BERMUDIANS are famous for travelling far and wide, but few have made as ambitious a journey as some of the young "venturers" off on British Airways to London tomorrow night with Raleigh International Bermuda (RIB).

For the flight to London is only the first leg of a three-flight marathon which will see the party of 12 take three days to get to their very distant destination; after a day to see some of the sights of London, and a chance to meet some of the other volunteers and young members of the expedition, they will board a Royal Brunei Airlines flight to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, then take a one-hour flight to their final destination, Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian province of Sabah.

Four students from the Berkeley Institute and four from CedarBridge Academy will be joined by three representatives of the island's community centres and a staff volunteer to take part in an impressive international and multicultural effort.

CedarBridge graduate Erin Butterfield said she was "really excited and nervous. I expect to learn about different cultures, and about respect for others. I'll also learn some life and survival skills, and a lot about myself.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and I just grabbed it! I am so grateful to the sponsors for the opportunity, and it will prove to all of us that's there a whole other world out there. I plan to learn, grow, mature, and have fun!"

CedarBridge graduate Georgio Fox said: "I am getting very excited about it, to meet other people, and see how they react to us helping them out."

Seventeen-year-old Berkeley student Terrylynn Cordeiro, who graduated on Wednesday, said she was "getting excited and a little worried. I have only ever been to Canada before, but it's good to be with some of my friends from Bermuda. I am certainly more excited than I am anxious! It should be an experience I will remember all of my life."

CedarBridge graduate Liane Abel, also 17, said she was all packed and ready to go: "I'm totally excited. I spent five weeks in Germany before, but this will be a very different. I am looking forward to the experience of helping people, exploring new places and cultures."

Cushi Ming, a 19-year-old CedarBridge graduate, had been to Paris and Barcelona on a school trip, but said: "I am definitely excited about this expedition, and look forward to seeing how other people live. From a traveller's point of view, I am really looking forward to climbing to the top of Mt. Kinabalu."

RIB director Michael Spurling was optimistic the expedition would be a great success, and that the young people would justify the support of the sponsors.

"The principal sponsors are the Government, the Bank of Bermuda Foundation and the XL Foundation, but major sponsorship was also provided by the Bank of N.T. Butterfield and Ernst & Young," he said.

"The Ministry of Community Affairs has sponsored the three young people from the community centres and the staff volunteer Brendan Millett. He is a contractor who was with the Bermuda Regiment and has done a lot of youth volunteer work at the Angle Street Community Centre and with the Sea Scouts; he has already left for London for some preparatory work."

The sponsors, including KPMG, Platinum Underwriters, FIL Foundation, Deloitte and Touche and Orbis as well as some private donors, contributed a total of $150,000, which will leave a balance to carry forward to support next year's expedition.

"We had some cost savings on the training," explained Mr. Spurling, "in that the Bermuda Regiment and Outward Bound didn't charge us anything for that, for which we are very grateful, and the Department of Health found a way to save some of the cost of inoculations.

"And more people contributed than we had anticipated, so we have been left with enough to sponsor a couple of venturers next year, and we already have two pledges for next year."

Mr. Spurling said there was a palpable sense of excitement at the final preparation day two weeks ago.

"There was a genuine buzz of excitement, but also a little trepidation, because there's always some concern about such an adventure, and they are stepping outside their 'comfort zone', which is what Raleigh is all about. But I could tell from the smiles and the sense of excitement that they just wanted to get going, and that was good to see.

"So, I think the training programme has worked. The few long faces belonged to some of the parents who came to the final presentation briefing! And that's a very normal reaction to the idea that the young people will be on the other side of the world for three months."

Minister of Community Affairs Dale Butler has taken such a great personal interest in the RIB initiative that he plans to visit the expedition, at his own expense, as it winds up in September.

He is planning to visit some of the project sites, and as the youngsters finish off by climbing Mt. Kinabalu, which is 14,000 feet, the Minister plans to climb it with them!

site reports that the province "is loaded with great outdoor activities" and lauds Mt. Kinabalu as "the most accessible mountain over 4,000 metres, and a very rewarding climb. It's a good thing the park also offers hot springs where you can go and relieve aching thighs after the two-day, 18- kilometre trek to the peak, nine each way."

Expedition leader Rory Hall, already in Sabah, wrote a letter to all of the people taking part in expedition 05G.

"Soon you will be embarking on a journey of a lifetime to the truly breathtaking country of Malaysia. I am currently making preparations for the expedition, and it looks like we are going to have an incredible time.

"Staff and venturers will be arriving from all over the world, as well as up to 20 local Malaysian venturers. They will provide you with the opportunity to learn first hand about Malaysian culture, language and customs, and of course they will be eager themselves to practise their English, make new friends and learn about your home."

Raleigh International (RI) has a permanent field-base in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital of Sabah, and its largest and busiest town, "a classically culturally-diverse Malay city with tightly-packed streets of caf?s and small, private stores in the centre", according to a back-packing 'blogger'.

But the venturers will have little time for sightseeing; the first few days of the expedition will be spent at the RI induction centre outside town, where the venturers will go through their initial training, and be split into project groups for the first phase of the expedition.

Each venturer will take part in three different types of project ? adventure, environmental, and community ? lasting about three weeks each.

On their adventure projects, the young Bermudians may find themselves in Crocker Range National Park, "trekking across the Crocker mountain range from Tikalod to Inabong passing through several remote villages on the way", during which the project groups "will be upgrading the trail through this dense rainforest, as part of the on-going effort by Sabah Parks to promote this remote and pristine area as an eco-tourism destination".

Or they may find themselves on the five off-shore islands which make up the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, "involved in a scuba diving conservation programme, in partnership with Borneo Divers and Sabah Parks. After undergoing scuba training, the volunteers will assist the Sabah Parks Marine Research Unit by collecting data (coral condition, fish and invertebrate counts) for the international Reef Check project. Non-divers will undertake a beach restoration project on a nearby deserted island where they will be self-sufficient for seven days."

Environmental projects will focus on Imbak Canyon and Danum Valley; the canyon is "the last remaining untouched and relatively unexplored area of Sabah. Fewer than 200 people have ever entered this virgin primary jungle area."

The last research team discovered a new tree species, and the region is home to plentiful wildlife, including elephant, orangutan (Malay for 'man of the forest') and hundreds of rare bird species.

Projects will focus on expansion of the research infrastructure: finishing a field centre complex, establishing recognised trails into the canyon, upgrading existing tracks to a waterfall and jungle camp, and the "construction of a 100-foot hanging suspension bridge" across the Imbak river.

The 438-square-kilometre Danum Valley Conservation Area is a highly-protected world-renowned conservation and research area famous for its rich biodiversity and abundant wildlife, including rare and endangered species such as the Sumatran rhino, clouded leopard, orangutan and proboscis monkey.

One of the main RI projects will be the refurbishment of an existing hut built by a Raleigh team many years ago, and trail improvements en route to it. The team will construct another new hanging suspension bridge, to increase accessibility into the region for scientists, in addition to refurbishing an existing suspension bridge and building a wildlife observation platform.

To help with community projects, the RI teams will build a new pre-school in the small, Muslim community of Kg Balat on the banks of the Kinabatangan river. This project, sponsored by HSBC Bank, will "greatly improve the chances of children from the village and surrounding area advancing into primary and secondary education".

In addition, RI is teaming up with the Malaysian Red Crescent Society to build a multi-purpose community hall, part of a programme of health education, in an "extremely poor village" of the formerly-nomadic Dusan tribe, "who have been forced to settle due to land and hunting issues".

In a covering note to a detailed 16-page information package, RI UK expedition support co-ordinator Sarah Leach told the young Bermudians and other venturers that "Malaysia is an incredible place, and you have chosen to visit it in a really constructive and worthwhile way. I would like to wish you the very best for what should be one of the most challenging and exciting experiences of your life."