What is the Cycle of Life?

The Cycle of Life is an intrepid expedition that we are organising to raise money and awareness for environmentally responsible community development projects in rural Africa. A team of bicyclists will trek 5000 miles across Africa – a journey that will last almost 4 months as we cover ground from Namibia to Kenya. By the end of the trip, with your help, we will have raised £500,000 for distribution to communities in and around conservation areas.

What causes are supported by the Cycle of Life?

We believe that Africa’s wildlife is a great privilege and one that people need to protect. But we also believe that helping to alleviate poverty and encourage economic development is a moral obligation.

Time and again, however, African communities find themselves in contention with the goals of local conservationists. The problem is that the land and wildlife are often the only marketable resources available to the population; but their exploitation spells disaster for conservation. In rural Africa the community perspective is understandably determined by economics – and the popular view is that cultivation and grazing, however depletive, have greater scope to secure value from the land than do fences and wildlife.

The Cycle of Life has two goals: to focus public attention and awareness on these conflicts; and to raise money to help address them. By combining environmental education, eco-tourism and environmentally sustainable micro-commerce strategies, an increasing number of African initiatives are attempting to find a symbiosis that benefits both conservation and the local community simultaneously. The money you donate to the Cycle of Life will be used to support such projects in finding routes out of poverty that do not come at the cost of Africa's wilderness areas. See the projects list for examples, and click here to support us.

Balancing the Cycle of Life: local support and opportunities for disadvantaged young people

Many early conservation methods alienated the surrounding communities – there was an impression that conservationists were creating fortresses that protected wildlife from meddlesome locals. While such 'fines and fences' policies may have resulted in huge areas of protected land, they also meant that much of rural Africa was disconnected from the land resources on which it relied for survival.

To avoid making the same mistakes, we are determined to paint an honest and balanced picture of the issues we encounter. To achieve this, the Cycle of Life team will include a member of the local community at all times. In addition to providing us with the local perspective in each country, this person will also act as an introduction to rural communities, helping us to find food and places to stay.

We will also be joined by a number of disadvantaged young people sent by Centrepoint – the leading UK youth homelessness charity. Having these young people on the expedition is a hugely important part of the Cycle of Life. They have all experienced exclusion and marginalisation in their lives in the UK, and this will give them a unique insight into the hardships we come across in Africa. In addition to this, we hope and expect that the expedition will give them the opportunity to re-assess their perspectives and the direction of their lives.

Administration of funds raised by the Cycle of Life

The money we raise will be collected and looked after by Tusk Trust. We will then distribute it to projects in the field – to provide long-term stable funding for proposals that aim to alleviate rural poverty without threatening environmental sustainability. Where possible these projects are ones that the expedition will visit. However, worthy proposals that are beyond the range of our bicycles will also benefit.

You can help us to achieve this by clicking here.