Dorset adventurers go into the unknown

Colonel John Blashford-Snell has recruited a team of specialists to study the relatively unexplored Lake Roja Aguado area of Bolivia.

The groundbreaking expedition – Koto Mama VII – will journey thorough Amazonia’s savannah, swamp and jungle, while meeting ancient indigenous tribes. In January, the colonel appealed for expedition volunteers in the Echo.

Kathryn Hutchinson, Grace Martin, Lainey Starkey and Dan Vockins all got in contact.

Each will adopt specific roles in the 25-strong team, which leaves for South America this month.

“It is going to be very hot and humid,” said Col Blashford-Snell, now 72 and a veteran of more than 100 gruelling expeditions.

“It is going to be a long slog through the pampas.

“There are worse terrains in the world but it’s not an easy one.”

The group will tackle the changing landscape using horses, canoes and four-wheel-drive vehicles as well as foot power.

They will shelter in tents and live on rations, with just emergency contact with the outside world.

In February, Col Blashford-Snell, who lives at Motcombe, near Shaftesbury, carried out a recce of the region, dubbed the ‘Land of the Legends’, using light aircraft.

He flew into the remote village of Coquinal, where 50 families live on the shore of the huge lake.

The desperately poor communities were found to need urgent medical and dental help, support for their schools and clean drinking water.

Col Blashford-Snell said they hoped to formulate a plan for how the people could capitalise on their remoteness in the future.

One of the trip’s goals is to try and unearth traces of an ancient lost tribe.

It is believed a meteorite strike may have wiped out the Moxos people of Roja Aguado some 900 years ago.

The 45-day expedition, approved by the Scientific Exploration Society, will investigate the theory, and study the geology and archaeology of the area around Roja Aguado.

Colonel Blashford-Snell is one of Britain’s best-known explorers.

He made his name with the first voyage down the Blue Nile and followed it with epic adventures along the Congo and a north-south journey from Alaska to Cape Horn. Only last year the colonel led a trip through the Amazon jungle to trace rare pink dolphins, while in 2007 an organ from a Milton Abbas church was delivered to a Bolivian village.

Grace Martin, a midwife from Dorchester, was egged on to go on the trip by her husband Greg and son Alex “I think when they realised I might be serious they were worried I might have taken on too much,” she said. “I’ve never been away for six weeks and it will be a step into the unknown.”

Not that Grace is any stranger to adventure. She was away on a turtle conservation trip in Costa Rica when she got the news she had made the Bolivia expedition team.

“I am excited and nervous at the same time,” said Grace, 50, who has also tackled marathons and long-distance walks.

Grace, who has worked at Dorset County Hospital and Poole Hospital for more than 20 years, will form part of the expedition’s medical team.

It promises to be a really wild adventure for Kathy Hutchinson, from Dorchester.

She will transfer her lab skills from her job as a technician in Dorchester to the flora and fauna of Bolivia. The 26-year-old, who works for the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in Dorchester, will also investigate the rare breeds of dolphin native to the country’s inland waterways. “It all sounds excellent,” said Kathy. “I decided to apply for it totally on a whim but I can’t wait to go.”

Kathy’s impressive scientific background will stand her in good stead in South America.

She studied environmental management at Birmingham University and gained a masters in aquatic management at King’s College, London.

Kathy also has previous experience of travelling South America and spent time working in Tanzania.

Lainey Starkey, from Portland, is hoping the Bolivia trip will provide the springboard for a career in exploration.

The 23-year-old has just finished the first of three years of a degree in outdoor adventure management at Kingston Maurward College.

“It is going to involve a lot of things I am doing on my course, so it will be like work experience at the same time,” said Lainey.

“But it will be the first time I’ve travelled outside Europe, so this is a big one for me.”

Though a keen adventurer, Lainey was picked out for the expedition due to a previous job as a dental nurse. She will provide support to a qualified dentist on the trip.

If you can help Lainey with sponsorship for her trip, email lainey_starkey@live.co.uk Though joining the expedition team as a geologist, Dan Vockins, from Weymouth, is likely to prove the team’s action man.

The 31-year-old is also a qualified pilot and has a powerboat licence.

“I had planned to do the South Atlantic yacht race this year, but my dad saw the appeal for volunteers in the Echo,” said Dan.

“I also do a bit of plumbing, which will help with digging wells.”

Dan runs his own business, importing and trading Volkswagen camper vans from South Africa.

“I usually spend six months a year in Africa, so I should be used to the heat,” he said. Dan studied geology at Greenwich University 10 years ago and said he was quickly brushing up on his knowledge.