From their website: Kandersteg International Scout Centre is the World Scout Centre of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement.
We welcome over 12,000 Scouts and Guides per year from more than 40 different countries (2011 we counted 48). KISC is run by volunteer Scouts and Guides for all over the world.
How come?
Following the success of the first ever Jamboree held in London during 1920 Lord Baden-Powell expressed his wish of a Permanent Mini-Jamboree where Scouts from all over the world could meet.
In 1921 during a holiday in Kandersteg, Walter von Bonstetten (then Chief Scout of Switzerland) discovered a disused Chalet. The buildings had originally been used as accommodation for the workers and their families who built the Lötschberg railway tunnel but had long since been abandoned.
Von Bonstetten wrote to Baden-Powell telling him of this magical place he had found, inviting him for a visit which happened in 1922. In February 1923 the “Scouts International Home” Association was set up. On 12 April 1923 the Chalet and some land was bought and the Centre came into existence. The cost was CHF 15,100.- and the sponsors included; the World Scout Bureau, HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Prince of the Netherlands.
The rest, as they say, is history..
It was SOOO cool to see and hear kids from all over, as they explored and enjoyed this magical mountain area.
