Ten week Endex photos

The Oscars, the Olympics and the final farewell!

Everyone arrived back at Fieldbase on Monday for the final time. There was the usual mad panic to hit the showers and remove the accumulated dirt from the last three weeks. As is traditional (and necessary!) the trekkers were given the highest priority but everyone was nice and clean in time for the evening’s skit competition. The theme was ‘Life on Raleigh in the style of a west end show’ and as always the costumes were fabulous and the singing was suspect but everyone gave great performances and Alpha 1 was triumphant with their unique version of Grease.

On Tuesday night we screened the slideshow, which everyone loved and hosted the Expedition Oscars as voted for by the participants. The results were as follows:

Fastest walking trekker – Paul Nisbet
Best long drop digger – George Kinloch
Most talented chef – Joint winners Rejoice (Baby) Kandovzu
and Eustacia Kamusuvise
Most likely to come back as staff – Angharad Jones
Most likely to ruin porridge/custard – Matt Laband
Hardest to get up in the morning – Melvin Simons
Best day leader - Christopher Murphy
Best fire maker - Nambuli Usiku
Most likely to become Prime Minister - Nicholai Biggar
Most likely to be famous - Natasha Davidson
Most impressive facial hair - Alistair Scott
Most likely to strip in a skit - Nick Duke
Loudest snorer – Andy Parkinson
Most entertaining – Jack Warren
Most glamorous member of staff – Caroline Monks
Funniest member of staff – Rob Waterhouse


On Wednesday the staff team organised a mini Olympics competition with a Flip-Flop sprint relay, rock putt, Olympic Yoga, Kabadi and a Landrover pulling competition. The staff team won the relay easily due to many hours of practice from Charlie chasing various items across windy campsites. The rock putt was hotly contended with large throws from Nambuli and Melvin, and Laura and Jess leading the way for the girls. In spite of a very professional performance from staff member Lottie, Olympic Yoga was won by Alpha 3 (well they had no excuse after three weeks of daily yoga sessions whilst trekking). Kabadi was fiercely competitive and the Olympics were concluded with the Landrover pull. Alpha 3 were the overall winners for the Olympics, after a very impressive time in the Landrover pull.

The Alpha groups spent Wednesday afternoon preparing for the Endex party and the theme was “A Night at the Musicals”. Each group chose a musical and performed a song from the musical with costumes made from whatever they could get their hands on. Alpha 1 won the award for the Best Dressed Cast when they dressed as chimney sweeps and performed ChimChiminee from Mary Poppins. Kim, Flic and Caz were unrecognisable under layers of soot applied by rubbing the bottoms of kettles and pots over their faces. Alpha 3 had put in hours of practice for their song after their dismal performance in Monday nights skits, so they won by a landslide in the Best Song category performing Doe, Ray, Me from The Sound of Music dressed as the Von Trapp children. The winner for the Best Dressed Individual was Paul from Alpha 1 as Mary Poppins and the runners up were Danielle as a gangster’s moll in Bugsy Malone, Alex as Sandy from Grease and Chris as Maria von Trapp.

Final farewells took place on Thursday with everyone getting slightly emotional, especially the staff when waving goodbye to the participants. We hope that everyone had the time of their lives and that they now have friends and memories that will last a lifetime.

During the expedition everyone took part in the Raleigh Art Group and produced pieces of work, which will go on display in an exhibition ‘Art in Nature: A New Look at Namibian Rock Art’ at the National Art Gallery of Namibia. The opening of the exhibition, which will take place at 6pm on Wednesday 4th October 2007, will also be Raleigh’s official farewell as this summer’s expedition was the last ten week programme in Namibia for now.

The exhibition will run from 4th to 22nd October and include art work by young people who took part in both the five and ten week programmes as well as by Expedition Artist, Charlotte Goodhew. With running both programmes this summer Raleigh was able to select from the work of the 85 young people who took part in either one of them. Their inspiration came from Namibian rock art, in particular from the visits to the site of the White Lady rock paintings when trekking at the Brandberg or taking part in the Adventure Challenge in the same area.

And they all did so well!

