Funky gibbon 2010

Check out the Funky gibbon 2010. It's been re-released by the Goodies to raise funds and awareness for that forgotten ape- the gibbon. It's available to download on iTunes and amazon. All profits from the download go to IPPL's forgotten ape campaign. Here's a link to the video where I had the great privilege of grooming Les Battersby's head! (He used to be in Coronation Street, a very popular soap in the U.K!)
I'm chuffed because I not only got to appear in the video but the gibbon sounds in the song are my recordings! The footage of the real gibbons I also recorded in S.Carolina at IPPL's gibbon sanctuary. The cover photo for the download was also one of mine taken at WFFT in Thailand. And to top it all I got to have lunch with the legend that is Bill Oddie!
;o)

http://www.youtube.com/user/IPPLUK

Get that camera off my Uma

IPPL 5 peaks

Stumbling over rocks, trying to find a landmark in a pea soup fog, I asked “Whose bright idea was this?” and then remembered that it was mine! I completed a 10-mile run last year for IPPL and, having enjoyed it more than I expected, immediately started contemplating what to do next. One of my fellow runners said “Why not do the 3 peaks?” I think it was probably the fact that I was full of endorphins, and the pain hadn’t kicked in yet, that prompted me to say “Why not 5!!!”
And so, the idea of the IPPL 5/4/3/2/1 peaks was born. An attempt to climb the highest mountain in each country in the British Isles. Snowdon in Wales, Scafell Pike in England, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland and Carrauntoohil in the South of Ireland. My idea was that a core of people climbed all of them but that anyone was able to join us for as many as they liked. At the beginning of the year, I had nine friends signed up but, as time ticked on, the excuses started rolling in. A fortnight before the event was due to take place, we were down to four, then two backed out leaving just me and Helen Thirlway, IPPL (UK) Director. Neither of us able to back out!
So, we set off on the24th July to Wales, accompanied by our friend Sarah Knapp who planned to climb just one mountain with us. We set off up Snowdon on a beautiful sunny morning with a constant stream of fellow walkers. I felt relaxed about my ‘tour leader’ duties as I was with close friends and – at that point – the path seemed straightforward. Foolishly, we followed the people in front of us; they had a map so I assumed they knew the way. They did, they were just going up a different mountain! It states clearly in the safety leaflet “REMEMBER-the person in front of you may not be going to the same place or by the same route as you have planned. Don’t follow blindly.” Next thing we knew we were in the clouds scaling Crib Goch, described in the safety leaflet as “a 500 metre knife edge ridge WITH NO ESCAPE ROUTE.” Unfortunately the safety leaflet was in my back pocket and I hadn’t read it yet!
There was actually a lot of camaraderie on Crib Goch and we found ourselves scrambling along with several other groups. On getting to the end of the ridge we were able to consult the map and discovered that there were still two other ridges before we got to the summit of Snowdon. We then decided to come down the mountain and rejoin the path that we should have been on. Eventually we reached the top and got out our IPPL banners. I asked someone to take our photo but the autofocus struggled because the fog was so thick. When we eventually made it back to the car we were exhausted, it had taken us seven hours and we still had a four hour drive to the next peak. It was at this point that we started to regret not having done any training!
Next morning it was onto Scafell Pike in the beautiful Lake District. This felt very different as there were very few people around and we had a map and compass. I’d heard that this was the mountain that most people get lost on. By about half way up we were in the clouds again and somehow we managed to lose the path. This was when I discovered that a map and compass can be useless when you can’t see further than ten feet in front of you! Thankfully we heard voices off to our left and managed to find the trail again. The rest of the way was marked out by piles of rocks known as cairns. We managed this peak in six hours and after a hearty pub dinner we hit the road for the long drive to Scotland.
