Forest School Indelhausen | IBG 01 | 2024-03-02 - 2024-03-15 | ENVI,EDU | Age: 18 - 99

This project is organised in cooperation with the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve (Biosphärengebiet Schwäbische Alb), which was awarded UNESCO biosphere reserve status in 2009 and the forest school in Indelhausen. The forest school “Waldschulheim Indelhausen” is a pedagogical institution founded in 1977. The building used to be the village school and now serves 1,000 students and teachers every year as a non-formal learning place on the topic of forest and nature. Groups of students of the grades 7 to 9 of all school types usually stay here for two weeks and participate in different tasks of simple forest work, an educational program about the forest and excursions as well as games, fun and sports. You can take a look at the place here: https://waldschulheim indelhausen.forstbw.de/. By participating in this workcamp, you are actively supporting biodiversity (UN SDG 15) and help us work against climate change (UN SDG 13).

Work: This workcamp is about helping to maintain a beautiful biosphere area while learning about “Waldpädagogik” (forest education)! During two weeks, you will support the forest school “Waldschulheim Indelhausen”, a place of non-formal environmental education for school classes. This workcamp has two objectives. * The first one is to help the foresters with diverse environmental tasks every morning (2,5 to 3h), which will help to protect the surrounding biosphere area. * The second one is to learn about forest education and contribute to the forest school’s educative programme. You want to learn how the knowledge about forests is transmitted to young people in Germany? Then this is the perfect workcamp for you! In the mornings you will work outside with the foresters and in the afternoons you will participate in different workshops about themes such as climate change, the forest ecosystem and economy or biodiversity conservation. During your workcamp, there will be a German school class (7th class, so 13 years old) staying at the forest school too. During some activities, you will be in contact with them. If you’re interested, you will have the possibility to co-organise workshops relating to forest education for your group and/or the school class. This is a special project for nature lovers and people interested in learning about nature protection work and how to pass on important knowledge about forests to future generations.

Accomodation and food: You will be accommodated in shared rooms (2 to 4 beds) directly in the forest school. There is a dining room, a common room where you can relax or play games, bathroom facilities with shared showers, as well as a gym hall, a volleyball court, table tennis tables and two climbing walls. Meals will be provided by the school, so you don t have to cook by yourself. The forest school tries its best to serve local and bio food. There will be vegetarian and vegan options but we need to know about your needs in advance! Please inform us of any dietary restrictions or allergies you may have. Lastly, there is little phone reception in the forest school. Wifi is provided but it is quite slow – you will be able to exchange messages but streaming videos will most likely not function.

Location: Indelhausen

Location and Leisure: The “Waldschulheim” is located in the small village of Indelhausen in the middle of a geopark (a single, unified geographical area where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development) and at the southern end of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Schwaebische Alb” in southern Germany. This area features diverse mountainous and cultural landscapes, protected ecosystems with rare plants and animals and notable forest, meadow and orchard habitats. The surroundings are perfect for outdoors activities like hiking. It is very rural, and there are many great view-points and various old castle ruins that are worth visiting. Due to this, visiting bigger cities is quite complicated so the free time activities will be mainly done close-by, enjoying the beautiful surroundings

Airport: ZWS

Train/Bus station: Riedlingen

Requirements: Please be aware that ticks are a problem at all outdoor work camps in Germany - including this one. In our General Infosheet you will find suggestions on how you can protect yourself against them. You are also welcome to check whether a vaccination against the tick-borne disease TBE makes sense and is possible in your home country

Riedlingen train station, in the afternoon (please arrive whenever you can between 1pm and 7pm on, your camp leaders will be there to greet you). You can plan your trip by using the German Railway website: https://www.bahn.com/en

Language: eng

Extra Fee: 0