Alpha 1 completed the school in fantastic style and due to previously undiscovered creative genius within the group. Country Director Jim was blown away by the art work, as were Denise, Susie and Tim who had the privilege of going up to the opening ceremony. One classroom has an underwater theme and includes an enormous chalkboard in the shape of a whale and the other depicts outer space with a chalkboard in the shape of a rocket. Caz’s Mr. Men books came in handy for inspiration when decorating the outside of the school and the group also painted a roll of honour which includes the names of everyone who has worked on the school during the expedition.

The opening ceremony was wonderful and included traditional dancing by the local community, singing by the school children and an impressive rendition of ’Lean on Me’ by Alpha 1. Pastor Ndemwimba said ’The new building is like a gift falling from Heaven’ so we cannot underestimate what the school means to the community and are very proud of everyone who has made it possible.

Alpha 2 had a wonderful phase down at the Sperrgebiet. They had several braai, day trips to the beach and went shopping in town. The group also came up with several excuses for a party, most notably birthday celebrations for Laura and Helen. It’s not clear how the Tarts and Vicars party was relevant but the black tie do for Laura’s 18th was a glamorous affair, as was the birthday breakfast of cereal and fresh milk, fried eggs and French toast.

The group has worked really hard this phase, carrying out a significant amount of leaf clearing and doing a fantastic job of painting the Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s buildings. Trygve Cooper, Raleigh’s Project Partner has been incredibly impressed by the quality of work on this expedition and would like to congratulate everyone who has been to the Sperrgebiet during the past ten weeks as they have all done a brilliant job.

Alpha 3 seem to have found this whole trekking business way too easy, possibly helped by the daily yoga sessions which have kept everyone in shape. Charlie was clearly justified in deciding that her ‘Teach yourself yoga’ book was an essential as opposed to luxury item and Dave has persevered in spite of a few difficulties with certain positions!

The group had a lovely couple of days sunbathing by the pool and giving each other massages at Ugab Wilderness Camp and when they spent an evening at The Lodge Sze managed to guarantee herself the best dessert by chatting up the barman. She had been on trek rations after all so we think it was really quite enterprising!

This was the fourth group to trek over 200km through the desert and make it successfully to the Skeleton Coast for a celebratory braai. It is the most amazing achievement so every single participant should be so proud of themselves for having made it!

All of Alpha 4 managed to have a trip to visit the animals at Harnas (except on the day that Marianne and Susie went to visit but they plan to get over it in time...) and Charlotte survived seeing the lions unscathed but suffered an unprovoked attack from Stumpy the Mongoose (who is about the same size as Elvis the Fieldbase cat) and now has an almost discernable bruise on her leg. Ali was Longtail (the other mongoose’s) victim of choice.

The group has been working so hard that James and Rainbow have been very much in demand for massages. The wielding of pickaxes and the like and the 7km walk to the worksite has certainly kept this group super fit, as has Sunday football matches. The boys promised to streak if they scored a goal during the last game, but clearly lost their bottle as they went on to be beaten 4-0 by the opposition.

The group has made a huge contribution to the development of this new site and because of their hard work, the lions are now ready to move into their new enclosure. Well done everyone!

Trek group photos

Photos taken by John when he went to visit the trekkers

The final countdown!

Everyone on the ten week expedition set off last week for their third and final phase. Now all seasoned Raleigh professionals they were packed and ready to go in super quick time

Luke, Paul, Andrew, Skakira, Christophine, Veripi, Nick, Dominic, Joe, Megan, Rachel and Craig all headed up north to finish Oshana School. They are decorating the school inside and out and are very glad to have multi tasking medic Flic and her incredible artistic skills with them. They have already had lots of visitors, but they may want to work on the way they welcome their guests after the whole group ganged up on Deputy Expedition Leader Sophie in Camp Cluedo (classic Raleigh role play game) and she was repeatedly murdered with a paint roller.

The new group which went to the Sperrgebiet (now officially dubbed Butlins) includes Danielle, Laura, Wendy, Mark, Louis, Mairi, Matthew, Angharad, Melvin, Nikolaj, Becca and Victoria. They have actually done some work (a lot of leaves were cleared apparently and lots of painting has been done) but in true holiday camp style the group has had several braai and a Tarts and Vicars party (with Project Manager Helen involved we are sure this was in very good taste!). They are also planning a Black Tie do in honour of photographer Susie’s visit this week.