By one o’clock in the morning, I was starting to feel very sleepy so I stopped at several hotels round the Glasgow area but they were all full. One of the receptionists told me it was because Rod Stewart was playing a big concert that night. He’s definitely not my favourite artist any more! By two o’clock, we made it to Loch Lomond and decided to sleep in the car. After four hours of restless sleep we hit the road again. Not really the best preparation for scaling Ben Nevis, the largest mountain in the UK at 4,409ft. After a very large fried breakfast and lots of coffee we drove through the Scottish highlands with the most dramatic and beautiful views. Ben Nevis is very popular with tourists and so there is a well managed path winding the whole way up. Again, the character of this mountain was completely different to the others. The views are amazing but it’s the scale that stands out. By halfway up you can look back and the people look like ants but if you look up they also look like ants. After a while we were in the clouds again and everything was starting to look very similar. Close to the summit we discovered some snow, given that this was the height of summer it was quite a surprise. On the summit it was blowing a gale and was extremely cold, thankfully there is a survival hut which we were able to squeeze into to get out of the wind and have a quick sandwich. We were also on a high as we had reached the halfway point of the challenge and the biggest mountain was all downhill from here. Unfortunately, we had to race down as we had a ferry to catch over to Ireland. After a hair-raising drive along the Scottish coast we arrived at the ferry port with seven minutes to spare. Thankfully my mum lives ten minutes from the ferry port in Belfast so we got there around four am. Next day, we tackled Slieve Donard in four hours, at 2,795ft, this was our smallest mountain. We were still in the clouds at the summit though. We decided to stay another night in Belfast and have a break from driving for a day. So, well rested, we set off on the long drive through Ireland to County Kerry and our final peak.
Carrauntohil is situated in the beautiful MacGillycuddy’s Reeks mountain range. On finally finding the campsite, our sat-nav got a little confused, we were told by a very typically Irish grandmother to “just go park in the field.” After almost driving up a mountain track we had to go back and ask “which field?” We were surrounded by them! We eventually managed to pitch the tent just as darkness was falling. Next morning we set off following a well worn path along the Hags glen. All along there were cairns to show the way so after a few obligatory photos of Keri Cairns sitting on the cairns in Kerry we got to the scary bit, the Devils ladder. This is a very steep scramble up among boulders and very loose rocks. It is where most accidents happen, not from people falling but from dislodged rocks hitting them. Thankfully we made it up without any mishaps but once again we found ourselves in the clouds. After a brief sandwich at the summit we set off to scramble back down the Devils ladder, it’s actually harder coming down than going up. By the bottom we were able to relax and enjoy the dramatic scenery knowing that we only had a gradual slope to the campsite and no need to pack up and hit the road. Back at the campsite we had a well deserved bottle of fizz and an amazing sense of achievement. Including our accidental extra ascent of Crib Goch we had climbed 20,407ft, two thirds of Mt. Everest (29,029ft). Considering we had done no training and with only one blister between us we were once again in the clouds. Well, cloud nine at least.
Many thanks to everyone that supported us, you can check out the photos at http://goo.gl/photos/mugd

