Project: Borneo and Malaysia Expedition
Clean Sweep UK are helping a local girl, Georgia Despard to raise £3000 to fulfil her dream of travelling to Borneo and Malaysia to help people in these countries without the schools, orphanages and accommodation that we all take for granted.
Georgia is a 16 year old girl who enjoys all the conveniences of modern life and will find this fantastic trip a long way out of her comfort zone. Georgia attends Bridgewater School, Manchester , who have organised the trip. Georgia will be travelling with her colleagues from Bridgewater School, Nick McCance and Alistair Bruce.
Expedition teams to Borneo will visit the northern half of the island, travelling through both Sarawak and Sabah, enjoying a broad range of jungle and mountain treks. The two states of Sarawak and Sabah make up East Malaysia, with the tiny Sultanate of Brunei sandwiched in between them
Georgia will make treks in the Crocker Range National Park through primary and secondary rainforest; this is an ideal introduction to the heat and humidity of a jungle environment. She will then make a series of day treks in Sarawak's oldest National Park. The park contains a variety of flora and fauna and is a great place to see the rare proboscis monkey. The main trek is in the Kelabit Highlands in Sarawak which offer a variety of treks through the jungle. Trekking may go through longhouse villages where local people still live in communal houses on stilts, and some routes may even involve river travel.
The Bridgewater group have chosen to include as part of their itinerary climbing Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia at 4095m.
Project work in Borneo
Most projects involve living and interacting with local communities in small villages. These are great cultural experiences, and teams will really get to know the locals, their lifestyle and culture. They also get the opportunity to do some manual labor to support the village. This will include building and repairing Orphanages and Schools for the locals
Borneo accommodation
Georgia's accommodation on expedition in Borneo will include local hostels, home stays with local communities and hammocks! Not Georgia's first choice of accommodation.
Borneo terrain
Georgia, who normally struggles to walk to the corner shop can expect to experience rainforest, mountains, altitude, jungle and coast on this expedition to Borneo.
Malaysia expedition
Georgia then goes on to Malaysia which is still covered by dense jungle, particularly in the north. These are some of the most ancient rainforests in the world,
having remained virtually unchanged for millions of years.
The west coast is flanked by a long fertile plain and on the eastern side mountains descend steeply to a stunning sandy coastline with numerous coral reefs.
Acclimatisation in Malaysia
Georgia and her team will visit the Cameron Highlands. These are Malaysia's most extensive hills which are covered by tea plantations. Here it is considerably cooler and a good location to trek amongst the rolling hills and forests. They will then travel to Tasik Chini. A remote system of lakes covered in lily flowers. They will then need to enlist the help of a local guide to plan their treks in the surrounding forest areas.
Main trekking phase
The Bridgewater team will then visit Kenong Rimba National Park: A beautiful park on the edge of Taman Negara which boasts some challenging trails to numerous waterfalls and cave systems. The park is still relatively unexplored and a visit here offers a fascinating jungle.Georgia and her colleagues will then visit Taman Negara National Park: Home to some of the world's oldest and most diverse rainforest, this is a scenic region of forested plateaux, hills and mountains, traversed by several rivers. A visit to the world's longest canopy walkway at the Park Headquarters makes a great start to your main trek
Project
Expeditions in Malaysia take part in two projects. Community projects are based in and around Kuala Lumpur working in schools for children with special needs. Past teams have re-built playgrounds, painted murals and helped with teaching. Environmental projects might involve working to create essential eco-tourism facilities and carrying out trail maintenance.
Malaysia as an expedition
Clean Sweep UK are helping to sponsor Georgia so she can take advantage of this fantastic opportunity, enjoy spectacular trekking in
Malaysia from old colonial hill stations to deep jungle experiences in the oldest rainforest in the world.
More importantly she will assist in community projects, conservation initiatives and experience the unique and diverse Malaysian culture.
Georgia needs to raise £3000 total and is delighted that Clean Sweep UK have agreed to support her endeavours.
Georgia needs your support. If you can help please contact us, donations will be gratefully received. We will keep you informed on Georgia's fund raising efforts and her adventures overseas.
Should you wish to help send Georgia on this fantastic expedition and help the local Borneo and Malaysian population, then please send any donations to:
Georgia Despard, Borneo & Malaysia Expedition and make cheques payable to "World Challenge Expeditions Ltd"
c/o Clean Sweep UK, B1 & B2 The Court, Kestrel Rd, Trafford Park , M17 1SF
Stephen Dennis
Managing Director
Office: 08703 300 760
M: 07852 562216
E: sdennis@cleansweephire.co.uk