The final trek group includes Breeze, Gavin, Jamel, Eustacia, Virginia, Rhosyn, Jack, Tom, Chris, Spence, Sophie, Jessica and Sze who all seem to be finding this trekking business way too easy. They spent a couple of days by the pool at Ugab Wilderness Camp, had a lovely meal at the Lodge and are doing yoga every afternoon. Everyone is getting the hang of it except Trek Leader Dave who is struggling with certain positions and everyone drew the line at chanting with artist Lottie.

Tasha, Michelle, Alistair, Rainbow, George, James, Baby, Nambuli, Charlotte, Ross, Erik, Alex and Milla have all gone to Harnas Wildlife Foundation and are working very hard building a new lion enclosure. They are all very proficient at wielding mattocks and pick axes now but after a long day at the project site James and Rainbow are very much in demand for massages. The work clearly isn’t hard enough for Rob and George though, who have taken to running 8km every day back to the campsite. Each to their own!

Photos of Alpha 4 at Harnas taken by Susie

The Challenge of a Lifetime!!

Everyone on the five week expedition has just taken part in a five day Adventure Challenge at the Brandberg Massif, the tallest mountain in Namibia. The Alpha groups competed against each other for supremacy in a series of physical, mental and artistic challenges and Courtney summed up the spirit of the event when she said 'It's not a competition, we just have to beat them!'.

It was an action packed agenda which included climbing the Brandberg, doing an 8km stretcher carry and taking part in initiative tests and observation exercises. The groups also trekked to the White Lady rock paintings to try and create their own masterpiece, took part in an archery competition and pitted their wits against each other each night in the debating contest. It was a close run competition throughout, with each group shining in a different activity.

The points were calculated by Five Week Coordinator John and translated into minutes for the start of the Big Race on the final day, which comprised navigating and trekking 17km with the first group over the finish line the winners. Alpha 6 started in front, but Alpha 7 heroically took the lead and took the title of Adventure Challenge Champions 2007 in dramatic style.

They have all now returned to Fieldbase for a much needed shower, some sleep and the legendary Raleigh end of expedition party!

Photos of each group at the top of the Brandberg, taken by Trek Leader Tim.

Five weekers - working and playing hard

Alpha 7 also had visitors from Fieldbase this week and as with all of the groups, seemed rather more excited about the mobile shop than anything else! They hosted a very glamourous dinner party, where the girls fashioned evening dresses from bin liners and the boys made bow ties from gaffa tape – showing that a little imagination and a few Raleigh essentials go a long way! They then served a three course meal of bread and hummus, pasta and apple crumble and custard which John and Denise (two of the dinner guests) are still talking about.

Alpha 6 has been working hard on the playground at Onameya and have just finished the monkey bars. However they appear to have been trying to set some sort of record for the amount of tools broken on a project site and are single handedly keeping our suppliers in business! Nikki was also counting down the days until the arrival of Denise with the mobile shop so that she could feed her Diet Coke addiction.

In spite of some questionable meals served up by Project Manager Rob, Alpha 5 has managed to have a very nice time visiting the animals at Harnas. They even got to feed the cheetahs on one occasion and have started a new project which involves building a lion enclosure which they are all quite excited about. They had a rest day giving each other massages and playing football and they have all realised very quickly that going to the gym is no substitute for hours spent wielding mattocks and wrecking bars!

Tales from the ten weekers

In true Raleigh style, Alpha 1 took to opportunity to dress up by hosting a horror night to welcome Sophie, Denise and Susie from Fieldbase. Apparently our Deputy Expedition Leader’s outfit was suitably scary, but she was still beaten in the costume stakes by Gavin who brought his own Scream costume from home (as you do!). They have also had an interesting time with the local animals as they had to evict a mouse from their food tent and Caz had to chase down a local cow that ran off wearing one of the group’s safety helmets. The rest of us obviously would have paid a lot of money to have seen this! They are also making great progress putting the roof on the school, and are four days ahead of the schedule set by the last expedition, not that it’s a competition of course!

Alpha 2 is continuing to beat all of the other Alpha groups hands down in the day trip stakes, having been to the beach at Alexander Bay with their rubber rings and buckets and spades, and into Oranjemund for showers and shopping. Worryingly, in the five hours they had for showers the whole group didn’t manage to take their turn (just how dirty were they??) so they had to go back the following day. Thankfully they are all clean now and also becoming rather well educated, having attended several talks by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, who continue to wax lyrical about the quality of this group’s work. Project Managers Tom and Matt are now considering a future as Butlins Redcoats.