IPPL 5 Peaks

Termites and Earthquakes

Here's a copy of an essay I've submitted to a book of primate related stories. It's about my adventures in Peru in 2003. Enjoy. ;o)
Comejenes y terremotos!
(Termites & Earthquakes!)
Keri Cairns

Keri Cairns is a U.K. Zoologist who began working with primates in 1998 at the Monkey sanctuary in Cornwall, where he worked for nine years. It was here that he first came across woolly monkeys and capuchins. Cairns then moved to Ireland , to temporarily manage a monkey sanctuary there. There he tended ex-lab Capuchins, an ex-circus Japanese Macaque, and an old De-Brazza monkey. He currently works with rescued shire horses at Chawton House Library, a working estate that used to belong to Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen Knight. He continues to help IPPL (International Primate Protection League) as needed, travelling to Thailand to work with Gibbons and to Gibraltar to photograph the Barbary macaques there.

Headed for Ikamaperou
In 2003, I was asked if I could help at a Peruvian monkey rescue centre, Ikamaperou. The owners of the centre had to go away for a few weeks, and needed an experienced woolly monkey care-giver to cover. I arranged for six weeks off work, and headed for South America. Just before I lifted off from the U.K., The Kilverstone Trust granted £3000 to Ikamaperou, which provided me with a quite unexpected challenge.
Since 1998, Carlos and Helene Palomino have been looking after rescued animals at their home in Moyobamba, in the San Martin region of Northern Peru. One day an unidentifiable bald monkey was given into their care; he was badly malnourished and covered in engine oil. After weeks of intensive care, Taysu turned out to be a brown woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha poeppigii). When I arrived he was about four and a half, full of life, and eight other rescued woollies had joined him. They all shared an enclosure in Helene and Carlos` back garden, from which they would emerge during the day, accompanied by their keepers, Gardel and Amerio, to enjoy the freedom of the ravine at the bottom of the garden. Here they were able forage for insects and leaves, and enjoy a rich seasonal bounty of fruits.
Carlos and Helene had also managed to buy forty-four hectares of land along the banks of the Rio Mayo known as Tarangue. Working with the local Agaruna Indian community, they were busy regenerating the land with various wild fruiting trees. Thanks to this generous grant from the Kilverstone trust, my job was to design and build suitable enclosures on the new land where the monkeys could sleep, and which were also large enough for the monkeys to live in during the rainy season. This seemed simple enough, until I found out that these enclosures also had to be earthquake and termite proof!
The Amazonian Woolly monkey is one of the heaviest South American primates. Unfortunately, this means that their meat is highly prized, and makes them a target for hunters. They live in colonies ranging from a few individuals to sixty monkeys, there have even been unconfirmed reports of a colony of one hundred. They are a beautiful species with luscious fur ranging from grey to brown and black. They have a powerful prehensile tail which enables them to hang upside-down freeing up their hands to get at the larger fruits that other monkeys are unable to eat. Adding to the problems these monkeys face, there is a lucrative illegal pet trade for these monkeys; a baby woolly smuggled into North America can fetch as much as $20,000. However, as with most primate species their gravest danger is the destruction and fragmentation of their habitat.
Vast swathes of the Amazon are destroyed every year for a variety of reasons. Loggers make a lot of money selling hardwoods such as Mahogany, they also use a lot of the larger trees to produce plywood and MDF to supply our western appetite for DIY. The forest is also cleared to make way for agricultural purposes such as the production of cheap beef or to grow soya to feed cattle elsewhere. Woolly monkeys only live in primary untouched forest, rather than secondary forest which has regenerated following clearance by humans, where they play a vital role dispersing seeds. Many of the fruits or pods that they eat contain small seeds, which pass through and are deposited on the forest floor in a readymade compost package. This seed-laden compost is then buried by dung beetles; a seed that has passed through a monkey will germinate faster than one that simply falls to the ground. A study in Columbia in 2000 states : “Given a population density of 30 individuals per square km (km2) the woolly monkeys in the study area disperse more than 25,000 seeds/km2/day. These seeds belong to 112 different plant species.” This makes Woolly monkeys and other large primates essential to the diversity of a healthy forest. A study that compared a protected forest area to one where hunting occurs showed a marked reduction in the diversity of tree species. Therefore protecting nonhuman primates protects forests, and protecting forests protects nonhuman primates.
Unfortunately, despite being an officially protected species, a large proportion of the bush meat available in the local markets in Peru comes from woolly monkeys. A friend who visited Helene and Carlos a year earlier travelled to the market town of Yurimaguas, where several large rivers converge, generating considerable trade. She returned with photos of smoked woolly monkeys – entire colonies – openly for sale. The police were around but did not take any action despite this being illegal. Even more shocking were the live baby monkeys for sale beside tables of smoked meat.
I flew into Tarapoto from Lima, over the snow capped Andes with seemingly random roads and scattered little villages. The mountains dropped off abruptly, as we flew over the Amazon rainforest. Just as abruptly, the forest disappeared and was replaced with unending miles of rice fields and palm plantations. I could see the fires smoldering as locals turned rainforests into grazing land. Then we descended to a large strip of tarmac among all of this.
On stepping off the plane I had been expecting a humid atmosphere, but it just felt like dry heat and dust. A friend of Helene and Carlos’ showed me where to exchange money and catch my ride to Moyobamba. I travelled for two hours along a large highway by autocolectivo (a shared taxi) from Tarapoto to Moyobamba. I was startled by the lack of forest, which had been replaced by plantations of maize and rice with occasional fruit trees. There were mounds of charcoal across the land, and a constant smell of smoke. The roads were lined with people carrying piles of wood or cane. As we climbed into the mountains, the air cooled and the hillsides showed signs of serious erosion. There were only a few patches of trees clinging to steep cliffs – inaccessible to loggers. On arrival at Moyobamba, I was greeted by Helene and Carlos but I had to wait until daylight the next day to meet the monkeys. It was amazing to see them come out and thoroughly enjoy their ravine. I had a week with Helene and Carlos before they went away and soon got to know all of the monkeys’ names and their characters.

