In August, I'll be leading a trip to Madagascar, alongside three other Girl Guide Leaders and 10 Ranger Guides. We'll be volunteering with SEED to assist in their projects, which include supporting the local biodiversity and helping the Malagasy villagers.

My trip is self-funded, with any money raised in my challenge going straight to SEED. I've decided to take on a swimming challenge, covering 3,200 lengths of the local pool over a period of six months leading up to the start of the trip. This is a big personal challenge for me - I'm not a big swimmer but I've been swimming three times a week since the start of the year to get ready for the challenge. I've built up from only being able to swim five lengths to now covering over 50 each time. Please support me and my challenge.

The trip will see us camping in small tents in the middle of the rainforest - and we'll be documenting our trip and sharing some photos when we get home.

....JUST AN UPDATE - I am currently on target and have completed 2,700 lengths of the pool, so should reach my goal....

.....22 June- today I completed my 3,200 pool swim lengths - but I am continuing to try and get to 4,000 before I leave for Madagascar mid-August.... so please keep sponsoring me!

FINAL UPDATE - Just a HUGE Thank You to all who have sponsored my swim challenge for SEED Charity. As at today I am at 3800 lengths of that swimming pool and WILL complete 4000 before we set off mid-August. The Group is all set to go, flights all organised, rucksacks planned packed. SEED has organised us a brilliant programme to work with the animals, complete surveys, spend time teaching local village children games and songs, help paint a community building.... so excited to be doing this.

A bit about the project we'll be volunteering on.

Madagascar is a leading biodiversity hotspot with over 80% of its flora and fauna being found nowhere else on earth due to its split from the African continent 135 million years ago. This split has produced a truly unique landscape across the island, where a vast array of unique ecosystems support the rich biodiversity on the island. One of the most threatened within these is the littoral forests. The littoral forest habitat supports 13% of the native Madagascan flora, however due to an increased human presence and unsustainable land-use practices 90% of the of the littoral forest is thought to have been lost, with the remaining 10% of it found in forest parcels, which fragmented nature causes a degradation in the biodiversity of the forest fragments.

(Photo: Sebastian Klein - Unsplash)