Trek group Alpha 3 was clearly quite desperate for treats last week, as when Jim took out the mobile shop, he managed to sell the last packet of crisps to the highest bidder for $30! They are all feeling much better now after their one and only shower this week and tucking into Melvin’s birthday cake on Wednesday. The visit from the herd of elephants was undoubtedly the high point of the week and Laura would also like it known that she has been at the front of the trek group every day!

Alpha 4 has also had a rest day on their trek and everyone was able to have a shower for the first time since deploying. Trek Leaders Tim and Dave are clearly going for holiday rep status by organising trips to local caves and viewpoints as well as ascents of hills and mountains in the vicinity of their camps each afternoon. Trekking up to 20km every day obviously isn’t enough for this superfit group! They also had an exciting few nights on lion watch, ably assisted by local guide Jonny and trek support Hendrick. However the lions chose to stay away, perhaps because it was before the shower stop!

And they all came back to change!

All of the groups on the 10 week expedition returned in very high spirits from their Phase 1 project sites on Monday for Changeover. Admittedly, most people returned unrecognisable as their former selves and Tim and Andy, Alpha 3 trek leaders, had clearly let themselves go. Surely no mirrors and very little water are poor excuses to go a whole three weeks without shaving?! Jack and Craig claimed to have had a much needed shower but it really wasn’t obvious to the rest of us and Gavin may have regretted his choice of white trackies and t-shirt when it came to actually having to wash them!

Changeover was a crazy 36 hours involving the washing of clothes and self, catching up with news from other Alpha groups and taking part in the famous Raleigh skit competition. Each group did a performance to represent life during Phase 1 and some parts were funny, some were moving and some were downright scary (the least said about Tom and Nick’s solos the better!), but each was special in its own unique way. It was a very close run competition between Alpha 1 and 4 as to the best song about life on Raleigh to the tune of Wonderwall. Alpha 4 was victorious and their refrain of “I don’t believe that anybody smells the way we do, so wash me now-ow’ really could have been about any one of us.

The moment of truth finally arrived and Jim announced the new Alpha groups and where each would be going. Caz and Kim are staying as Alpha 1 Project Managers up at Oshana school and their group for Phase 2 includes Breeze, Wendy, Gavin, Erik, Eustacia, Spence, Sophie, Jessica Hague, Angharad, Alex, Charlotte and George. Tom and Matt are Alpha 2 Project Managers down at the Sperrgebiet and the privileged few who have gone with them are Paul, Andy, Jamel, Christophine, Virginia, Rhosyn, Jack, Tom, Chris, Megan, Craig and Sze.

Alpha 3 and 4 are both trek groups for Phase 2. Charlie and Andy are leading Alpha 3 and their group includes Tasha, Laura, Alistair, Mark, Mairi, Nicholai, Nambuli, Charmillar, Rachel, Nick, Becca and Melvin. Led by Dave, Tim and Flic in Alpha 4 are Luke, Danielle, Michelle, Rainbow, Rejoice, James, Mathew, Veripi, Shakira, Joe, Dom, Ross and Victoria.

Everyone set off bright and early on Wednesday morning in their news groups and as seasoned Raleigh professionals are already working and trekking hard. They are all determined to make the most of every minute as the weeks are now flying by!

Alpha 4


Alpha 3


Alpha 2

The five weekers get to work!

All of the participants on the five week expedition have had their training at Fieldbase and are now working hard on their project sites. Alpha 5 are with Project Managers Eileen and Rob at Harnas where they will be building enclosures for the animals and helping Na an ku se’s development into a rehabilitation centre for orphaned, sick and injured animals. These environmental enthusiasts are Suzanne, Mark, Yae ji, Joseph, Jacob, Elena Dimitrova, Darren, Frances, Elena Barnes, Vevanguane, Roswitha and Joanna.

Lorraine and Nikki are project managing the building of playground up at Onameya school. Raleigh built the school during the spring expedition and has gone back to build a playground for the school children. Alpha 6 includes Jessica, Laura, Carrie, Sasho, Tom Austin, Claudia, Tom Barker, Chris, Corinne, Fiina and Gerson.

Alpha 7 is another playground project, this time at Hangholme school, which was also built by Raleigh and is in the far north of Namibia, close to the Angolan border. The Project Managers are Catherine and Pete and the group includes Lee, Amy, April, Donald, Laura, Lucy, Robin, Ka-Lee, Michael, Lukas, Cletha and Courtney.

