In Late July, I will be heading off to Namibia on a scientific exploration for 5 weeks with the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES). This will entail a lot of walking, either up/down a mountain, along a river, across plains or across the Skeleton Coast desert.

We will be setting up base camp on the flank of the Brandberg Massif (8500 feet above sea level, twice the height of Ben Nevis), where the Numas dry river makes a deep gorge in the mountain. We will be seeing a lot of big game while travelling the Ugab, looking at prehistoric Bushmen sites, mountaineering on a major African massif, and also simply living and operating out of a field camp system in a wild African desert and savannah setting which means no internet, no electricity, no phones, how will I survive(!). Namibia has become a leader in African conservation, with a diverse range of species – elephants, Rhino, Giraffe, Oryx, Leopard, Lion and Cheetah all roaming the local landscape.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia, (Joel Holdsworth)

Expedition Fieldwork

Brandberg Rock-Art Project: The Brandberg Massif dominates the horizon and surrounding landscape for miles in every direction. It is easy to see how the Brandberg could have been a symbolic migration or an important watch point, refuge or place for safe habitation in prehistoric times. The Massif offers an insight into the lives of early natives with detailed rock paintings dotted around the massif which date back thousands of years that were drawn by pre-historic tribes. On the south-east side of the Massif there is a notable and easily accessible painting known as the White Lady, which was documented in 1917. It became a subject of bewilderment for many years and led to much exploration and research into the area; however the early archaeologists who located and sketched the paintings into notebooks did not record them on maps or collate them in a definitive collection. As a result, the availability for concise and accurate literature on their location and existence is very limited. We will hopefully be locating, mapping and cataloguing, with photos and co-ordinates, the location and route information of the rock paintings.

Elephant Monitoring Project: The second main fieldwork project will be carried out in the savannah grasslands. We will be working in partnership with the Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA). We will help monitor the populations of Elephants around the Ugab which is a core activity of EHRA's conservation work. There are about five herds of elephants known to move up and down through the Ugab and its tributary river system.

During the expedition we will spend at least half the time in the elephant herds' territory. We will be observing, tracking and surveying the elephant populations that we see. The data that we collect will directly contribute to the work done by EHRA. We will also be exposed to the dynamics of a Kalahan /grassland food chain and the competition that results.

Personal Development

We will be undergoing induction and skills training on how to survive and thrive in a desert environment with the minimum of equipment: food from the desert, how to devise and improvise to trap game, collecting food, testing for poison, food preparation, radio usage, communications techniques, signalling methods, emergency response to a lost member of expedition, search and rescue, navigation and night navigation, bush camping, snakes/reptile and dangerous animal safety.

 The expedition will be a challenge, but one I can hopefully overcome. I will be rewarded with the knowledge that i have reached my expedition aims and destinations with all my equipment and food on my  back. Learning to live and operate in the wilderness will bring me far away from the comforts of home, but i will develop a keen sense of self reliance. BSES’s primary objective is personal development, and i will be encouraged to consider my learning throughout the expedition, especially in my communication, team skills and leadership skills, and development of my confidence and personal values. 

 Unfortunately, as most things do, this expedition will cost quite a lot, in the region of £2,950 + flights (approx £1000) + personal kit. But as the BSES is a charity organisation, this will all be fundraised, which is very difficult. At the moment, I have begged friends and family for money, so I’ve got the cost of flights, and I hoping to do a 24 hour sponsored ride on a mechanical horse during the Easter holidays. I also plan to write a lot of sponsorship letters to various companies/ people. Fortunately, I’m trying to coordinate fundraising with a friend in my college who’s also going on an expedition, though the one she’s going on is to Norway.

 Also, this expedition will be very physically challenging and as I'm not the fittest person around, I'm devoting a lot of time to getting fitter by July. Though this expedition will be difficult, both beforehand and during, I am thoroughly enjoying it and I hope this article will encourage others who are unsure whether to do something like this or not to just go for it and have fun.

Please continue browsing my BSES 2012 website.