We are delighted to offer the opportunity to join a truly amazing journey into one of the wildest places on the planet, where nature rules and humans are just visitors.

Walk in the Wild – South Africa

14th to 21st September 2012

Estimated cost: £700 trail cost plus minimum sponsorship £500 = £1,200 *excluding flights

Your journey begins with an evening flight on Friday 14 September departing the UK for Johannesburg. (Please note that all participantsare responsible for their own flight booking and payment).

Upon arrival at Oliver Tambo Airport in Johannesburg you will be met by a local representative who will assist you to your flight to Durban. At King Shaka Airport in Durban you will be met by a Wilderness Foundation representative, who will drive you to the Wilderness Leadership School, for your overnight stay. Sunday 16 September after breakfast you travel to the Umfolozi Game Reserve for an unbelievable experience of true wilderness, spending 5 days without mirrors, daily pressures or watches. On the last day of trail the group will transfer from Umfolozi to a peaceful overnight venue to catch that valuable shower/bath, re-pack and get ready for the long journey home the next day.

Fundraising

Your fundraising will support the Wilderness Foundation UK who deliver wilderness programmes that directly link to social need, particularly with disadvantaged youth, peace and reconciliation, and the development of leadership to ensure sustainable futures through a deep
understanding of, and connection to, the natural world.

Why Wilderness?

Wilderness Trails offer people a unique opportunity to experience wild nature in the simplest form – carrying all you need in a backpack and sleeping under the stars. The Umfolozi Game Reserve is the largest reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal, covering an area of almost 118,560 acres. This rugged terrain is enclosed by the White Umfolozi and Black Umfolozi rivers and contains the largest herd of White Rhino in Africa. Other wildlife to be seen include buffalo, cheetah, leopard, hyena, various species of antelope, crocodile and over 300 bird species. The trail is through its remote wilderness area – far from tourists and development.

Next Steps

To guarantee a place on this expedition you will need to pay a non-refundable deposit of £500 and then raise a minimum amount of £700 which can be through sponsorship or paid in full by yourself.  Once the minimum sponsorship level has been reached, all funds raised over this amount will be support the work of the Wilderness Foundation UK.

Further Information

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Walk in the Wild Fundraising Trek 2012

Our “Out of Africa” quiz and supper evening has an African theme – but don’t be put off – most of the questions are general knowledge based and everyone can join in and have a fun time.

Tickets are priced at £15.00  which includes:

• Entrance to the prize quiz
• Welcome drink on arrival
• Hot supper of South African national dish Bobotie (vegetarian/vegan versions available too)
• Participation in the Lucky Card draw game

Raffle tickets will also be in sale on the night with many excellent prizes on offer.     We’ll also be running a cash bar serving a selection of South African Wines, Soft Drinks and Bottled Water.

All proceeds raised on the night will support the work of the Wilderness Foundation UK and the Rarer Cancers Foundation.  The mission of the Rarer Cancers Foundation is to draw together people with rare and less common cancers, to give them a bigger collective voice to exact better services, and to enable them to support one another.  Throughout 2011 and 2012 the two Foundations will be working together, culminating in a fantastic Walk in the Wild Trek through the Umfolozi taking place in September 2012.

To register for quiz tickets or find out more about how you can support Walk in the Wild 2012 please email richard@wildernessfoundation.org.uk

We hope you can join us!

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Out of Africa Quiz and Supper Night

The philosophy and work of WFUK attracts the support of those who believe in a better world. For over 30 years, we have been helping individuals and groups experience the irreplaceable quality of wilderness as a positive force for social and environmental sustainability. They benefit from nature’s significant contribution to the discovery of identity, perspective as well as leadership training and development (see below for a recap on our current projects).

People involved with WFUK believe that connecting with wild places and taking action as an individual has a positive and important impact on a global level.

We, like many small charities, are facing a very challenging year – but with your support we can continue to make a difference.

WE ARE ASKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT, SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE THIS PIONEERING AND CRUCIAL WORK TO CHANGE LIVES AND SAVE WILD PLACES FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.

JUST TAKE YOUR PICK FROM THE LIST OF IDEAS BELOW AND LET US KNOW HOW YOU CAN HELP:

• 30 ideas to help WFUK raise funds and spread the word from tea parties to car boots

If that all sounds too energetic then here are 6 easy ways that you can do something NOW

• Support WFUK by taking out a one year subscription £25 (£10 concession) >>>
• eBay auction – why not sell some of your unwanted items and donate the proceeds >>>
• Sponsor Tom and Andy cycling their way around the world for WFUK >>>
• Sign up for a Simply Fundraising prepaid debit card >>>
• Shop online with The Giving Machine >>>
• A no-nonsense, straight forward donation – large or small >>>

Here are just some of the highlights of the Wilderness Foundation’s activity

Education and Leadership

Direct experience of nature rekindles deep connections with the natural world inspiring incredible journeys of self development.  WFUK’s personalised wilderness trails transform lives from school and community groups to corporate and political leaders.