Alpha 5 has already made great progress at Harnas, building hundreds of metres of fence and visiting the animals. Alpha 6 and 7 have been working with their local communities to plan and design their playgrounds and are now starting the hard work!

Welcome to the Playground

Alpha 4 built the most amazing playground at Otavi, which includes swings, a see saw, a Loch Ness Monster (a tribute to the Scots in the group!), monkey bars, a slide, a scramble wall and a very elaborate hopscotch.

They were made incredibly welcome by the local community and were met on the first day by the pre school children singing and waving banners. The opening ceremony was also wonderful, with Pastor Isaac and Rute from the Peace Corps explaining how much the playground means to the community. The pre school children performed a lovely song as part of the ceremony and Alpha 4 gave a very impressive rendition of Swing Low Sweet Chariot. The children then literally invaded the playground and it was amazing to see just how many children can fit on a wobbly bridge at any one time!

The group had a real penchant for dressing up and held a Halloween party on Rob’s last day and a ‘Heroes and Villains' Party for Chris’ birthday. Victoria was a vision as a pink Power Ranger, Craig’s hair is still Wolverine-esque and Charlie found yet another use for the black thermals as Catwoman. The birthday boy put one of Ross’s hats to good use and became a very realistic Zorro. Everyone proved that all you need for a good costume is a black bin liner, cardboard, gaffa tape and some leftover playground paint!

Tales from the trek

Alpha 3 trekked over 200km through the desert and made it successfully to the coast for a celebratory barbeque. After three weeks of porridge, crackers and maize meal everyone did think it was all of their birthdays come at once!

The group decided to give awards to each other in a number of different categories. Pistol Paul was voted fastest walker by the group and Andy was voted the dirtiest member of the group (the white football shirt may not have been the best choice for trekking..) The group thought that Angharad was most likely to come back as a staff member and that Helen was the PM most likely to get lost. She went on to prove this by getting lost on the straight walk to the long drop in broad daylight! Louis won the ‘best dressed’ category and Wendy the ‘most likely to be famous’. ‘Alex the Great’ is listed in the journal as best day leader, but it was definitely in his handwriting so may not have been the most democratic of decisions!

Secrets of the Sperrgebiet

Alpha 2 made great progress down at the Sperrgebiet during Phase 1and Trygve Cooper, our project partner has already told Jim and Sophie how impressed he has been with the quality of the group’s work. There was lots of digging and clearing and raking as well as some interior design when the group painted the Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s offices. The group was also lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a brown hyena, which was very exciting for them as they are so rare.

Everyone had a day trip into Oranjemund for much needed showers and a chance to visit the shops to stock up on crisps and chocolate. They also had great fun playing at the beach (we are reliably informed that the group was aware that this is a Raleigh Expedition and not a holiday camp...) There was also a rumour that a member of the group may have found a diamond!.

The group had a cross dressing party one night (what is it about life on Raleigh that makes the boys feel the need to wear the girls’ clothes?!) and Joe was heard to have said that he’s been considering cross dressing for a while now so we are pleased that he has now had the opportunity!

News from the school

Alpha 1 made great progress in building the school at Oshana during Phase 1. We were briefly concerned that the project was so far ahead of schedule that there would be nothing left for the Phase 3 group to do!

As well as all of the digging and building the group managed to find time for quite an involved game of Camp Cluedo. Milla tried unsuccessfully to kill Mal with her underwear and Rainbow was equally unsuccessful in killing Pete with a machete. However Nick was killed by James, next to the long drop with a mug of tea. Tasha was the super sleuth who had the job of working it all out.

Local animals were initially quite welcome around the campsite until the goats ate the soap next to the toilet and the cows ate James’ t-shirt and made an attempt on his trousers.

The group took on the local football team one day, and despite losing 2-1, Nambuli managed to persuade the opposition that it was actually a draw so Alpha 1 went on to win on penalties.

The five week staff are ready to go!

The staff team for the five week expedition has now arrived. They have all completed their project planning visits and are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of the participants.

Rob and Eileen are going to be managing the environmental project at Harnas Wildlife Foundation. In spite of being frightened of Elvis, the Fieldbase cat, Rob can’t wait to start working at Harnas with the big cats as he has wanted to be a game park ranger ever since he was a little boy. Eileen was the Communications Officer last year in Ghana so she’s a true Raleigh professional and is really looking forward to being a Project Manager here in Namibia.

