AN ENERGETIC businesswoman has trekked through Namibia to raise more than £4,000 for sick children.

Anita Brightley-Hodges, a married mother-of-four, from Downderry Way, Ditton, near Maidstone, completed the hike for London's Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her efforts raised £4,425 for the hospital, part of a total sum of £45,000.

She flew to Windhoek on May 29 and spent 10 days walking along the Ugab River with 19 other people she had never met before.

The trek combined spectacular desert scenery with rugged mountain terrain, wildlife and local culture.

The Ugab is one of the main rivers in the Namib although it is dry for all but a few days of the year.

This area not only attracts big game such as specially adapted desert elephants, giraffe and mountain zebra, but also has the largest population of free roaming black rhinoceros in the world.

Anita and her fellow trekkers yomped more than 20 miles on one day alone in sweltering temperatures approaching 40 degrees.

The former pupil at Fort Pitt school, Gillingham, and student at Maidstone College of Art - now Kent Institute of Art and Design (KIAD) - went without proper washing facilities for four days and kept clean with baby wipes.

She swam in an elephant pool watched by baboons, stroked a black rhino, ate Oryx meat and stood close to feeding cheetahs. She said: "The blisters on my feet were worth every minute."

Anita is managing and creative director of "still waters run deep", a London-based design and communications consultancy that she founded 14 years ago.

The company offers placements to students on HND and BA courses at KIAD. Anita has lectured at KIAD and sits on the college's industrial panel.

Her clients include Sony Ericsson, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Sport England. Her business also designs and produces promotional literature for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Anita, a member of St Peter's Church, Ditton, and husband Steve adopted a child a couple of years ago and have close links with the hospital. Their four children are aged between four and 18.

She believes the Namibia experience gave her the focus that will translate into her business life. "Going on this walk has shown what I can do if I'm very focused," she said.

She urged other bosses to take up a similar personal challenge and declared that her next goal was to tackle the Inca Trail. "It's very good for you and helps you in the business."