Experience National Geographic Explorers Camp

by Josh Kenzer on August 3, 2009 in Resorts & Hotels, Things To Do |

This last Saturday, I had the pleasure of taking my kids to the National Geographic Explorers Camp at the Fairmont Scottsdale. Usually, parents use resort camps as built in babysitters so they can go out and explore the resort on their own. However, with the National Geographic Explorers Camp, it’s the kids who are getting the once in a lifetime experience. Each camp features a different guest speaker who presents to the kids about their craft and devises ways for the kids to interact with that profession.

For us, it was wildlife photographer Joel Sartore. Joel’s experience as a wildlife photographer would be diffuclt to match. He had plenty of stories to share of hair rasing encounters with nature each accompanied by fantastic photography. After getting an overview of equipment and a short presentation on taking great pictures, each kid in the camp was outfitted with digital point and shoot cameras. They were divided into smaller groups and sent out on a photo safari, walking around the Fairmont Scottsdale Resort taking pictures from a worms eye view, a birds eye view and a 360 view – Joel’s tip for finding great pictures. Joel jumped from group to group, giving tips to the kids as well as the camp instructors – he was even nice enough to put up with photo questions. As a testament to his teaching, here are a few pictures my kids took. Neither Mayah or Tyler has been allowed to touch my camera, so they were learning for the first time.

Bird in Flight - Photo by Tyler Kenzer

Pink by Mayah Kenzer

After the photo walk, the kids watched a short National Geographic video featuring Joel and ate lunch. They then spent an hour and a half playing in one of the Fairmont’s pools, complete with water slides. The Fairmont’s camp staff was awesome with the kids and ran the camp like a well oiled machine.

After swimming, Joel took some portrait photos of the kids. All said, the full day camp was 8:00 am till 4:00 pm. Parents have the choice of entering the kids for half the day for $59 or full day for $89 – which includes lunch, a backpack, a hat, a water bottole and a great experience. The camp is open to children 5-12 years old.

The guest speaker also sticks around for a Saturday night family dinner presentation. Joel geared it more towards the adults since the kids had heard him talking all day. The presentation was inspiring and engaging. The dinner was buffet style which featured food like mac & cheese, chicken fingers and hot dogs for the kids and Salmon, beef brisquet and roasted chicken for the adults. Diner is $30 for adults and $15 for kids 6-12. 5 and under is free.

There are only three camps left this summer, August 8th featuring Dr. Mireya Mayor – the Female Indiana Jones, August 22nd featuring Dr. Kobie Boykins – Mr. Mars, the NASA engineer, and September 5th featuring Dr. Mark Moffett – Modern Day Explorer. Whether you are visiting for the summer or live in the valley, make sure to get your kids into one of these camps.

Here are some photos I took from the days events: