Sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for.
When a group of Taieri College pupils asked last year if they could go to Africa, school staff said, ''yeah sure - but you have to organise it yourselves''.
Not completely aware of the mammoth amount of work required to organise such a trip, the pupils said, ''great'', then split into two groups and set about making their African adventure happen.
Pupil Nicola Lord (17) said it took an incredible amount of hard work and long hours outside of school work to organise the trip.
But it paid off, and the two groups spent a month (June 29 to July 29) in Kenya and Tanzania.
Taieri College tour co-ordinator Brenton Hackfath said one of the highlights for the pupils was helping build classrooms for primary schools in Kenya.
The projects were part of a World Challenge expedition, which aimed to provide a life-changing experience by teaching life skills and expanding minds outside the classroom.
''For a number of the students, it was an eye-opener of doing something useful and seeing how a load of people with different fortunes have to live, and being able to help,'' Mr Hackfath said.
''I think it has made them a lot more thankful and appreciative of some of the things we've got here in New Zealand.
''A major part of it is the life skill of learning how to budget and learning how to organise where you're going, and working with other people that you wouldn't normally work with.''
Other highlights of the expedition were going on a safari in the Ngorongoro crater, in Tanzania, and getting up close to lions, elephants and hippos; going on a five-day trek up a 4000m mountain in Kenya; and spending a few days on the beaches of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania.
Nicola said the best part of the trip was seeing all their planning come to fruition.
''It was awesome. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was a massive adventure.''
Mr Hackfath said the trip followed a similar World Challenge journey by 16 Taieri College pupils in 2012, who organised a successful four-week educational expedition to Botswana and Namibia.
The pupils were among more than 7000 secondary pupils who travelled on expeditions this year to 50 destinations around the world, including Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, South America and Central America.
