http://adventuretravelblogs.com/700miles/

Please visit the above new address for any further postings.

Thanks so much for stopping by and we look forward to seeing you

on the new blog

Helen & Jason

Expedition Leaders

We have been invited by Adventure Travel Magazine to write a blog on their newly launched Adventure Travel Bloggers site. So, we are moving over to the new site.  Please go to our brand  new blog  for all new postings, images, and expedition updates:

http://adventuretravelblogs.com/700miles/

Alternatively, if you don’t have time to view the new site at the moment and would like to help the Gambian children get at least one of their Gardens For Life up and running whilst we are down there, then please read the instructions below (also, see how you can receive an exclusive limited edition B&W print from the expedition).

We are both covering our personal expenses for the expedition but we also need to help raise funds for other on-the-ground expenses which will help to pay for i.e. two local guides from Makasutu’s Mandina River Lodge, The Gambia, food and pitching the tents (each village we stay in will receive a remuneration for the courtesy), emergency medical insurance and two donkeys – we have our eye on the very affable Neil ‘Mungo’ and Paddy ‘Park’ from The Gambia Horse & Donkey Sanctuary, The Gambia.

To donate to the Eden Projects ‘Gardens for Life’ Gambia Expedition 2009, please go to: http://www.paypal.co.uk/uk

We look forward to seeing you on the other side!

Jones & Florio

Expedition Leaders

http://www.edenproject.com/our-work/people/gardens-for-life/index.php (more details on Gardens for Life)

http://www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk/

www.makasutu.com

Here's where we begin and end

Starting on 1st November at one of the Gardens For Life schools in the Makasutu Wildlife Trust (MWT) area, walking counter-clockwise, and returning about 8 weeks later back to Makasutu with good friends, and creators of MWT, Lawrence Williams and James English.

http://www.gambia.co.uk/Docs/About-Us/Company-Information/The-Eden-Project.aspx?print=true

thanks to everyone in media & blog land for their continuous support

Thanks to all the guys at the Eden Project, Jenny Adams (PR – The Gambia Experience) & Matt Smith (The Gambia Experience Blogger) for getting the press ball rolling – you are stars! Also, big big thanks to Stella Kramer (StellaZine), Andy Hetherington (Whats The Jackanory), David Jefferies (Addict Clothing, UK)…….to be continued……..

H & Flo x

“(Jason & Helen) We are all truly grateful for your support here at the Eden Project and the Gardens for Life programme. Thank you!!”

Don Murray

Chair of Horticulture

Eden Project, Cornwall, UK

Image: from the book ‘Makasutu – mecca in the forest’ by Jason Florio – UK Team Member and Expedition Photographerwww.floriophoto.com

To purchase a copy of the book, please visithttp://www.blurb.com/search/site_search?search=jason+florio&filter=all&commit=Search

PRESS:

http://www.edenproject.com/media/gambia-trek-pr.php

http://www.thegambiablog.co.uk/2009/09/a-short-walk-in-the-gambian-bush/

http://www.gambia.co.uk/Press/2009/09/1784/Walking-The-Gambia-for-charity.aspx

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/news/Couple-taking-Eden-s-project-heart-Africa/article-1340915-detail/article.html

http://stellakramer.com/blog/2009/09/short-walk-in-gambia-bush.html

www.whatsthejackanory.com

Gambian school girl by Jason Florio

We are both covering our personal expenses for the expedition but we also need to help raise funds for other on-the-ground expenses which will help to pay for i.e. two local guides from Makasutu’s Mandina River Lodge (www.makasutu.com) food and pitching the tents (each village we stay in will receive a remuneration for the courtesy), emergency medical insurance and two donkeys – we have our eye on the very affable Neil ‘Mungo’ and Paddy ‘Park’ from The Gambia Horse & Donkey Sanctuary.www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk

We have received amazing donations from friends and family since we started the campaign on 1st September, 2009, and it looks as if we may well reach our target for the to begin the walk on November 1st!

We also hope to set up at least one of the school gardens in The Gambia whilst we are there. So, please see below on how you can help us achieve that goal.

Jason’s offer of a ***’limited edition B&W expedition print’ has proved to be very popular indeed as an incentive for larger donations Please at the bottom of this post for more details on this fantastic opportunity to help the Gambia school kids and to get what is normally a very expensive Florio print at a discount price and feel good about into the bargain!

