Sleeping among the rhinos in African adventure (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Sleeping among the rhinos in African adventure

10:24am Friday 18th August 2006

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Three Whitton teenagers are determined to work harder at school after returning from a expedition to South Africa.

First Whitton Magellan explorers Lucy Abel, Rian Charles and Alex Dorling arrived back in London earlier this month after a three-week trip where they trained to be game park keepers and worked on projects to help schoolchildren.

The scouts worked on schemes, like building sandpits, so the schoolchildren had somewhere to play during their breaks.

Miss Abel, 16, said: "We just met the children and enjoyed finding out about their lives. In fact we all realised how lucky we are and decided to work harder at school."

Miss Charles, 18, remembered a football game between the scouts and the schoolchildren. She joked: "The scout team lost quite badly."

Ten leaders joined the 28 scouts on the National Explorer Scout Expedition to South Africa.

The three Whitton scouts had to raise £2,100 each to go on the expedition.

Miss Charles said: "We had to do loads of charity events with our scout group to raise all the money. A couple of local businesses were very helpful and gave us money.

"Now we're back we want to set something up for the whole scout group, like for us to go abroad to help another school or something and go back every few years to keep helping."

Before heading home, the scouts spent their last weekend on a wilderness trek in St Lucia's 100,000 hectre area, where they faced drought conditions and 30 degree heat.

Escorted by trained armed rangers and a medical team, the explorers' safety was ensured in an area where leopards, hyenas and rhinos are common.

Miss Abel said: "We learned how to look after the animals in Kruger National Park.

"One of the most interesting things we learned, something that loads of people in the West do not understand, was about the culling of elephants, how important it is to the survival of the herd and that it is actually beneficial to the park."

Miss Dorling, 16, said they collected material for snake nests at the reptile centre in Kruger Park so there was somewhere for them to breed during their breeding season.

She remembered how she and the other scouts set up camp during the middle of the night and slept out in the wilderness where hippos were walking around.

Miss Dorling said: "It didn't feel like it was real when I was there and now that I am back it feels like I was never there."

Visit scouts.org.uk/news/archive/ 2006/july/270706.htm for information.

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