Woman set for rainforest mission (From This Is Local London)

Woman set for rainforest mission

7:31am Tuesday 10th January 2006 in

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A woman from Walthamstow has gone to South America to map a new route through uncharted rainforest for charity.

Jennifer Williams, 31, of Blackhorse Road, is one of seven members of Girls Go Guyana, set up to spend a month in the Amazon jungle and raise £50,000 for the Prince's Trust.

The team flew out to Georgetown, Guyana, on New Year's Eve.

There they will receive last minute training before beginning to push through the jungle around five days later, with the aim of finding a route from Orunduil Falls to Kaieteur Falls, more than 600 miles away.

The journey will involve 120km of canoeing, and a trek through untouched mountainous jungle, in temperatures of more than 30 degrees centigrade, with 98 per cent humidity.

If the terrain and conditions were not treacherous enough on their own, they are also home to the largest freshwater crocodile in the world and the world's most venomous snake, the verdilance.

The expedition is expected to take a month. All money raised by the all-female team will go to the Prince's Trust's working women initiative, which helps disadvantaged women who need help to get their lives on track.

Training weekends included exercises in navigation and climbing have prepared the team for the task. The team has also been given tropical survival training, learning techniques for dealing with heat exhaustion, hypothermia and even parasites.

Jewellery maker Ms Williams has trekked across the Sahara and done mountain marathons and sailing before, but has never spent more than a couple of days in the jungle.

As she prepared to leave, she said: "I'm excited. I'm also a little bit nervous, but at this stage I just want to go and get stuck in. I am keen to know what I am capable of."

To support Girls Go Guyana visit their website at www.girlsgoguyana.com or read about the Prince's Trust's campaign on www.princes-trust.org.uk/women