can’t thank Camps International enough for such an amazing experience and what it’s done for her 👍. I really can’t recommend this enough.

My daughter went on a 4 week organised trip to Peru. To anyone thinking of sending their young person with this company please do your research. We were ensured that there was an unlimited supply of bottled water at all times, not true, on the trek they were given local cooled boiled water which is more than likely one of the causes why so many of their group was so ill and needed hospital treatment. One of the selling points was the unlimited bottled water and food quality but again this wasn’t the case, with most young people stocking up on food supplies when visiting Cusco and taking it back to camp. Even the teaching staff said the food was very cheap poor quality.
Research is key, we believed that Camps International was a charity, it’s not. The behaviour of the Camps International leaders that accompanied my daughter’s group was also questionable, and many complaints were raised at the time by the teachers about the Camps International leaders. In particular one male leader, was rascist and sexist not only to the young people but also their teachers. One leader was also refusing to issue oxygen to my daughter on the trek to Macchu Picchu, when she complained of being breathless with her heart rate thumping out her chest. It was only when a teacher and Sherpa intervened that the leader tossed the canister at them and told them to do it and he walked off. Yes all in all Peru was a great and worthwhile experience for my daughter but I certainly wouldn’t recommend anyone to go with Camps International.

Trip of a lifetime for the students. From start to finish Camps International provided an extraordinary trip which was well planned, provided memories for a lifetime and skills outside of the classroom for the students. Students haven't stopped talking about the trip and are already speaking about which other Camps International trip they want to do next!

I think the price is completely ridiculous, I was planning to go to Borneo with my school via this company but the total came up to over £5000 the expectation for 15-16 year olds to earn that much money is laughable and the simple fact that it would cost that much to go to a hotel rather than sleeping in a hammock. Because of this revelation I had I decided to cancel the trip and we were expecting a refund of £1000 as that's how much we had paid so far minus the deposit of £500, but we got nothing back because of the small detail on the website that there won't be refunds, fair enough we should have read it however it made no sense for us to not get a refund as when I cancelled back in August the flight hadn't been arranged, the days were going hadn't been arranged so obviously the expectation of getting our money back was there as nothing had been planned. The point is that this company is money greedy and are terrible planners

My daughter tried to commit suicide i wrote to this company and told them the situation they refused to refund any of the money I had paid despite multiple emails no passport details where provided yet they feel they can rob me of over a 1000 pounds also after noting that most of the the good reviews where from teachers and reading other bad reviews I would not recommend this company at all also as you can they replied to this review acting like the situation would be resolved still no resolution just more stress back and fourth message and am now contacting citizens advice do not use this company they will rob you

Das Kennenlernen war ok auch die Auswahl des Gastkindes. Als dann jedoch Probleme auftraten wurden wir alleine gelassen. Im Verlauf stellte sich heraus, dass das Gastkind täglich Schlafmittel nahm und wohl auch telefonisch Psychotherapie erhielt. Dinge die uns im Vorfeld nicht mitgeteilt wurden und auch als wir es herausgefunden haben, keine Reaktion. Also entweder war es Camps bekannt oder es wurde gegen die Regeln verstoßen ohne Konsequenz.... Hätten wir das von Anfang an gewusst, hätten wir ein anderes Gastkind gewählt. Hier hieß es nur sie sei sehr schüchtern... Was auch im Verlauf immer wieder als Erklärung herhalten musste. Kein Interesse der Integration in die Familie oder Schule. Kein Interesse zu sprechen außer mit den Freunden und Familie im Heimatland wurde regelmäßig und ausschweifend telefoniert. Kein Interesse das Gastland und die Umgebung kennen zu lernen...
Warum ein Auslandsjahr gemacht wurde ? Keine Ahnung.
Wir hatten dass Gefühl nur als Unterkunft und Taxi zu dienen und nicht als Gastfamilie. Anfragen an Camps wurden meist runtergespielt und erst als wir gesagt haben, wir beenden das vorzeitig wurde ein Gespräch mit den Beteuern vereinbart... Hätten wir uns schenken können. Leider sind Schulnoten egal so dass es auch keine extrinsische Motivation gibt eine Fremde Sprache zu lernen. Insgesamt enttäuschende Begleitung... Wenn es gut läuft mag es OK sein, aber wenn Probleme auftreten dann versucht man es klein zu reden und hinzuhalten.
Wir haben das ganze jetzt beendet ... Keine gute Erfahrung...

