Alfy (left) and Oscar kayaking along Angola's longest river, the Kwanza.

Swire Pacific Offshore's Country Manager, Angola, Alfy Weston, and travel journalist Oscar Scafidi, completed the first-ever source-to-mouth expedition along the Kwanza River in Angola in July. The trip was to raise funds for the HALO Trust, a UK-based NGO dedicated to creating safe and secure environments in war-torn communities by clearing landmines and war debris in 16 countries worldwide including Angola. Angola remains one of the most landmine-impacted countries in the world, after a nearly 30-year civil war that ended in 2002.

At 1,300km, the Kwanza is Angola's longest river and it took the pair five weeks to navigate, using a combination of walking and paddling a foldable wooden kayak. During the trip, Alfy and Oscar also collaborated with the National Geographic project 'Into the Okavango' to record bird species along the river. The sources of the Okavango and Kwanza rivers are found alongside one another at 1,500m in the Bié Plateau of central Angola and the data collection from both trips provides the first log of bird species stretching 3,600km along the two river systems.

Alfy's charity challenge has raised over US$23,000 in support of HALO Trust's demining project near the source of the Kwanza River.