Apu-‘El Jefe (The boss)’
An adult male woolly monkey can be extremely dangerous. In the wild they would rarely come into contact with humans, except through hunting. When dealing with woollies in captivity, caregivers must be careful never to enter an enclosure with an adult male. They are very territorial and reach maturity between six and seven years of age, at which time they develop large canine teeth. They also develop a large muscle around their head, which attaches to a sagittal crest, giving them incredibly powerful jaws.
One day, Carlos and Helene received a phone call from the local police station. They were holding two woolly monkeys, and wondered if Helene and Carlos could pick them up. So it was that Apu and a youngster, Shayu (two yrs old) came to live with Carlos and Helene. Apu had already attacked three police officers before Carlos arrived.
It is difficult to interpret Apu’s history. He was a bit of a mystery. Though fully grown, he was slightly smaller than other male woollies I had worked with; I would put him at around eight kg (17½ lbs) whereas there are reports of wild woollies reaching fourteen kg (31 lbs). He had the long chest fur of an adult male, but he did not produce the male woolly scent. The males I have known all produce a strong musky scent from a gland on their chest, they use this to scent mark their territory. It seems very unlikely that he would have survived to maturity as a pet, but it also seems unlikely that he was captured alive as an adult, since adult male woollies are known for being fierce. Apu had several scars on his head, but these could either have come from another wild male or from some savage human. His left top canine tooth was missing; again, this could have been either from age or the result of human violence. He was accustomed to people, so long as they were polite and respected his personal space, and he was incredibly protective towards Shayu. How had these two come together? Where had they been and why were they kept? I can only speculate.
Many “pet” monkeys are released back into the forest when the novelty of having a furry little primate wears off, or when they start to become aggressive as adolescents. It is possible that Apu’s mother and his colony were killed so that he could be captured when still very young. He may have been kept as a pet for some years and then released. While these released “pets” must rarely survive – having no natural survival training – he may have joined a small group of woollies who helped him to survive. This may have been where he met Shayu. If he had been treated relatively well, he may have continued to associate humans with food. Due to the destruction of their natural habitat, or perhaps due to bush meat hunters who destroyed the rest of his colony, Apu possibly returned to humans in search of food, eventually being “arrested.”
At first I was quite nervous around Apu. Before being allowed out of his enclosure, he was first placed into a belt with several metres (yards) of rope. This was for his own safety, since he might wander off and get into trouble. He tolerated the rope, patiently untangling himself when he climbed trees. Their keeper, Gardel, had made several bamboo platforms at the bottom of the garden and down into the ravine. This allowed us to climb up into the trees and ‘hang out’ with the monkeys while they foraged and socialized.
When I first started working at the Monkey Sanctuary in Cornwall, some of the females and youngsters were allowed into the gardens. I was trained how to behave around the woollies, and I soon learned to read their body language, some of which is very subtle. It is particularly important to avoid direct eye contact with woollies, especially adult males, as a direct stare can be seen as a threat. The monkeys at Ikamaperou seemed to trust me very quickly because I behaved politely, following their social mores and meticulously avoiding any threatening behaviors. I soon adjusted to Apu despite having watched him rip a door off between two sections of his enclosure.
Apu showed a lot of natural woolly monkey behavior, likely the result of spending considerable time with a wild colony. Adult males, in their natural environment, help to administer discipline and teach acceptable social behaviour. If Apu saw the younger monkeys misbehaving, he would give them a hard stare or even a good shake, depending on just how naughty the young ones were. Adult males also help to look after youngsters in the wild, even giving them piggyback rides.
Apu and I developed an understanding of one another while I was there, and towards the end of my stay we shared several fascinating interactions. There were large coconut palms in the garden where the woollies enjoyed outside time, so every few days Gardel would shuffle up one of the trees and toss down some coconuts. We broke off the outer husks with a machete, then broke the coconuts into smaller bits for the monkeys. This took me a while to get the hang of, and I had to be very careful with the machete, since the monkeys clambered over me in search of coconut treats. Apu always waited patiently, knowing that I would give him the first bite. This was important as the adult males should always be fed first. One day after he had enjoyed his piece of coconut, he remained seated by my side. He seemed relaxed, and I decided to take a bit of a gamble.
Woolly monkeys spend much time play fighting, the youngsters’ games are energetic and boisterous and are accompanied with a chuckling sound. The aim of the game is to touch the back of your opponent’s neck, and ideally administer a play bite. The same goes for the tail, which has a palm of skin on the last six inches and is very sensitive. Adult males, however, play a very different game. They expose their teeth with a wide open mouth, and a gentle shaking of the head, accompanied by a quiet chuckling sound. Adult males rarely play but, when they do, it is done in a very gentle manner so as not to provoke confrontation. They are incredibly strong and could easily do each other serious damage. An adult male hanging by his tail could lift a fully grown man off his feet!
I looked at Apu and put my head back while opening my mouth and gently chuckling. He watched intently. I gingerly grabbed and gently nibbled the end of his tail. Apu opened his mouth and chuckled back! He placed his hand on the back of my neck, and when faced with those giant canine teeth, I decided not to push my luck, so I changed my behavior to initiate a groom. He stretched out and pointed to the places he wanted me to groom. I felt incredibly privileged. Grooming is a way in which most primates strengthen their bonds.
I was further rewarded several days later. Inside the monkeys’ enclosure, there was a hammock that I would sometimes lie on. The youngsters would come to play on me, or just curl up and enjoy a groom. But one day shortly after our first grooming session, Apu strolled straight over and lay on top of me in the hammock. This would have felt unsafe with any other adult male woolly I knew, particularly as I was enclosed in his territory. I realized that we had reached an understanding and that I had won his trust despite his wariness of humans.