Awful company. Avoid like the plague. Customer service poor, all staff saying different things. Daughters fund raised and unfortunatly changed her mind due to family issues people wanted funds back, camps international said it had already been used to pay for the expedition. Point blank refused to consider exceptional circumstances. Have spoke to local MP and small claims court as feel this needs to be escalated as we are £1000 out of pocket.

It was honestly the best experience of my life the mix between travel days ,project days and just adventurers is the perfect amount you do so many different things. We got stuck in with the community but you also got to just chill with people you just wouldn't speak to and it's just amazing. I went to Cambodia and did SCUBA the instructors were kind and supportive. The people in the camps were always perfect and solved any problems you have. The one downside I found was the travel days because sometimes you can be on a coach for 6+ hours but you have adequate brakes, space and air con is there. If you are picky about food don't work because some days you will just eat rice but others you can try there traditional food. You may even try grasshopper or tarantula leg like me. This trip honestly changed me and I don't think I could ever forget it. It's the little things like inside jokes you get to have and at the end of a long project day playing netball in the pouring rain with no care in the world. If you can you must try to do this experience. 10/10 Wish I could go back and do it all over again!!

This is a money incentive, my child went on a trip to Costa Rica, in which there was poor leadership, the forced him and 3 other children to leave overnight for another camp, when we made it clear they should not leave, they were blamed for an incident when it was not their fault.

Leadership was poor.

3 children taken to hospital and parents not notified, all put on a drip and given medication. No contact home.

Food was terrible.

There was no fun on the trip, scuba diving was supposed to be 5 days, was only 3.

Management and leadership is poor, no 24/7 contact. No accountability
Leaders not qualified to manage children of the age

BE CAREFUL OF SENDING YOUR CHILDREN WITH CI, THERE ARE COUNTLESS OTHERS TO PICK

Cambodia -Great variety of project work and sightseeing. On visiting Cambodia there was a good balance and variety of project work to keep the young people engaged. We dug wells, built chicken coops, built a toilet, made paving slabs and laid them, did some bricklaying and made concrete pots to provide a water collection source for families. We engaged with school children, even being able to teach some English in the schools. During some downtime R and R we were in lovely hotels and experienced some of the history and culture of the country. We toured S21 and the killing fields, giving an insight to how things were and explored the ancient temples, amongst other things, like bartering in the local markets for those all important elephant pants and souvenirs. A very well balanced trip with interesting and useful projects.

My 15 year old son has just returned from a month in Kenya and whilst extremely difficult for me, he had an amazing time and worked so hard! Many of the negative reviews I’ve read are about not being able to get a refund should your child no longer be able/wish to go on the expedition…
1. You are made aware of this in the early stages of considering the trip and are offered 2 payment schedules. I opted for the deposit, 3 scheduled payments then the lump sum balance at the end, just in case my son backed out for any reason, the lump sum would’ve been saved.
2. Lack of contact/social media posts whilst away…
-Again, however hard it is, you are repeatedly told to accept a ‘no news is good news’ approach. Different teams are at different sites throughout their expeditions, they will have different signal opportunities and different power supplies. My son’s first week was spent in a camp with only a generator for power, so nobody charged their phones to more than 10% battery the whole time. Just because one team get 2 updates and another team get none doesn’t mean a great deal. It is frustrating, I as a parent was beside myself a lot of the time, but you are told this. I didn’t hear from my son for 3 weeks and didn’t hear his voice for a whole month! But I wouldn’t lodge a complaint with Camps about that, it was explained to us that that would be the case. I did pay for an Esim for him but that didn’t work…annoying but not Camps’ fault. It was extremely difficult as a parent but it wasn’t about me, this was my son’s experience and he had an unforgettable one. His expedition leader posted on instagram when he could and I know he focused more of his time on the students than posting on instagram, which I’m grateful for.

It’s not an easy ride but once their expeditions are complete, the pride you feel is incomparable.

Camps International provide once in a life time experiences and opportunities for students! The local community work is incredibly purposeful and rewarding. The trips also involve a huge amount of culture and adventure. I would recommend Camps International to anyone!

Great memories from Cambodia; very well-organised. An eye-opening experience that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Well worth the money.

Recently returned from Borneo and all I can say is that it was brilliant. Camps really look after everyone on the expedition, the in country staff were fantastic. The project work was meaningful and the engagement with the locals was magical. The adventure element of the jungle trek was great. The highlight was seeing the development of the students over the course of 4 weeks. They arrived as students but left as adventurers, conservationists and builders. They left lasting impressions on the local community and have made memories that will last a lifetime.

This was a great experience for our students. They learned so much about travelling safely in unknown territories, working hard as a group to help contribute a little to the communities we visited. They saw how difficult life is for so many Cambodian people and really wanted to make a difference.

