Abigail was awarded £100 to help with her fees participating in a Scout trip to Botswana for Animal conservation.

“In August 2025, I took part in the Kent scouts Botswana 25 trip as an Explorer. Although I originally found adapting to life in the bush hard, the experience allowed me to grow as a person and make new friendships with people that were like-minded and part of the same scouting family. The opportunity to take part in the trip allowed me to experience a different culture as well as gain a greater understanding of animal conservation and ways you can help the environment. Through cleaning water holes to learning to build soil erosion dames and anti poaching activities, I was educated by the friendly staff about how much these items would have an impact on the environment and the animals and about how something which seemed so small at the time could make such an impact. Our main project Water for Elephants, was about changing the wind turbine to a solar panel and then fixing the pipe and cleaning the water hole so that one of the main water holes on the reserve was back in operation. I loved the opportunity to be a part of such a large project in our team which could make the world of difference to the animals- a bonus was that we got to swim in the water hole two times once it was fixed. Alongside all the hard work we participated in on the trip, it was an amazing experience to get the opportunity to do things such as swim in the water hole and the dam as it brought a funny rewarding atmosphere as well as cooling us off from the heat. Additionally we got the amazing opportunity to do a sleep out in two locations – the dam and a hill side- across the reserve. This opportunity allowed us to be exposed to the noises animals made and gain a greater awareness of our surroundings as the locations were silent as well as experiencing nocturnal wildlife and seeing super stars and sunrises whilst continuing to bond with other members of Kent Scouts. The memories of the trip and the friends I made along the way will stay with me for a lifetime – along with the pictures of Alan’s camera being continuously photo-bombed!”