In October 2018, Kelly and 20 teammates will take on the ultimate Malawi Challenge: running Mulanje Mountain, cycling across Zomba Plateau, and kayaking on Lake Malawi.

Kelly is excited to be working with Orbis Expeditions, to help them launch ‘Sport with a Purpose’ - a new campaign aimed at raising awareness of key organisations working towards improving nutrition in Malawi.

The Three Elements of the Orbis Challenge: Sport with a Purpose

The Run

Each year, a group get together to run Mulanje Mountain in an event known as The Porters Race.

The trail winds for 25km from the base to the plateau, with a 1,660m elevation gain.

Tracks are narrow and steep in places, and the hot summer temperatures make this run even more challenging. The current record for The Porters Race is 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Though the run will be a closed event just for the team, local children and community members may tag along for sections; they are very fit!

Click here for previous footage of The Porters Race You Tube Film.

Mulanje Mountain3

The Cycle

Zomba Plateau rises to 1800m high, and is covered with vast forests and plantations. The top is crisscrossed with streams, and dotted with awe-inspiring waterfalls and lakes.

Offering fantastic views over southern Malawi, the Orbis Challenge’s cycle trail circumnavigates the plateau in a 35km route - or an optional longer 55km route.

The following day you will go on a gentle descent and cycle into a nearby community to take part in a village sports day event.

Mountain bikes will be provided. Alternatively, team members can bring their own bikes, with transport arranged for an extra cost.

Cycling Luwawa

Kayak

Lake Malawi is a freshwater lake bordering Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi.

The southernmost of the African Great Lakes, Lake Malawi is also the ninth largest lake in the world and is home to more fish species than any other lake on the planet (including over 700 species of cichlids)!

The team’s 20km kayak begins from Cape Maclear, heading out to and around Mumbo Island before heading back to the mainland.

A kayak guide will be present, and there will be the option to get a boat back to shore following the kayak to Mumbo Island.

Domwe Island Kayak2. Lake Malawi

The Cause at the Heart of the Orbis Challenge: Sport with a Purpose

The team will visit several community initiatives while in Malawi, in order to help raise awareness of this year’s Sport with a Purpose cause: Raising awareness about health and well being in Malawi.

One of these initiatives is Street Chef which aims to get more nutritious street food out to Malawians, using locally sourced food, cooked in an environmentally friendly way.

Chris and Florence combined their passion for permaculture and nutrition with the need in Malawi to fight against deforestation, and came up with stoves that use minimal firewood and are the perfect accessory for a street food kitchen.

These stoves come hand in hand with recipes and training for the business ‘street chefs’ on how to make delicious, local food that is cheap to buy, accessible to source and – most importantly – packed with nutrients.

The dream is no more chicken and chips cooked in vats of oil, no more cheap packets of crisps bought for a lunchtime snack…instead, street kitchens feeding city workers and school children while simultaneously building a business for the street chefs.