Camps International Omdömen 

It was the best 4 week of my life but we weren’t allowed to put our heads under the water even in shallow pools. It was completely unfair considering that we were going to be scuba diving up to 18m deep.

Our daughter has just returned from a 4 week trip to Cambodia with Camps International. What an absolutely amazing experience she has had with her school friends. The trip has provided an invaluable opportunity to develop their practical and life skills, grow in confidence and grow as individuals.
Camps International were fantastic and extremely professional and well organised.
From day 1 they provided a wealth of information, supported the school and students with ideas for fundraising and kept in touch regularly with emails and information on their portal. Due to global conflict the flights had to be re-routed via a different airport and Camps International did all of this seamlessly without any inconvenience to ourselves.
The facilities at the camps and the way the camps were organised was impressive and the impact of the infrastructure projects that they deliver have a huge beneficial impact for the local communities. Our daughter especially mentioned how rewarding the projects were as the group could see the immediate impact that each project had on the local community. She’s already talking about how much she’d love to do another similar Camps International trip in two years!
I highly recommend Camps international.

I had two children attend this four-week expedition, and unfortunately, the experience as a parent was extremely distressing and, at times, felt like an absolute nightmare.

My son, who is on the autism spectrum, actually enjoyed the expedition and was keen to be there. Sadly, due to health reasons, he was unable to participate fully. My other son found the conditions extremely difficult and ultimately found the experience unbearable.

However, what I found most difficult was what happened from a pastoral and safeguarding perspective. For an entire week, I received daily calls informing me that my son, who is on the spectrum, might have to return home because the Camp’s International team felt that his needs could not be met.

As a mother, receiving repeated calls like this while your child is thousands of miles away is incredibly distressing. What made the situation even more upsetting was that extensive information about my son’s needs had already been shared with the organisation, alongside the pastoral support and guidance provided by his school, which had indicated that he could be appropriately supported.

The situation appeared to stem from a complaint I had raised regarding the behaviour and conduct of a Camp’s International leader. What was particularly disappointing was that I never felt my original complaint was properly addressed or resolved. Instead, the subsequent conversations seemed to focus disproportionately on my son being on the autism spectrum and whether he was the problem, rather than addressing the concerns I had originally raised.

As a parent, I felt incredibly helpless. I had trusted the organisation to look after both of my children during what should have been an exciting and memorable experience. Instead, I spent a significant part of the expedition anxious, distressed and worried that I might be asked to bring my son home.

I appreciate that expeditions can be challenging and that unexpected situations can arise. However, when parents provide detailed information about their child’s needs and have the support of the child’s school, I would expect that information to be properly understood, considered and acted upon before the expedition — not for the child and their additional needs to become the focus once problems arise.

My son may be on the autism spectrum, but that should not have defined his entire experience or become the reason repeatedly raised when concerns arose. The focus should have been on how he could be supported safely and appropriately.

Overall, this was an extremely upsetting experience for me as a mother. I genuinely hope the organisation reflects on how this situation was handled, particularly its communication with parents, its approach to children with additional needs, and how complaints are investigated and resolved.

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.