Week 1 of the most amazing experience ever

So after the best and fastest month of my life, I am back and have finally sorted out all of my pictures! Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery and my solar charger didn't work so I only used my camera for the first few days, however some of the pictures I got were amazing quality!

After starting off in the school hall, saying goodbye to our parents in the rain and then travelling for 12 hours we finally made it to Zambia making it an extremely surreal day. We then took a prebooked bus to our campsite (and favourite place) called Jollyboys which we stayed at for our R&R phase.

During our four weeks in Zambia we had four phases to get through; our rest and relaxation, acclimitisation, main trek and project phase.

R&R phase

Vic Falls

The first day of our R&R we went to the world-known Victoria Falls which was absolutely AMAZING.  Not just the Falls themselves but the sights like the boiling point and the jungle were literally breath-taking too. We spent all day looking at the sights, eating lunch and running away from baboons...

 

 

The boiling part was the best bit of Vic Falls as it was so relaxing and beautiful, we all just sat there speechless taking in the natural beauty and sun rays. We were even more astounded when we got told that the wall to the left of us was Zimbabwe so we were SO close! (and people bungee jump off of the bridge, soo crazy)

 Elephant Encounter

The day we met elephants was the scariest but most amazing of the whole trip! On the way there it was literally a safari, we were playing our usual games on the bus (some people having a nap) then all of a sudden Harry shouted "GIRAFFE!" so everyone looked at him then he said "No, genuinely a giraffe!!" and pointed out the window at the front of the bus, we all turned our heads to see the first wild giraffe we have all ever seen and we all went crazy with our cameras! A few metres up there were some impala doing their gracious leap and about half a mile further up the road there were a few zebras. It was literally the most surreal car journey I have ever had and probably will ever have and that was only the journey on the way to meet the elephants!

We then got to the encounter which was located on the Zambezi river which was the most beautiful sight. Each elephant had a name each (which they responded too!) and they even listened to what they were told, such as "sit down, stand up, trunk up, mouth open". It was extraordinary to see that they could understand what they were being told, not just by their owners but by us vistors too!

I was honestly petrified by the elephants even though they listened to what you were telling them, it was purely the fact that the man said "people say they are scared of mice, that is true because they are only scared of small things...so small people make no sudden movements". That statement made me scared for my life, literally. Also I am only 5ft1 tall and these elephants were easily at least 12ft! It took me a while to get used to them, I wouldn't go near any on my own (whereas some people sat on their knees feeding them!) but I did end up getting some really cool pictures! 

 

 

   

This was easily my favourite day of the whole trip because not only did we have a mini safari on the way but we also got to meet, touch and feed elephants! I felt this day brought everyone together so much and when we got back to our campsite people were saying how happy they were and how lucky we are to be doing such things at the age of only 17 (or in my case still 16!) Jake even said "I would happily go home today and think that the £3500 was well spent", baring in mind this was only on day 3!

Sunset Cruise

Who says they have sailed down the Zambezi river in a boat watching the sunset go down? QUEENS TEAM 1, thats who! We were hippo searching and challenged ourselves to try and find a family of 5 hippos...we saw 7 at one time! We saw some incredible birds, wild elephants and a ridiculous amount of hippos and lots crocs! Again this day brought us together as a group and we were so happy, already feeling like a family! 

 

 

 

I'm so glad we had our R&R in the first week because we got to have a real feel of how lucky we really were to be in such an amazing place especially with seeing all the wild animals, beautiful sunset and just becoming so close as a group in general. Whereas if we had a trek first for example, I feel there was a big risk of having a few arguments and grudges being held for the rest of the trip so for us, it could only get better from here!

To be continued...

Catch-Up! Events/Fitness

Hi All, 

Sorry I haven't been keeping you all updated but I have started my A Level exams (ahhh!) so have been doing lots of revision and of course actually sitting the exams! 

But this post is just a quick catch-up to let you know how I'm doing with my fundraising and to tell you how CLOSE Zambia is!!! 

