A 53-strong team of Not Just Travel consultants and staff will be trekking to the lost city of Cuidad Perdida in Colombia this October to raise money for mental health charity, Mind.
The company has committed to raise at least £50,000 for the charity.
The decision to do the charity hike came about after Not Just Travel co-founder Steve Witt’s brother and business partner was diagnosed with dementia aged 42.
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Witt said the condition was missed initially and put it down to depression. Witt and his family have watched their beloved brother, father and son, “rapidly decline” over the year, fighting a “battle that cannot be won.”
Witt said: “Today Robin is happy. He’s physically fit and to look at him you’d never know what was going on in his mind. Over the coming months Robin will decline further.
“His mind will stop telling his muscles how to work, he’ll lose weight. He’ll stop eating and then eventually the inevitable will happen. But today Robin is happy and therefore we make the most of every single day.”
The trek will see the group climb 93 miles from Santa Marta on the Colombian coast, through jungle terrain to Cuidad Perdida, the Lost City thought to be around 650 years older than Machu Picchu in Peru.
They will be staying with local indigenous people and the money to pay for the trek goes straight to the local community.
Not Just Travel said if each person taking part raises at least £2,000, it will pay for the cost of the trek.
Not Just Travel brand ambassador and double-Olympic decathlon medallist Daley Thompson, is offering the trekkers training advice and tips ahead of the trip.
Witt said: “It’s going to be a fun, exciting challenge that will be different from all the other charity challenges you have seen before. And most importantly, it’s going to raise money for an amazing cause.”
In the run-up to the trek, Not Just Travel is running additional fundraising events including an exclusive event at Bournemouth Air Festival for its staff, consultants and suppliers.
Donate to the team’s Mind fundraiser here.