Health and Wellbeing, Peace and Reconciliation

The wilderness experience is a powerful tool for social and individual change.  WFUK works with vulnerable young people,  victims of conflict and communities facing health and social challenges across Europe and Africa.  We cross religious and political divides and bring people together in wilderness where a sense of nature, common humanity, understanding and existence come to the fore.

Wilderness Therapy

Wilderness Therapy is a positive experience where individuals develop through their contact with nature and adventure. A range of experiential therapeutic programmes take place in natural, wild, or remote outdoor settings.

These programmes provide either counselling, psychotherapy, or therapeutic facilitation, but always offer an authentic connection with nature evoking personal change through increased self-awareness, interdependence, recovery, and personal growth.

Whatever you do, please do something, so that we can continue to work for Wilderness, Wildlife and People.

Thank you

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30 Inspiring Ways

In May 2010 Tom and Andy will be starting the next leg of their journey – mountain biking across the breadth of Outer Mongolia, spending at least two months in the wilderness without any roads or facilities and carrying all their supplies in the best traditions and observing the ethics of our wilderness trails programmes.

Tom and Andy hope to raise at least £1,000 in support of the work of the Wilderness Foundation UK on their journey, which they aim to complete in August.

If you would like to sponsor Tom and Andy and in turn support the work of the Wilderness Foundation UK, please visit:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ride-earth

We wish Tom and Andy health and happiness on their journey and look forward to reading their journal entries.

For all the latest Ride Earth news and updates visit their website: http://www.ride-earth.org.uk

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Mountain Biking across Mongolia

In the beginning, everything seemed so simple. My mate Andy and I had gathered everything we needed, and we were standing outside my house amidst friends and family, all gathered to wish us well on the long journey we had ahead of us.

Suddenly, as we waved and cycled away from the crowd and down the streets we knew so well, a strange thing happened.  The stress of the previous year of frantic planning, sponsorship-hunting and fundraising instantly evaporated. Such a huge psychological sigh of relief – we were finally on the road!

But in the same moment it hit home just how little we’d really grasped what we were setting out to do. This very act – pedalling down a quiet rural road with no idea where I was going to sleep – was going to be the reality, day in, day out, for months and years, behind the deceptive romance of the phrase “we’re going to cycle round the world”.

Sure enough, this would be no high adventure. It would be an intrinsically simple life – the simple struggles of mountains, storms, deserts, loneliness and language-barriers, coupled with the simple rewards of a warm sleeping bag, a hot meal, a river or lake to swim in, and the welcome of a stranger’s home in a foreign land.

Since then, there were countless amazing, joyful times, as well as a number of extremely tough ones. Not least, I overcame terrible homesickness and the challenge of living on less than 5 Euros a day in Europe, but four months later we rolled into the mystical Istanbul, Turkey, and the beginning of Asia.

Later, I would struggle through a truly bitter winter in the Caucasus, where temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees Celsius at night, ill-equipped for such weather, talking my way into buildings every night to escape the biting cold. I would cross the vast, desolate expanses of the Sahara desert in Sudan; get malaria and have rocks thrown at me ! every day in Ethiopia; cycle through the hottest place on Earth, the Danakil Depression; have an armed escort for a thousand kilometres through troubled Yemen; roast in 60-degree heat in the Omani desert summer; and make it through the seven-lane highways of Dubai!

But leaving home was the toughest thing of all. At the time, neither of us had done any travelling whatsoever. We knew precious little of the world outside. And we had a vague inkling that what we were embarking on was ill-advised, under-prepared, and monumentally over-ambitious considering our experience.

Over the following months, we had a baptism of fire in which we realised we’d bitten off far more than we could comfortably chew – luckily in the relative comfort and close proximity of Europe – but that steep learning curve taught us many valuable things. Most important amongst these, perhaps, was that the world might be our oyster but it was also rather enormous, and that maybe it would be better to get to know a few parts of it more intimately than to try and swallow it all in one go.

Thus, our idea to single-mindedly circumnavigate the world evolved over thousands of kilometres of experience and retrospection, and is now more about gradually crawling the surface of the planet, without too many restrictive plans, slowing and stopping to delve a little deeper, putting down roots, and forming relationships with places and people, and using the bicycle as the tool to accomplish all of this.

I came to love my blog as an outlet for the turmoil and challenge of an unpredictable life to anyone who cared to listen. I was pleased when I discovered that others actually enjoyed reading my outpourings. Andy’s and my blogs evolved alongside the journey and are now a place to find not only tales from the road but also wider musings on the ins and outs of an itinerant lifestyle, observations of countries and cultures, practical advice for budding cycle travellers, and motivational material to help others achieve their own personal ambitions.