Curry Night

Unfortunately a few days before/on the day quite a few people said that they couldn't attend my curry night however I still had around 30 people come and it ended up being a great night. 

In the end I raised £210, I would like to thank everybody who came (or contributed even if you couldn't attend) and I'd like to thank the owner of the Indian Sizzler, Mo, for the fantastic food, service and patience! 

Cassiobury Fun Run

One of our local parks organised a 10k fun run over the may bank holiday weekend, unfortunately I didn't know in enough advance to take part but instead I helped out and was a marshall. 

It was such a hilarious day because so many of the World Challengers from my school took part - not ones just from my group. They haven't given us a fixed price as to what we are getting paid yet (as we are still waiting for our payment and they have called it a 'kind donation') but last year the World Challengers got paid £50 so hopefully it will be somewhere around that number again! 

Pictures from the day...

 

L-R: Molly, Jenny (my group), Sara (my group), Me, Harriet, Kirsty

Lewis, Harry and Jake

Michael and I collecting tags!

Bleep Test

Our school wanted to see how ready we are for our treks etc by testing our fitness (haha.) Let's just say I am FAR from prepared. 

Although I have been going to the gym recently and going on powerwalks for an hour or so, when it comes to running I just crumble so the bleep test didn't work too well with me. Luckily I wasn't one of the first to drop out, so I felt a bit better about myself! 

So the average for a 16 year old girl is to get to Level 7 (baring in mind it goes level 1 -1.1, 1.2, all the way to 1.8 each level). I got up to 5.2 which isn't close to the average but it is honestly better than I expected myself to get! 

 At least I now know how much work I have to put in to make myself fit! 

 Rianna x

Back to the Indian Sizzler we go!

 So I'm getting extremely close to my target and have just organised my next (and possibly last) big event.

Since my curry night last July raised over £200 I have decided to do another one and hope it will be even more successful

especially as a lot of people were unable to make it due to holidays or other commitments

All information is here:

I hope to see as many of you there as possible!

Rianna x

Bar 92 Party

So Jake and I were getting pretty worried about the turn out of the party, we didn't think a lot of people would turn up even though we did advertise it like crazy! Especially because we needed mostly over 18's to attend, we found it hard to get our parents friends there because the venue was a 20 minute or so drive from where most of us live. However for those who did attend would probably agree with me that Bar 92 is a beautiful venue and would recommend it to anyone passing by or hiring a bar in Rickmansworth!

Even though we really didn't want too we were SO close to cancelling the event. Then however the week of the party, we had a phone call to ask if there was still enough space for another 12 people and then at school a few days after we sold another 7 tickets! So of course cancelling was out of the question.

In the end we had around 50 people come and enjoy themselves, the bar was always flowing and the music was great. At first it was really hard to get people up and dancing but then the DJ played Candy by Cameo - even though that went down in shambles as only two people knew how to do it (me included!) - the party then started!

Here are also a few pictures from the night:

"It's like candy"

Hayley&Christie who have supported me at every event so far!

A few school friends who attended

Jamaine - the best dancer of the night!

The managers of Bar 92 - thank you so much!

Jake and I made more than £250 between us so we would like to thank everybody who came because we appriciate it so much! We are now both 1 step closer to our target :) 

Thanks again, Rianna & Jake x

It's party time!

My friend Jake and I have decided to be a tag team and do a big event together; we are holding a party to celebrate the new year and hopefully raise some funds!

There has been a new wine bar just opened on the high street in Rickmansworth which the owner has very kindly lent to us for an evening in February once we told him about our cause, however because it is a wine bar and not any other normal bar it is for over 18's which is why we are struggling to fill the place up because obviously we are only 16 and 17 ourselves so we can't invite many of our friends! However, a lot of our parents friends and families have said it seems like a great idea and should be a fun night so we hope this will be a success! 

Here is all the info...

 

Hope you can make it!

