All About the Intrepid Team of Adventurers

	The success of the Colours of the Nile expedition hinges on the calibre of its crew. An international team spanning four continents make up the team, signifying the journey's global importance and pertinence. The team entails:
		Mark Tanner, New Zealand Mark combines his extensive travel experience with business acumen, adaptability, tenacity, interpersonal skills and proven leadership to bring the expedition to life. His upbringing in Wellington has exposed him to the wonder of the outdoors and the relevant importance of environmental awareness. His outdoor exploits include rafting on New Zealand's Rangatikei River, but his most notable adventure to date is an 8,000km (5,000 mile) solo bicycle trek across Canada in the middle of its inhospitable winter of 2000, a period when temperatures consistently dropped below -20° Celsius. Mark lived in the Sudan for the 6-months preceding the expedition where he became accustomed to the local cultures and traditions.
		Les Jickling, Canada Les brings a rare collection of skills and knowledge to the expedition. He has experience river rafting on Canada's Thompson and Nahatlatch Rivers, trekking in the Himalayas and extensive technical expertise gained from many years working in the software industry. He has completed numerous Olympic distance triathlons, as well as marathons, road races and the gruelling Ironman Canada race in 2000. Les and Mark have been involved in numerous co-ventures including marathon training, rock climbing and an epic journey into the hills of Iceland in search of buried Viking treasure.
		Kelley Kalafatich, USA A California native, Kelley is an international expedition guide with 25 years experience on rivers throughout the world. Recently she lead 10-day wilderness trips on rivers in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A former member of the US Women Whitewater Raft Team and Swiftwater Rescue Instructor, she also works in the movie industry as a stuntwoman and in the provision of on-water safety support. She has recently become interested in filmmaking. In winter, 2001, Kelley launched with 2 friends on the Colorado River for 19 days using only riverboards for flotation. Kelley was expedition camera, co-director and co-producer of her first documentary film “3 Women 300 Miles” (introduced by Meryl Streep).
		Ali Donald, Ireland With 20 years of paddling experience, Ali contributes extensive kayaking knowledge and prowess to the Colours of the Nile expedition. He has competed in 15 countries including representing Ireland in 4 kayaking World Championships over 5 disciplines and in 2001, jointly led the first Irish whitewater expedition to Northern Pakistan. Ali’s international kayaking portfolio includes working as a rescue kayaker on the Zambezi River in Zambia and as a video kayaker on West Virginia’s Gauley River. He has been a kayak instructor since 1998 and is an Irish Canoe Union (ICU) Level 4 instructor; Instructorship Training & Assessment panel member and Level 5 Training and Assessment panel member. Ali holds a Rescue and Emergency Care (REC) IV in Wilderness First Aid and Senior Beach Guard Award. He has written several magazine articles about whitewater trips worldwide.
		Rob Coffey, Ireland Rob joins the expedition with over 10 years of whitewater experience spanning the globe. Arguably one of Ireland’s best whitewater kayakers, Rob is no stranger to African rivers having been a guide and safety kayaker on the White Nile in Uganda and the Zambezi River in Zambia. Rob has also worked and played on a myriad of other rivers in Turkey, France, Scotland, Italy, Ireland, Malawi, Canada and the USA. A Masters Degree in Multimedia Systems is complemented by Rob’s extensive video-kayak experience contributing to numerous professional filming ventures including his production work on the commercial whitewater kayaking documentary Hypoxia. Rob is certified with Rescue and Emergency Care(REC) III Wilderness First Aid and is a ICU Level IV Kayak instructor.
		Scott Armstrong, USA Scott hails from Northern California, where he works for and co-owns All-Outdoors, a Whitewater Rafting company his family has operated since the early 1960's. Although his commitments to AO keep him in California for much of the year, he manages regular escapes from paperwork and boat-repair by traveling near and far, to places exotic and domestic, whenever the opportunity arises. He also spends a great deal of time on the water, rafting extensively on countless rivers all over North, South, and Central America. This will be Scott's first trip to Africa, but he brings a lifetime of rafting expertise and exploration to the Colours of the Nile expedition.
		Anvesh Thapa, India Anvesh comes from a long line of Himalayan adventurers that originally hail from Nepal. Therefore it is not surprising that he has been running, organizing and leading trips on rivers throughout the Indian Himalaya for most of his life. An experienced raft guide, safety kayaker and trip leader, Anvesh has honed his skills on descents of some of the toughest Himalayan rivers. Most notable was his descent of the entire Tons River; a feat that made him the first Indian ever to descend the full length of the river and placed his team as the third successful attempt ever. He has also completed descents of the challenging Class 5+ Lohit and Dalai rivers in Arunachal Pradesh, arguably two of the toughest river runs in the Himalayas. Anvesh also served as logistics coordinator in charge of two masssive expeditions on the Upper Brahmaputra river in 2002 and 2003. In addition to these duties he also guided both trips and was the second person ever to paddle raft this mammoth river. Anvesh has guided professionally for over 8 years, each year running an 11 month season on a variety of rivers such as the Zanskar, Indus, Beas, Tons, Ganga, Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Mahakali, Teesta, Brahmaputra and Lohit to name but a few. Anvesh brings a breadth of experience to all aspects of river running and is expected to add considerable strength for any sections requiring paddle rafts.
		Sarahlee Lawrence, USA Sarahlee comes to the team with four seasons of rafting experience on the rivers of the western United States, including The Tuolumne, Kings, Merced, Arkansas, Deschutes, and Salmon Rivers and the Colorado through the Grand Canyon. She is a Whitman College graduate with a degree in Environmental Studies and Sociology where she worked as a rock climbing instructor and led extensive outdoor trips. This year, Sarahlee was awarded the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship to pursue rafting and international river conservation and will be traveling to Peru, Chile, Ethiopia, and Zambia. Sarahlee also spent seven months in Kenya on a field studies program then at a ranch in the Laikipia highlands breaking horses and guiding horseback safaris. Sarahlee grew up on a ranch in Central Oregon and has rodeoed for more than ten years. She has Wilderness First Responder and Swiftwater Rescue certifications.