I chose Camps International initially because they are professional and adopt a safety first approach - it means that we can focus on the students, their life-journey and their expedition-experience, confident that the rest is taken care of by the Camps team.
I choose to stay with Camps because the staff & leadership culture is so welcoming and so focussed on the students and teachers. Nothing is too difficult, everything is possible, and it’s the same Camps culture the world over.
The impact on the students is remarkable - simply life-changing.
On this recent expedition, we estimated that our student team had delivered around 1500 voluntary project days. That’s toilets for families that have never had one, fresh water pots so that families don’t have to collect water each day, meaning in turn that children can go to school, or simply enjoy playing. And it’s schools - we laid the foundations for one, and completed the walls and uprights for another whilst in the different regions of the host country. We also estimated that, of the funds we’d raised in order to go on the expedition, around US$240k went into the local economy - shared across communities through jobs and local supplies of food etc,
Having fun whilst changing lives, not bad for a summer holiday!
Thank you, Camps, for what you have done and most importantly for what you are going to do.

I think it’s about time I reveal how my school trip to Kenya went in 2017, which we were told to keep quiet about for various reasons. But why I’m sharing this now, is because I’d like a response from Camps International, especially regarding the ethical outcomes our trip supposedly had for the locals.

So to start off we arrived at Nairobi airport on the 17th November, which happened to be at the same time Raila Odinga, the leader of Kenya’s National Super Alliance (Nasa) also returned home from an overseas trip. My group of twenty 14, 15 and 16 year olds left the airport and was ushered quickly into mini buses. The urgency of the situation started to be realised and the panic set in. Supporters and protesters gathered around us awaiting Odinga’s arrival. As our buses pulled away down the Main Street leaving the airport, protesters started throwing rocks from the roadside at every vehicle leaving the airport. Water cannons attached to army tanks ahead and behind us were spraying them down, but rocks still smashed through car windows injuring the drivers and passengers around us. It was utterly surreal. I distinctly remember putting my face to the window looking out and a rock bounced right on the plexiglass window infront of my eyes. Thank god for the choice of bus window material that day, I wonder if this choice was intentional…

“Five people have been killed in Kenya's capital Nairobi as police broke up crowds of opposition supporters. At least two of the victims were shot dead, reports said, while others may have been stoned to death by a mob.” - this is the BBC report from that day.

So… health and safety wasn’t off to a great start, I’ll talk more about this later actually 😅 but I want to get into the real reason for my review: The “mission” for our trip was to help build a classroom for a school in Taita. We were told previous groups had built the building already and the group right before us had laid down the floor, however the floor “wasn’t level” so unfortunately our group had to break it down with pickaxes and make cement to then lay the new cement floor. I am deeply concerned this may have been an ongoing cycle of floor destroying and rebuilding with every new group of kids. My suspicions have arisen following a recent Vice interview with a girl who saw firsthand the events of her international school trip with an undisclosed company which had similar features. We also donated money, toys and school supplies just like her trip (did the money go to the kids and the community? tbf one of kid knicked my mates wallet so I doubt it. I’m happy that kid at least got something). And, just like her experience, we were also told to keep quiet about the events of the trip. The video is titled: “ the dark side of rich kids volunteering abroad” on YouTube.

Camps international please respond at least to this accusation and give me some closure so I know whether I should feel like I helped make a difference, or just paid for an experience.

Whilst i’m here wasting my time, instead of writing my dissertation, I might as well add the story of the teacher and the machete who later got fired.. potentially for this, although I never found out. So on the last day our group went on a safari, which was amazing and definitely a once in a life time opportunity. On the way back however, around about the time the sun was setting, our bus got stuck in the thick orange mud. After multiple attempts of every kid, teacher and guide trying to push the bus free, it remained stuck. As the light began to fade, the team called for support of 4x4 trucks. Naturally as kids would do, we started playing games to pass the time, playing tag and covering ourselves in mud as we were already covered from the waste down in mud from the upkicking tyre spins. Our teacher was provided with a machete … for our safety… to which he held it up to my friend whilst shouting to quit acting up. “I’m the one with the f****** machete” he shouted. Despite the obvious lack of professionalism, it was quite an effective strategy to make us stop doing dumb s***. Of course we were told never to repeat what he said and to never receal his roadman acting upon returning. Naturally this has no blame on camp international here, but worth a mention.

Sooo yeah, what a wild trip. There are many more stories that I have from this trip that are equally as absurd but brilliant memories. Back in 2017 my 15 year old self would have given this trip an easy 5 stars, but now looking back on it… wtf 😂 If anyone else had a similar experience let me know.