A FORMER Tavistock College student will be fulfilling a lifetime?s ambition this November when she sets off to South West Africa to work with wild elephants in Namibia.
Donna-Marie Wood, 26, has just returned to West Devon from London, where she has been working as a nanny. She has to raise more than £2,000 to take her place on the Elephant Trek, money which will benefit the Help a London Child charity.
While she is in Namibia, she will join conservation charities working to promote harmony between villagers and the increasing number of desert elephants in the area.
Donna-Marie, who now lives in Bere Alston, said: ?The elephants are being hunted because they are getting into the water supplies. It?s about helping people and saving the elephants.
?I have always just loved elephants, I find them magnificent animals, and because I grew up in South Africa, I wanted to do something for the wildlife.?
Donna-Marie will join the Elephant Trek base-camp at the foot of the Brandberg Mountain, in the Ugab River Valley, an area not only inhabited by elephants but zebras, springbok, giraffe and ostrich.
Here, she will be part of a team tracking, researching and recording elephant behaviour in their own, harsh environment.
She will also spend time on various conservation projects within the community.
Conflict between local people and the elephants arises when precious crops are destroyed in a night by elephants foraging for food and seeking out local farmers? lifeline ? their water-points.
Part of the work undertaken by the team will be helping to build protective walls around windmills and wells.
During the trekking part of Donna-Marie?s Namibian adventure, she will be tracking elephants through desert terrain, rugged mountain foothills and valleys and the unique wetland area of the Ugab River, sleeping in tents.
Donna-Marie said the walking, averaging around 20 kilometres a day, would be her greatest challenge ? and the camping.
?I?m very much an electricity and water girl, so sleeping in a tent and not being able to shower for days is going to be quite an experience ? but one I don?t think I?ll ever forget,? she said.
Donna-Marie has already raised £1,700 towards her target amount, through a second hand clothes sale at a school in London, various bring and buy events, raffles and donations from family and friends.
She is also running in the Flora Light Challenge in London on September 14.
The Elephant Trek in Namibia takes place between November 2 and 11 ? anybody who would like to sponsor Donna-Marie should call 07866 684129.