Building a Safe Haven
I started to spend more time at the Tarangue reserve, where Amerio and I cleared an area for the new enclosure. Although Tarangue was mainly secondary forest, there was a section of primary forest where wild monkeys lived. Once we had cleared the site, I asked Amerio if we might go in search of the wild monkeys.
I clumped through the forest like an elephant (Amerios’ description), but I was nonetheless rewarded with some distant views of the monkeys. I had thought that they were tamarins, but when I later looked at my photos I realized that they were Andean Titi monkeys (Callicebus oenanthe). Andean Titi monkeys are listed as threatened, but several researchers recommend that they be reclassified as critically endangered; they exist only in the Rio Mayo valley. Tarangue is one of their last strongholds, and it is obvious that the main threat to these monkeys is the fragmentation of habitat. Most of the area suffers from slash and burn – people creating grazing lands or crop lands. I walked into a slashed and burnt area just five minutes from Tarangue – a blackened mass of smoldering trees and scorched earth.
Rolando, a friend of Helene and Carlos, helped me figure out which materials to use for the woolly monkey enclosure at Tarangue. He took me around Moyobamba, pointing out different local constructions. In 1990 and 1991 Moyobamba was hit by two powerful earthquakes, which destroyed many buildings and killed many residents. The preferred building method included lots of concrete, which seemed odd when so many of these concrete buildings were destroyed by the earthquakes.
In contrast, Helene and Carlos’ house withstood earthquakes, and was made of traditional materials: a wooden framework with walls of cane. One day Rolando had taken me to a government building as he had a meeting to attend. This was one of the largest buildings in Moyobamba and used to be residential but people now refuse to live in it as it would collapse in an earthquake! While I was waiting in the canteen I had a sudden brainwave. Termites only infest wood when it is damp, where the wood comes into contact with the ground. I decided to include a simple gap between the wood and the concrete support in hopes of solving this problem. This would also enable the whole enclosure to be wooden which would move in the event of an earthquake.
Our biggest problem was not the threat of an earthquake, or the fearsome teeth of Apu, but the fact that the grant money we needed to build the enclosure had not cleared. I was running out of time. Finally, with just two weeks left in Peru, the funds cleared, and Gardel and I went into Moyobamba to order materials. We also organized a boat to carry the materials to our chosen sight in Tarangue, and I met with an engineering professor, Romolo, to ensure that the project would be continued and properly finished after I returned to the UK. He also explained the mechanics of earthquakes to me. The problem with earthquakes is when the earth sumps under one corner of your structure, this will pull the whole structure down regardless of the flexibility of the materials. This started to worry me as he was suggesting having completely concrete foundations strengthened with metal bars. This would have driven the costs right up and would have meant a lot of work transporting the materials up the river. I travelled to Tarangue with Romolo the next day and I was relieved when he said that I had picked the perfect location for the enclosures. It was far enough from the river to not be worried about the land giving way. So, we carried on with my original plan.
We started at 6am, and had everything loaded onto the boat by three pm. Any more weight, and we would have been too heavy to float. We had acquired a massive audience; everyone wanted to know what the crazy gringo was up to.
Everything was unloaded by 5.30 pm, with just half an hour of daylight left for Gardel to return the boat. Amerio would come along later to spend the night, but in the meantime I was left alone. I went to the kitchen area and put on some rice. When I looked up, I realized that there were lights where we had unloaded the materials. I grabbed my head torch (headlamp) and strolled over toward the wood, making lots of noise. There was no-one at the supplies when I arrived, but I could hear a boat bumping into the river bank just around the corner, and whispered voices.
I should have been frightened, but I had only one thought: no one was going to steal the materials which were the future for the lovely monkeys I had come to know. I turned my torch off and sat by the river. The mosquitoes swarmed and whined around me. After an hour, the prospective thieves started their outboard motor and headed off down river. I gathered up some firewood and lit a fire on the riverbank thinking that this would deter any other thieves. I set off back to the kitchen, but heard someone approaching down the path. Thankfully it was Amerio! He had arrived at the kitchen, discovered a pot of burned rice, and wondered where I had gone. I explained what had happened. He agreed that the fire was a good idea, and told me that I was crazy for approaching the thieves. All dangers aside, the materials were all there when we awoke early to begin our work.
Manuel, a local carpenter, and a few others came to help, and I was amazed at their resourcefulness. Manuel dug a well to provide clean water for the concrete. The others collected rocks and extracted sand from the riverbank for the concrete. I got to work making hatches so that we could separate two enclosures in the event of illness, or when introducing a new monkey to the group. Two of the hatches were placed high enough so that the monkeys could leave the enclosures and go straight into the trees of Tarangue. These hatches were operated remotely with pulleys.
I had special metal plates made, platinas, to create a gap of three centimeters
(1 inch), to prevent the wood from becoming damp, and painted pitch on the bottom of the posts to further protect them. I kept them well amused with my marginal Spanish, bumbling through their language in innumerable ways, perhaps most famously mispronouncing platinas as platanos, which means bananas.
When I left just over a week later, the Tarangue enclosures were progressing nicely. Unfortunately, Manuel didn’t understand my plans, so my vision of two enclosures became one large enclosure, and only my remotely operated hatches were ever used. (I heard that when Manuel was later building accommodation for Gardel and Amerio, he forgot to put a door in and built the walls around himself, leaving no way out!) Nonetheless, the monkeys were moved to Tarangue about six months later. In 2005, Moyobamba was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.5, a quake larger than the 1990/91 earthquakes, and the Tarangue enclosure survived!