Lorraine and Nikki will be the Project Managers for Onameya playground. Lorraine is a Youth Worker in Manchester and as a true Mancunian is a City fan. She’s been a Raleigh participant and is now thrilled to be back as staff. It’s Nikki’s first time on Raleigh but she is an outdoor, sporty type who has completed the Borneo Challenge recently and is hoping to win the London Marathon next year (well maybe a top three finish..).

Pete and Catherine will be project managing Hangholme playground. Pete has been working on the ten week programme up at Oshana School so he’s already a Raleigh aficionado and can’t wait to get started on the five week programme. Underneath the London IT Girl exterior Catherine is an outdoor girl who is well up for project management, especially the adventure challenge!

Photos from the trek

Trekking, camping and other fun stuff associated with a Raleigh International trek!!

Visiting the trekkers

I have just spent the most amazing few days with Alpha 3. The group is trekking through stunning scenery and getting super fit in the process. Hanni and I arrived on Tuesday at the Ugab Wilderness Camp to find the campsite deserted. Upon further investigation we discovered most of the group sunbathing around the pool at The Lodge. It certainly appeared more holiday camp than Raleigh International hardcore trek phase! Much teasing ensued but we were assured that this was a one off and that this was the group’s only opportunity to wash (not in the swimming pool of course, there were showers as well!) during the entire phase. A direct quote from Helen was ‘when we showered the water ran off us black’. Nice!

We all returned to the campsite to find some very exciting visitors, a herd of elephants (do five qualify as a herd?!) had decided to call by and it was just incredible to see them so close. The whole group was on a complete high afterwards and the elephants were the main topic of conversation that evening. Poor Carlos, the resident meerkat was very disappointed not to be the centre of attention for once!

The next day we trekked to the Brandberg Massif (the biggest mountain in Namibia) and it was breathtaking when the sun came up as the mountain actually glowed red. After making camp everyone visited the White Lady, which is rock art dating back at least 2000 years. The following day most of the group climbed the Brandberg, which was seriously impressive. Some of us didn’t quite make it to the top, all of the boys managed and Megan did it for the girls.

The group is doing a brilliant job trekking through difficult terrain and making camp on a daily basis. They have had some great times (playing games with local children at Anixab, stargazing, finding a pool in the middle of the desert) and some funny times (Wendy taking her slippers on trek, Megan mistaking a toilet roll for a snake and Alex waking up with George’s arm around him) and they are only half way there!. They are all very determined to make it to the Skeleton Coast and won’t let anything get in their way!

Ten week expedition photo

All staff and participants together before setting off to the project sites.

From Fieldbase to project sites - a journey!

Jim announced the project groupings on Sunday, or Alpha groups as we call them on Raleigh, so everyone knew quite early where they would be going for phase 1. Alpha 1 is heading to Oshana School in the north of Namibia, close to the Angolan border and includes Danielle Jackson, Natasha Davidson, Chi Hung, Kwai Wai, Jamel Harvey, James Burdett, Mairi Cunningham, Rhosyn Harris, Mathew Laband, Nikolaj Biggar, Charmillar Kaaheke and Nambuli Usiku. The Project Managers are Kim, Caz and Pete.

Alpha 2 is going down to the Sperrgebiet, or Diamond Area 1 as it is known locally for the first environmental project. The group includes Luke Young, Breeze Harker, Gavin Prow, Man Chun, Skakira Jones, Rachel Withers, Joseph Day, Nick Duke, Dominic Elwell, Sophie Fisher, Jessica Hague, Veripi Kangootain and Eustacia Kamusuvise. The Project Managers are Dave, Tom and Fionna.

Alpha 3 is the trek group for phase 1. They will be trekking along the dry river bed of the Ugab river, around the Brandberg mountain and Messim crater before finishing at the Atlantic Ocean. The trekkers are Andrew Stevenson, Paul Nisbet, Wendy McLeish, Yung Pang, Erik Simmons, Angharad Jones, Alexander Coghlan, Charlotte Green, George Kinloch, Megan Lloyd and Christophine Karomuini. The trek leaders are Andy, Helen and Tim.