Photography was another very important creative outlet, and we’ve been truly spoilt for subject matter.

Sometimes it’s been an almost-impossible endeavour to balance this kind of life, to continue raising funds, to perceive and then to choose the best of many possible paths, to keep things in perspective and to consider the future as well as the present, and sometimes just to deal with bad roads, big hills and plain boredom and loneliness.

But the ultimate reward has been a deep feeling of taking control of life – learning to live lightly, realising the futility of the material quest, and finding fulfilment in a world that doesn’t have wealth and power as its prerequisites. Long-term cycle-touring isn’t for everyone – but so far, it’s suiting us just fine.

Tom Allen and Andy Welch left England in June 2007, and between them have cycled more than 35,000 kilometres through more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Their website is at http://www.ride-earth.org.uk. They have just launched a photography calendar for 2010 in order to raise funds for the continuing expedition.

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Two Years Into A Really Long Bike Ride

The Morning Star sails out of Chatham Docks

Participants in the Wilderness Foundation UK’s intervention programme for vulnerable youth – The TurnAround Project – have this week literally started to chart a new course.

A group of six participants, together with Wilderness Foundation UK CEO Jo Roberts, volunteers Roy Perry and Paul Morris and a University of Essex Researcher, Jo Barton all stepped on board the Morning Star on Tuesday (6th October 2009) and will spend the next five days serving as crew aboard the 62ft gaff ketch yacht operated by the Morning Star Trust.

This is the second “Wilderness Trail” that this group are under-taking and marks a major landmark in the participant’s progress through the 12 month long programme that each of them signed up for, after hearing about TurnAround through their school, family, Connexions or YOT working in Essex.  The group will be challenged to work together as a team, supporting one another and discovering strength and skills they might never have imagined they had.  They will also being applying their learning over the past months from mentoring and activity days organised by the Wilderness Foundation UK – which has helped the participants to gain confidence, improve their self-esteem and find ways of managing anger so that they can remove themselves from potentially volatile and occasionally violent situations.

Edward Charles, Project Manager of TurnAround says:

The participants share a variety of social and personal problems. Several have had lives that already include drug and alcohol abuse, dropping out from school, family breakdown, youth offending orders, low confidence and poor self esteem.

What unites them is the fact that they have all signed and agreed contracts to work towards learning how to take on personal responsibility, and are committed to the programme, and want to work as a group towards personal change.

On return from sailing the TurnAround participants will enter the final phase of the programme – Graduation.  Participants, families, mentors, supporters and youth workers all come together in a day of celebration, which  recognises the hurdles overcome and the achievements made.

Eddie explains:

For many of our participants, this will include the award of various forms of certificated accreditation that has been earned during the course of the programme, including but not limited to: Trident Skills for Life Certificates; Trident Community Involvement Certificate; The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Certificate of Prior Learning (Skills and Physical Recreation Sections); the Essex Arts Award and the Essex Youth Award.

To find out more about the TurnAround Project, including how you or your organisation can become directly involved in supporting this important initiative working with vulnerable youth – either financially or through the contribution of services in kind or time volunteering, please contact Eddie or Jo on 01245 443073 or click here to send us an email

To make a donation in support of TurnAround please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/turnaround-appeal/

Thank you for your support.

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TurnAround participants set sail with the Morning Star

The Eco Ironman - Jon Alexander

News has reached us from our Wilderness Hero, Jon Alexander who participated in the Barcelona Ironman competition yesterday (Sun 4/10/09).   Jon says:

I´m alive, just about. Time of 11h32, which I have to say I´m pretty chuffed with. Swim was a total dream, did it in 1.06 which is way quicker than anticipated, and really enjoyed it – particularly the tunes on the music system just before the start, ´Let´s Get It Started´ and ´Crazy´, fairly appropriate! Bike was pretty good too, though the heat really started to tell towards the end, and I was beginning to be a bit scared before the run even began… and I was right to. Absolutely screwed by about 5km in, but managed to run between aid stations (every 2.5km), and was pretty chuffed to keep the marathon time respectable at 4.14. I genuinely can´t imagine having been in much more pain than I was by the end though – knees went numb at about 20km, and I´m really not sure how I did it from there. You meet a fairly unpleasant version of yourself when you get in that kind of condition!

