Friday Night Fundraising

It's been a while since my last post, mainly because I have been away but also because I have been snowed under with the final arrangements for my fundraising Fight Klub class.  You may recall that Duane & Darren my Flight Klub instructors agreed to run a charity class for me - this was a great boost to my fundraising efforts.

They kindly agreed to run the two hour class for free, one hour of Fight Klub followed by a Drum and Bass Workout.  I was also extremely lucky to be offered a FREE venue by Reading Cricket Club meaning that every penny from the event went straight to African Parks and the evening raised £380 in total.  Soooo, huge thanks to both Double D and the Reading Cricket Club for their support!

We got to the Cricket Club nice and early to set up, not only did I want to sell some more of my goodies but there was furniture to move, bags to set up, lighting and sound to set up and of course a few warm up photos to get us in the mood!

African goodies supported by some Fight Klub posters (two of my favourite things)

The calm before the storm....ready for the lighting to go up

Poser

Showing my sister how its done......

...she didn't thank me....

...so I started on Michael instead.

The night was a great success with many new faces coming along to try it out for the first time.  It's fair to say Duane and Darren didn't disappoint and it was lovely to see faces from Reading, Winnersh and Didcot Fight Klub crews come together for such a good cause.

Being put through our paces on the bags

Two on the right, two on the left...

Me and my sister 'enjoying' some Drum and Bass

Don't think that now this is over I am going to have a rest from the fundraising.  I've already been in touch with a few large retailers about some donations of last years old stock of Christmas wrapping paper, ribbons etc. as I'm planning to offer a christmas gift wrapping service.  In less than an hour I had responses from John Lewis, Debenhams and Sainsbury so here's hoping I get lots of paper and can wrap lots of gifts in return for money.

Bite Size Update

Nothing major to report, just thought I'd give you a few little updates on whats been going on in preparation for the climb.

Fundraising
Plans are in full swing for the Fight Klub fundraising event on 28th July.  Fight Klub has become a stable part of my fitness training.  I went to classes long before I agreed to climb Mount Kilimanjaro so it was always going to stay part of my routine.

Duane & Darren have kindly given up their time on a Friday night to run a two hour class to help me reach my target .  On top of that the venue have not charged me any room hire fee so all money raised at the event will go directly to African Parks.  With donations of £10 per person and around 40 people attending I'm hoping to get £400 from the event.

Things did get a little heated at Fight Klub the other week when it was announced that only a few spaces were left - Darren had to intervene to keep the peace!

The great outdoors
Just in case you thought it was just climbing a mountain that was the new experience for me, I've had to get practicing everything - including sleeping in the great outdoors!  I've never slept in a tent before - and doing it for the first time on the mountain probably isn't the best thing!

In an effort to prepare for everything, we invested in a little pop-up tent for the garden and spent the night sleeping under the stars....well actually it wasn't like that.  We invested in a little pop-up tent and spent the night fending off one of the cats who kept attacking the tent and avoiding the slug that somehow got inside the lining.

Merry the cat wasn't too sure about the new garden furniture

Training
It's a bit quiet at the moment as the training is just steadily going on, week by week.  I'm having to make a few changes as a couple of my classes are no longer running.  I'm looking in to swimming pools in the area just to change things up a bit and get a good mix of exercise in.

My usual routine has been great and I am really feeling the difference with my fitness level and strength but I need to also include some endurance training for those back to back days of solid walking....uphill.

I have been getting proper sweaty so can literally see the pounds dropping away - here's the evidence, just for you lovely lot

I've also been keeping up with my daily planks - I'm doing them for 1 minute 40 seconds a day now. It's hard and I wobble beyond belief but the benefits of planking far out weight the wobble!  My personal trainer has inspired me with the planking (as you will know from my previous blog post "Planking for parks").

Here's me planking away in Wales at the weekend.

Zakouma National Park - Chad

Zakouma totals 3,054 KM2 and has been an African Parks project since 2010.  In spite of regional conflict, Zakouma remains one of the few intact Sudano-Sahelian ecosystems in Africa and it is a critical representative habitat for Central and West African animal species, making it one of the most important protected areas on the continent.  Since African Parks assumed management of the park elephant poaching has come almost to a halt and the population has stabilised and is growing with at least 80 calves under the age of three counted in 2016.  Due to improved management and an effective ranger team, Zakouma is emerging as a coveted tourist destination, and is bringing much needed stability to the area.

The stats....

• 30 elephant calves born in 2015;
• 80 elephant calves born in 2016;
• 650 children attended four 'elephant schools' which serve the community;
• Zakouma is home to 50% of Africa's Kordofan giraffe.

The Highlights

• Rapid Response Units have almost completely halted poaching in the park;
• After eight years of poaching, elephant numbers are on the rise with the population surpassing 500 in 2016;
• Species including giraffe, roan antelope, Lelwel's hartebeest and buffalo have all recovered, with buffalo now numbering in excess of 10,000 from an original 200 in 1986;
• Four elephant schools provide education to more than 650 local children;
• Zakouma's Tinga Lodge and Camp Nomade have increased in tourism revenue by 27% since 2014.

What next for Zakoura?

• Formulate a land use plan to create an elephant corridor beyond the park, which forms part of a 25,00 KM2 greater ecosystem;
• Improve the educational curriculum and environment following the opening of additional Elephant Schools, which address the dispersed local population;
• Continue efforts to reintroduce black rhinos into the park;
• Further boost the number of Chadian visitors to the park, both as tourists and through the outreach programme.

All of this information has been taken from the African Parks website.  If you want to find out even more about Zakouma National Park then why not grab a cuppa and click on the link below - happy browsing!

Zakouma National Park 

PS - here is a link to my just giving page - click here to sponsor me 😘