Targer: 3000 GBP

Donated to-date (15th Oct 09): 2158.60 GBP (3237.91 USD)

841.40 GBP (1262.09 USD) to go!

Donation mega thanks so far to:

Don & Beki, Cornwall, UK; Bob Jones, Florida, USA; Linda & Michael, Belfast, Northern Ireland; Rich, Santa Fe, NM; Carolyn, Wisconsin, USA; Kay & Tommy, CT, USA; Barbara, Chicago, USA; Susann, Dave & Jake, Guernsey, Channel Islands; Shannon, Vancouver, Canada; Renea, Miami Beach, FL, USA; Jen, Kawai, USA; Meagan & JC; NYC, USA; Gina, LA, USA; Alex, Leicester, UK; Chloe, Oxford, UK; Texas Ted, Houston, TX, USA; Tina & Dave, Spain; Julie, NYC, USA; Isak, NYC, USA; Matt, Gloucestershire UK; David & Lucie, Sloatsburg, NY, USA; Steve, Santa Fe, NM, USA; Rob, NYC, USA; Ignacio, Mexico; Thelma & Sandy, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK; Jay, NY, USA; Noreen, London, UK; Lucy and Jonas,Brooklyn, NY, USA; Daphne,Benjamin and Anna, Brooklyn, NY, USA; Leah and Steve, NJ, USA; Reg and Anita, Surrey,UK; Danielle, Devin, Frankie, NYC, USA; Anne & Thorsten, Heidelburg, Germany; Andrea, NYC, USA; Zac, London, UK; Kit, California, USA; Troy, LA, USA; Leila, NYC, USA;

Product and Expedition Related Donations and Invaluable Help (Please see related URL links on the right hand side of the blog page):

Lawrence Williams, James English & Malang Jambang @ Makasutu Wildlife Trust , The Gambia

Don Murray (and Becky Marriot), Justine Quinn, Chris Rowe, Mike Petty & Rob Lowe @ The Eden Project, UK

Jo, Kate and Christine (thanks for the cameras!) @ The Eden Project, UK

Chris Rowles & Jenny Adams @ The Gambia Experience, UK

David Jefferies @ Addict Clothing, UK

Zac Leeks @ Caught In The Cross Fire, UK

Alan Edgar @ Fra-Angelico, UK

Robert Young Pelton @ Come Back Alive.com, USA

Anna Duffy @ Terra Plana (Vivo Barefoot Revolution), UK

Heather  Armstrong   @ The Horse & Donkey Sanctuary, The Gambia

Where to send your donations:

If you would like to kindly donate, however small or large will be much appreciated, please follow the instructions below:

Go to: http://www.paypal.co.uk/uk

Sign into your account

Or: Sign up (if you aren’t registered for PayPal you need register and email address and password – takes 2 minutes. You will then receive an email from PayPal asking you to confirm your account)

Once logged in – from ‘my account’ page go to ‘send money’ tab on the left of the top tool bar

Enter who to (Email): 700miles@floriophoto.com

Enter Amount: scroll down for relevant currency

Choose ‘personal’ tab then ‘gift’ then ‘continue’

Enter payment method

Check amount and then press ‘send money’ tab

And thats it! Takes but a few minutes to help us to put one foot in front of the other and to raise money for the charity (any donations over the target amount will go directly into Eden Projects ‘Gardens for Life’ in The Gambia registered charity)

***For those of you who have resources to donate a little more, you will receive special limited edition B&W prints from the expedition:

Over $100 /  65 GBP will receive an 8 x 10 limited edition print

Over $500 / 315 GBP- 11 x 14 limited edition print

Over  $1000 / 625 GBP – 16 x 20 limited edition print

Over $2000 1250 GBP- 30 x 40 limited edition print

Thanks a million to those who have very generously donated so far. We are one step further……..

Florio & Jones xx

Chris Rowles (Gambia Experience), Don Murray ( Eden Project/GFL), Florio and Jones (A Short Walk UK team members)

Our first official (and very exciting!) meeting with Eden Project and Gambia Experience, doing a great impression on being ‘in The Gambia’ in the Tropical Biome at The Eden Project! These guys are the best! Big big thanks to all the amazing people who are working hard with us to help the expedition to succeed.