Very many congratulations and our sincere thanks to Jon, as well as all those kind people who have followed his training, supported him in the race and supported the Wilderness Foundation UK in turn through sponsoring Jon or fundraising for us.   We’re delighted to say that Jon has reached his target of £2,000 which has been dontated to the Wilderness Foundation UK.  However, don’t stop there – if you haven’t given yet and still want to, you can sponsor Jon by visiting: http://www.justgiving.co.uk/ecoironman/ You can also read more of Jon’s account of the Ironman by visiting his blog at: http://www.ecoironman.blogspot.com/

Thank you everyone, but most especially Jon.  We’re all very proud and touched by your commitment to and support for the Wilderness Foundation UK.

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Jon does us proud in the Barcelona Ironman

I´m about to do a 140 mile race in a day. That´s a stupidly long way.  It´s funny how these things only occur to you when it´s a little bit too late!

Jon Alexader - the Eco Ironman

So says our Wilderness Hero Jon Alexander, who has now safely arrived in Spain after his train journey from the UK.  As you may recall, Jon has taking on the challenge of the Barcelona Ironman which takes places on Sunday 4th October 2009.  Jon aims to travel to and from, and participate in the event in as environmentally friendly and sustainable fashion as is humanly possible.

To Jon and all his fellow competitors tomorrow, our very best wishes.  Good luck – have a great race and make us proud (as if you haven’t already!)

We’ll update in the week to let you know how Jon got on, and his post race thoughts and feelings.

And don’t forget – it’s not too late to sponsor Jon, who is supporting the Wilderness Foundation UK.  Visit his JustGiving page at: http://www.justgiving.co.uk/ecoironman/

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Eco-Ironman Jon Alexander is ready for the challenge

Our Wilderness Hero shown here at our recent Richard Long event at the Tate

Our “Wilderness Hero” Jon Alexander will be appearing on BBC Radio Somerset this coming Thursday (01/10/09) at around about 7:30 a.m.    Tune in to hear more about Jon’s commitment to the Wilderness Foundation UK, plus the gruelling challenge he is about to undertake on Sunday when he participate in the Barcelona Ironman.

Jon has been dubbed the “Eco Ironman” by the media, thanks to his aim of attending and participating in the Barcelona Ironman in as an environmentally-friendly fashion as possible.  Jon will swim the length of 76 Olympic sized pools, cycle the distance of a return trip from London to Canterbury, then run a full marathon. All in just twelve hours.

Jon says:

‘Being environmentally-friendly is not just about telling people what to do. If we’re really going to make a change it’s going to be about people realising how important the natural world is and having a better relationship with it,’

As well as enjoying the personal challenge, Jon is raising funds in support of the Wilderness Foundation UK.   You can sponsor him online at:

http://www.justgiving.co.uk/ecoironman/

Jon also publishes a popular blog which you can read at: http://www.ecoironman.blogspot.com/

Everyone at the Wilderness Foundation UK hugely admires Jon for his passion, commitment and undertaking and we wish him all the very best for Sunday’s race.   We’re rooting for you Jon.  Good luck!

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Wilderness Hero on BBC Radio Somerset

Time for reflection

TurnAround is a twelve month long intervention programme for vulnerable youth in mid-Essex, created and managed by the Wilderness Foundation UK.

Over four years in development, and having completed a successful pilot programme in 2007 (where we achieved an outstanding 80% success rate in returning participants to full time education and employment – rather than detention in a youth offending facility where many of the kids were headed without help from our programme), we officially launched the programme this year.

Working with the Police, Connexions, YOT, schools and families, together with experienced Psychologists, Counsellors, Therapist and Educational Specialists, the Foundation’s “TurnAround Project” is changing the lives of young people for the better.

Built around wilderness trails, environmental and community-based workshops, one-to-one sessions with volunteer adult mentors drawn from the local community, TurnAround culminates in a graduation ceremony, then work experience and if desired,  re-entry in to full time education.

TurnAround helps vulnerable young people to find a new direction, with better prospects away from crime, violence, substance abuse, negativity and low self esteem.

Monitored by the University of Essex at every stage, we have categorically proven the relationship between time spent in nature and improved self esteem – the successes of TurnAround are clear for all to see.   However, we urgently need to raise additional funds to continue the programme.

A twelve month placement for one young person costs £7,500 – all of which we raise ourselves.  We receive no Government funding for this work and are dependant on the support and understanding of people like you to keep changing young lives.   Compare this price to the cost of a young person spending a year in detention – estimated to be £47,500 a year to the tax payer – and you can see that TurnAround is not only creating positive futures, but makes good financial sense too.

Please help us to help more young people, by making a donation to the TurnAround Project today.  However much you can give will make a real different to the life of a vulnerable young person, and ultimately all of us because these young people will go on to shape our communities in the future.

You can donate quickly and easily online at:

Please take a moment to think about how your positive action now, in supporting the Wilderness Foundation UK, will help us to address something that concerns us all and affects our futures.

Thank you.

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TurnAround – An Appeal