Dartford school pupils have returned from the challenge of a lifetime – an African adventure.

Seventeen teenagers from Wilmington Academy, in Common Lane, raised £30,000 in just more than a year to fund the project.

Then, after two flights and a six-hour van journey from Nairobi, they finally arrived in Lake Nakuru to embark on volunteer projects.

While there, they helped schools operating in the slums of Nakuru by teaching and building new rooms, went on safari and haggled in the Masai markets.

Student Tom Nobbs said: “The trip to Kenya was very emotional. You hear about the way people live out there, but you never actually believe it until you see it for yourself.

“It made me think about how lucky we are back at home and definitely changed the way I feel about things such as left-over food.

"Whilst there, I helped build a classroom and fix furniture with the rest of the construction team, at least these kids have better facilities to learn in now instead of all being cramped into one class.

“We had a safari trip and it was great to see the wildlife roaming around so freely.”