Alpha 4 will be heading five hours north of Windhoek to Otavi where they will be building a playground. The groups consists of Alistair Scott, Laura Dey, Michelle Freel, Wing-Sze Yam, Craig Harding, Melvin Simons, Jack Warren, Rebecca Cubitt, Thomas Gourlay, Ross Stewart, Victoria Middleditch, Christopher Murphy, Virginia Muudjuu and Rejoice Kaudorozu. The Project Managers are Rob, Charlie and Lottie.

Everyone is very excited about their projects and can’t wait to get started. They spent all day yesterday packing up three weeks worth of food and equipment and got up at 4.30am this morning to deploy. Four buses left shortly after 6am, just as the sun came up and we have since heard that Alpha 3 and 4 have arrived safely at their destinations and that Alpha 1 and 2 have made it to their campsites before completing their journeys tomorrow.

The participants have arrived!!

All of the participants for the ten week expedition arrived safely on Saturday morning and after a quick cup of tea and a biscuit (we thought we’d be nice seeing as it was their first morning!) they got straight into training and setting up camp in their groups. Everyone has been learning how to use HF radios, build a fire, use tools safely, mix concrete and cook for fifteen people on a camp fire. The cooking has actually been very impressive, we definitely have some budding Jamie Olivers and Nigella Lawsons on the expedition, for which the rest of us are extremely grateful!

Everyone has done a practice trek, which involved packing a full rucksack and walking in groups up the hill beyond Fieldbase, past the Gingerbread House and to the rather spectacular viewpoint over Windhoek. There have also been lots of team building games and energizers; you really know that you are on a Raleigh expedition when ‘Giants, Wizards and Dwarves’, ‘Amebas and Monkeys’ and penguin races are the order of the day.

Everyone is in really high spirits and making new friends very quickly. The Fieldbase shop is open everyday selling drinks, chocolate and crisps, which is probably helping people with the early mornings and cold nights!

Photos from Etosha

Photos taken in Etosha National Park during Caz, Rob, Charlie and Pete's project planning visits.

Project Planning visits

The Project Managers have set off in very high spirits to go and visit their sites, meet their project partners and key contacts and start planning their projects. Cazza and Pete have headed north to see the site at Oshana where they will be building a school. Charlie and Rob are traveling with them as Otavi, where they will be building a playground, is relatively close to Oshana.

Tom and Dave may be back later than everyone else as their journey down to the Sperrgebiet has taken two days. They have met up with Tryge Cooper who is Raleigh’s project partner and will be working with them throughout the project.

Andy, Tim and Susie have gone off with Hendrick in one of the Landrovers to recce the first trek.

Kim, Helen and Lottie have stayed at Fieldbase to help with Host Country Participant selection and with preparing for the arrival of all of the 10 week participants

Each group has been in touch with Fieldbase. They are all having a really good time and we are looking forward to hearing all about their trips on Monday night when they return.

The Fieldbase team has been busy ordering all of the food and equipment for phase one and we have also delivered two days of training and induction for the Host Country Participants. Significant prowess was displayed by everyone during French Cricket and Ultimate Frisbee so the gauntlet has been well and truly laid down!

First Aid training

Our medics performing CPR on a rugby ball - sadly they were unable to resuscitate!

Photos from Daan Vilijoen

Making camp at Daan Vilijoen and slowly defrosting in the sunshine after the temperatures dropped to -6 during the night.

The arrival of the main staff group

It’s all very exciting as we now have a full staff team here in Namibia for the 10 week expedition. Everyone flew in on Friday’s night flight from Gatwick to start work straight away on Saturday morning (apart from Dave, John and Tim that is who had been lazing around in Windhoek for a few days!). We had a couple of intensive training days at Fieldbase before heading off to Daan Viljoen National Park for bush craft, radio communications and trekking practice. The self confessed kit anoraks (mentioning no names of course Charlie) got very into GPS systems and knot tying as the rest of us looked on in a slightly confused manner. However, with practice we learnt an awful lot and got almost as proficient as the experts.

We had a brilliant time and saw giraffe (baby ones too!!), zebra, wilderbeast, kudu and warthogs whilst trekking. Luckily the trek wasn’t against the clock as all three groups spent most of their time gazing in awe at the wildlife and the scenery.