Looking Back on Project Tarangue
There are now forty woolly monkeys living in the Tarangue sanctuary, and they have been joined by a few needy spider monkeys and capuchins. There are also two yellow-tailed woolly monkeys, a critically endangered species, found only in the cloud rainforest north of Moyobamba. For some time, humans assumed that the yellow-tailed woollies were extinct, but they were rediscovered in 1974. In 1999, estimates placed the yellow-tailed woollies at less than 250 members, and they joined the list of the twenty-five most endangered primates in the world. Thankfully a new organization, Neo-tropical primate conservation; is working closely with Ikamaperou to help save yellow tailed woollies from extinction.
Helene and Carlos have recently acquired land bordering a national park that is home to wild populations of woolly monkeys, and some of the rescued woollies have been relocated to this area. The hope is that one day some of the woollies may be reintroduced to the wild.
Sadly, Apu succumbed to a chest infection and is no longer with us. I am comforted in knowing that his final years at Ikamaperou were good years. Sanctuaries such as Ikamaperou offer these unfortunate refugees from the forest, whose lives have been disrupted by human interests and indifference, safe haven. There are many sanctuaries around the world helping primates but they cannot do this essential work without help. Many run on a shoestring budget so financial help is always needed. So, why not make a donation to an individual sanctuary or to an organization such as IPPL, who provide much needed financial support and advice. Many sanctuaries run a volunteer program where you pay to go and help. Your money goes directly to the project and you will be rewarded with a life changing experience. I will always remember my time in Peru with great fondness and I am proud to have been able to help. I hope to return some day and see just how far the fledgling colony has come.

Latest fundraising plan

Hi folks,
My latest plan to raise funds and awareness for IPPL is do climb the 5 highest peaks in the U.K and Ireland. Check out all the details at my new website. Also follow our teams progress on twitter.
K ;o)

Great South run 2009

I'm Doing the Great South Run on October 25th 2009 to raise funds for IPPL-UK. Its a 10 mile run around Portsmouth, UK. If I manage to reach my goal of £1000 I will do the run in a monkey suit!

Keri ;o)