The best metaphor to describe children who suddenly open up to everything after coming from an urban environment is the ant. The kind reader might think that children crawling on all fours, holding magnifying glasses, don’t exist in reality, but this rare phenomenon occurred in Zăbala, if not for seven days straight, at least quite frequently considering how hard it is to pull teenagers away from their mobile phone screens.
They had the chance to observe beetles, grasshoppers, snakes, crickets, and a myriad of other insects during activities led by a biologist. According to the expert, it’s not hard to engage children because they belong to a generation that knows nature more from screens than from real-life experiences. A small creature, a beetle, or a deer observed in the wild is surely exciting for them, as there’s a big difference between watching and actually touching, seeing how a living creature behaves. The Csipkés camp in Zăbala is a popular place in Covasna County, with thousands of children having passed through it over the decades. This time, the Ant School camp is taking place here. The July sunshine was perfect for various thematic excursions, with the children getting familiar with the cold-water pools in the area, the post-volcanic landscape baths, and mofettas – especially the pools: the group discovered their own “pool” during a hike towards Tündérvár, a larger but unarranged spring where 5-6 boys and girls could fit in its pond-like water. The atmosphere was, of course, cheerful, and in the afternoon, guitars appeared, sometimes strumming even after lights out, though they weren’t supposed to. A special treat was the night excursion, during which the youngsters went to a safe place for bear watching: although the group was quite noisy, so they saw only one bear, they also encountered deer, which are usually hard to spot. When asked about the camp, the children respond in unison: “We’re coming back next year,” “Yes, but next time sit quietly so we can see more bears,” and similar comments fly around. The camp organizers are also satisfied, noting that it’s rare for the place to be filled with such enthusiastic young people. The team was great, but the work of the animators was also indispensable: it seems that in Csipkés, the perfect ingredients came together once again – the professional experience of the Ant School organizers and the enthusiasm of the young participants.