What an ₹8,500 night-sky camp fee covers

Our two-night sky camp near Kanakapura costs ₹8,500 per child. Parents sometimes compare it with a weekend resort stay, so here is roughly how the fee is spent for a camp of 24 children. Transport is the first cost. A hired bus takes children from Jayanagar to the camp and back, with a mentor on board. Shared between 24 children, it comes to about ₹900 each. Food for two nights and two days, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, a late-night snack of hot chocolate or soup and an early-morning tea, is cooked fresh by a local family and costs around ₹1,400 per child.

The campsite fee, tents, sleeping mats, blankets, clean toilets and drinking water come to about ₹1,500 per child. Telescopes, star charts, red torches and the planetarium projector are our own, but they need regular repair and replacement; we set aside around ₹600 per child for equipment.

People are the largest cost. Each camp has four mentors for 24 children, including a woman mentor and a first-aid trained lead. Their time over three days, including preparation and travel, comes to about ₹2,200 per child. Insurance, first-aid supplies and the camp photos sent to parents each evening add around ₹350.

That totals about ₹6,950, which leaves around ₹1,550 per child to cover planning, the office and the camps we have to move when the forecast turns cloudy. If a camp is cancelled for weather, families can choose a full refund or move to the next date.