From the Eden Project :

Don Murray (Chair of Horticulture), Justine Quinn, Rob Lowe, David Rowe and Mike Petty

www.edenproject.com/our-work/people/gardens-for-life/index.php

From Gambia Experience:

Chris Rowles (MD), Karen Durham and Jenny Adams

www.gambia.co.uk/Docs/Gambia-Holidays/Excursions/Makasutu-Nature-Forest.aspx

updates to follow very soon……….please stop by again. Jones & Florio x

Photo courtesy Chris Saville/apexnewspix.com 2009

a 700 mile odyssey

Planting the seeds…………..

Where: The Gambia, West Africa

When: November-December 2009

What: To circumnavigate The Gambia, West Africa, by foot from the ‘Gardens for Life’ project  in the Western Division of the country and returning there approximately 8 weeks later – in time to celebrate New Years Eve at Makasutu Culture Forest!!

Why: A Twofold Expedition:-

• An Anglo/Gambian journey to preserve, through photographic and audio means, a modern account of the people and stories of rural Gambia. This collection of pictures and words  will lay the foundations for a unique multi-media interactive website to be used as an ongoing tool to conserve these oral histories and current observations of life in The Gambia by Gambians. The photographs  taken along the way will also be used to produce a, first of its kind, fine art ‘coffee-table’ book of The Gambia.

•‘Gardens For Life’ (an Eden Project) charity, which help to educate, support and encourage schools and children around the world on how to create gardens and grow their own food. GFL also have a number of these gardens in The Gambia. Therefore, the walk will be a fund-raising tool for the charity and the Gambian schools, through sponsorship and donations.

Who: Jason Florio, Helen Jones & local Gambian’s, Abdouli Janneh & Mohammed Njie

A little bit about the team members:

Jason Florio, British, FRGS (Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society), is a professional photojournalist who has dedicated at least one month a year for the  past thirteen years to photographing the people who live and work around a sacred forest in The Gambia. The  resulting book –‘Makasutu – mecca in the forest’ was published this year to coincide with two New York  exhibitions of the work. He recently received a ‘Spotlight’ award for these images from Black and White  magazine.

His passion and fascination  for the people and culture of  The Gambia has grown with each visit. So when he and Jones came up with the idea of further immersing themselves into the country by an on-foot expedition and creating a multi-media website, whereby Gambians could share their personal stories and histories for posterity, it seemed like the most natural progression from his work at Makasutu.

His assignments for publications including Sunday Times Travel, The New York Times, Men’s Journal, Outside and National Geographic Adventure have taken him around the globe from Afghanistan to Surinam, predominantly on human-interest stories that  attempt to reveal the unseen and give alternative points of view to people and places. Florio lives between NYC and London. Please view his work at www.floriophoto.com

Helen Jones: Her passion for the poor but extremely culturally-rich country of The Gambia started around 14  years ago and has seen her return, annually ever since. She once spent 4 months there studying natural  nutrition. In 2008 she worked with Florio there for 6 weeks as producer and assistant on the portraits of his recent  book ‘Makasutu – mecca in  the forest’. They also spent time travelling around the villages of The Gambia to  document  the traditional male and female ‘Coming of Age Ceremonies’.   Jones, British, is a practicing massage therapist and nutrition advisor, living between the UK and NYC.  She previously worked extensively in the music industry, mainly in events co-ordination and artist management. She has been using her organizational and management  skills, working as a producer  on various photography assignments in the US, Mexico and West Africa.

Abdouli Janneh, a Gambian local, has been working at  Makasutu Culture Forest for 5 years in guest  liaison. His previous experience includes military service and teaching English as a foreign  language  to Gambian students. He is from the Jola tribe and speaks fluent English, Jola, Mandinka and Wolof (Mandinka being the most widely used languages in the country). He will be integral to the expedition  not only as a fixer and translator in  the more rural areas but as he is a local, his input will be  invaluable in helping both Jason and Helen fully understand the culture of the country and in  translating the oral histories that they will collect on the way.

Mohammed Njie – a Gambian local, has followed in his fathers footsteps, working at Makasutu  Culture Forest for over 3 years as a guide and as a security officer. He too is a Jola, speaking  English, jola and Mandinka. He will also be an integral team member,  especially with his skills as a  guide.

***Work in progress………more to come very soon so please (especially on how to donate to Gardens for Life!)  keep checking in. Thank you for your support ***

Logo: kindly constructed by Lawrence Williams, Makasutu Culture Forest, The Gambia (www.makasutu.com)

Florio & Jones (with friend, Aliou N'dong), Makasutu Portraits, The Gambia, 2008