Rianna & Jake

xxx

Training Expedition Weekend

This weekend, World Challenge had a training expedition weekend in Hemel Hempsted, I'm not going to lie...I was absoluetely DREADING it however once I got there and also once I got home I realised how good it was! Throughout the week we had the most horrible weather which even included snow on Tuesday! So I was expecting something similiar on the weekend which is why I was dreading it so much! 

As soon as we got there we met out leader called Bert, we then got our tents to put up which was one of the funniest parts of the trip. The boys took AGES putting one tent up and their faces throughout was hilarious.

Due to another leader not being able to make it, another group from my school had to join ours which was a shame as we was going to use this as a bonding session between our group however on the other hand we had some great people join and made the experience even better than it might have been! 

At around 12ish Bert said to us we were going on "a short walk, only 3 and a half to 4 hours" WHAT?!?! 3 hours of walking?! It was the hardest walk of my life! Espesically because the first field was thick wet mud up to our ankles, it was literally like playing 'stuck in the mud'. Then on I thought I couldn't do it with my fitness level and wasn't ready for World Challenge at all but then we realised once we were in the middle of the field there was no turning back and we either had to go backwards or forwards so of course we went forward! 

 

 After around 5 hours of walking (crazy, I know!) we went back to the campsite and cooked dinner! We had Beanfeast and rice which was a powder bolognese, looked much worse than it actually tasted! We were dreading it when we were cooking it but once we started eating we realised it wasn't actually too bad!

 

 After dinner we sat around the campfire with hot chocolate and biscuits playing games and having a laugh which was one of my highlights of the trip, I can't wait to do something similar out in Zambia as it's so relaxing and you can just review your day! 

We had to wake up at 7am on Sunday to cook breakfast and go on our next trek. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs (we cracked eggs in a bottle before we came!) and frankfurter hot dog sausages, we then also decided to cook noodles to fill us up a little bit more! After breakfast Bert said we would be going on another '20 minute or so' trek..it ended up being a few hours long again! But this time we learnt a lot of skills on the way like how to cross a river, how to use a rope if need be and how to use a shelter as a group.
 We had our last meal together (pitta bread sandwiches which we made in a park) and then made our way back through some more farmers fields including the muddy one we were greeted with the day before again! We even met a horse on the way...

 I'm so glad World Challenge organised this weekend because now I've learnt loads of new skills and bonded with my group! I also now know how much I over pack and that I need to join a gym to get my fitness levels up!! I've also realised how excited I am for Zambia! WOOOO!

My Group :)

Now it's time to plan some more fundraising events!

Rianna x

Coffee Morning

I have started to run out of ideas for fundraisers but luckily my family haven't quite yet! My mum is a very keen cake-maker and a few weeks ago she decided to make a chocolate cake and a hugeeee coconut cake, as my family were eating it together she thought out loud "maybe we should do a coffee morning and I can sell my cakes as a fundraiser". From that moment on we started organising!

This wasn't just like any other common cake sale, this was a gathering at my house in which around 25 people came. My mum made 6 different cakes to lay out on the table and people came in and helped themselves to which ever one they wanted while my mum made them a hot drink like tea or coffee or for some people prepared them a glass of juice. 

  
My mum had a great idea which was not to charge people, instead have an anonoymous donation box for people to donate whatever they felt was suitable. I thought this was such a great idea because normally with fundraisers I'm putting a price on something and saying how much they have to give me to take part in the event but this time people had the chance to come up to me, ask me whatever questions they felt was revelent and once they knew about my cause the would donate whatever they thought was right.

I held the coffee morning on Saturday 20th October at 10am-2pm so that way early risers could come for their morning cup of coffee but also late rises could still come later on in the day! 


It was a great atmopshere as  a lot of  my neighbours came and lots of my mum's friends as well as some of my own so it was a great way to have a catch up (and a gossip!) while enjoying a varity of cakes with the radio in the background.



 After everyone donating on the morning of the event (and some others who couldn't make it so sent me a card and donation through the post) I made a great £280!  


I would like to thank everyone that came and once again supported me.


Rianna x