The biggest challenge of the whole two days had to be crawling out of our sleeping bags at 5am each morning to find ice on our tents, inside and out! It actually dropped to -6% on Tuesday so it was only Andy’s fire lighting and Fionna’s porridge making skills that enabled us to start the day in any sort of active manner. We had a surprising (and reassuring!) number of creative and inventive cooks within the groups who turned rice, beans and lentils into a more than enjoyable alfresco dining experience.

The funniest moment of the trip had to be the remarkably enterprising baboon who invaded our campsite, probably after a lengthy stakeout, to steal a box of rusks (not the Farleys kind, more like biscotti and really very nice so he was obviously a discerning thief). He made off with them at high speed but failed to take into consideration our very own athlete Rob, who gave chase and in spite of a significant head start in the baboon’s favour, quickly gained on him. He returned (Rob that is, not the baboon) in semi triumphant fashion with the box, but unfortunately without its contents. He tipped off one of his friends the next day who came to attempt another raid, but thankfully our fearless leader Jim was on hand to escort him from the cooking area.

What it's like at Fieldbase

Fieldbase is amazing! We are surrounded by trees, hills and rather excitingly, baboons (not literally of course, that would be very unnerving, but we do see them). There isn’t a cloud in the sky and the weather is just perfect. However, when Raleigh said it gets cold at night, it wasn’t a cruel joke or ruse to get us to pack unnecessary fleeces and jackets. The people with the thermals will definitely be the happiest campers! The dust also plays havoc with your skin so moisturiser and Vaseline are a must!

We are really looking forward to meeting the rest of the staff team and the participants really soon. Do remember to give your friends and family this blog address so that they can see updates on everything that you are doing. They can also post their own messages for you on the site.

See you soon!

Who we are

The advance team

Jim is the Country Director here in Namibia. He is a fantastic chef and self confessed fan of ‘girlie’ music. He spent most of his youth in the great outdoors instead of in the classroom, but in spite of this he has managed to run several amazing expeditions in Ghana and Namibia and he wants this one to be the best ever!

Sophie is our Deputy Expedition Leader. She loved being a Project Manager so much during the spring expedition that she stayed to do it all again, but this time she’s in charge! Fieldbase’s resident It Girl adds a touch of glamour to expedition life and if you have a question, she is sure to know the answer.

Denise is looking after all of the admin for this expedition and plans to run a very tight ship here at Fieldbase. She is our resident chanteuse, a big fan of musical theatre and can occasionally be persuaded to sing a show tune or two. It would be a good idea to get on the right side of Denise as she looks after the money and is in charge of ordering chocolate and pop for the shop!

Fionna has come to Namibia as an Expedition Medic. She is a junior doctor and all round outdoor girl. She is into hiking, climbing and rather worryingly, early morning swims in the sea. She is also multilingual, widely travelled and can quote from all Disney Pixar films. Be nice to her and she’ll look after all of your medical needs!

Hanni has spent many years as a Project Manager and is our Logistics Manager for this expedition. She has recently packed up all of her worldly belongings and is living out of her car as she starts a year long tour of Africa, of which Raleigh is just the beginning. As an Austrian she is completely mystified by the rest of Fieldbase’s love of the Sound of Music and disappointingly, has never broken into song whilst crossing the Swiss border. Another person to make friends with as she orders the food!

My name is Marianne and I’m the Communications Officer for this expedition. I love animals, all things fair-trade and can’t say no to chocolate, ‘buy one get one free’ offers or people asking for money (especially if they have a dog). I’ll be the one asking for your news and stories from life on the project sites. It is best to comply as I am prepared to make it up!

The in country staff team

Opa is famous for being able to drive any vehicle, anytime, anywhere. In particular, he’ll be driving Tanya the truck to and from project sites. He is also Raleigh Namibia’s longest serving staff member so talk to him as he knows things that even Jim doesn’t know.

Michael provides trek support for us and is renowned throughout Raleigh for making the best maize meal ever. It is a very good idea to ask for his magic recipe before setting off onto project site, you’ll see why if you don’t!

Hendrick also provides trek support and is our resident wildlife expert. Ask him about his days as a child superhero and his encounter with the leopard.

Lenny is Raleigh’s building maestro who can take credit for 11 schools in Namibia. He’ll be invaluable on project site, but girls, don’t believe him when he tells you that he’s nineteen!

The Fieldbase team (If anyone can correctly identify all of us from the photo when they arrive, there may be a prize!)