Forest School Indelhausen - (BW)

CODE: IBG 01

WORK:  This workcamp is about helping to maintain a beautiful biosphere area while learning
about “Waldpädagogik” (forest education), together with german pupils! During the 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 together with the pupils 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 (7 th class, so 13 years old) staying at the forest school too. During
several 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.

ACCOMMODATION: 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: 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.

PROJECT: 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).

REQUIREMENTS: Please be aware that ticks can be an issue when you spend a lot of time outdoors in
natural areas in Germany - like in this camp. 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.

NEXT TRAIN STATION: Riedlingen
NEXT INTERNATIONAL TRAIN STATION: Stuttgart
NEXT AIRPORTS, in case you really need to fly: Stuttgart (STR)
MEETING POINT AND TIME: Riedlingen train station, from there is a bus every two hours to
Indelhausen, the last bus of the day departs in Riedlingen some minutes after 6pm. So please try to
arrange your journey in a way, that you are in time before 6pm. You can plan your trip by using the
German Railway website: https://www.bahn.com/en