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Starting from under the spray of the Victoria Falls, Dane Court PE Teacher, Andrew White along with his cousins set off on an epic 550km ride through some of Zambia's most spectacular wildlife reserves. 30 degree heat, dusty, sandy roads, tsetse flies and adventure lay ahead:
As the sun rose on the morning of 10 August the team set off; beginning their journey to raise awareness of poaching and the need for education to stop this. Over past twelve months they had been fund raising to support the work of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) who work extensively in Zambia on these issues with Game Rangers International (GRI). After passing through Livingstone Andrew climbed north towards Kalomo and the first stop on their journey.

"The ride seemed never ending and after seven hours and 130km of cycling we arrived at our overnight stop, a lovely farm on the edge of town," says Andrew. The next day they left the tarmac roads and headed for Dundumwezi Gate, the southern entrance to the Kafue National Park. On arriving at the gate they were greeted by Sport Beattie (GRI Chief Executive Officer), together with a Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) scout, ready to accompany them through the Park. Over the next two days they battled the sandy roads across the Nanzilla Plain, enjoying glimpses of Kafue's beautiful wildlife, with charismatic warthogs trotting excitedly next to them as the cycled.
After two days of cycling they arrived at Camp Phoenix home of the work carried out by GRI. The next day the team joined Kate and Tiffany (originally from Thanet) for a visit to one of the local schools.
"Although on school holidays over 100 students turned up for some cycling lessons and a litter clean up," adds Andrew who was thrilled with the enthusiasm of the local children. Thanks to the support of the Dental Surgery in Broadstairs, they handed out prizes of toothpaste and stationary to those who made a huge effort to keep their environment clean of litter. The next day they left the park, becoming the first people to successfully cycle through it and headed for Lusaka.
On arrival in Lusaka they met up with Rachael Murton at the Lilayi Elephant Rehabilitation Centre. Earlier in the year Rachael had spoken to some of the students of Dane Court about their work and is pleased to be hosting some of Dane Court's over the coming months in Zambia as they continue to develop their educational outreach. "Education is vital if we are going to protect our planet and make sure iconic animals like elephants don't become a history lesson... I can not wait to take the next group of students to Africa, it plays such a vital part in their education" says Andrew
As if the adventure across Kafue National Park hadn't been enough the team then took part in Elephant Epic, a fund raising off-road race set up last year by local supporters of the Elephant Orphanage. The race took the team to the lower Zambezi and past their 500km mark as they climbed over the toughest terrain they had come across so far. With only 40km left the team had an epic moment when Dom's bike broke, leaving him to be towed to the finish by Andrew, but still managing a respectable 47th place. "It was an amazing experience and I would like to express my huge thanks to all who have supported us, from friends and family to all the amazing sponsors; you are helping us so much in our dream to build a conservation education centre in Zambia" says Andrew.