While most people will be partying until dawn on New Year's Eve, an intrepid Kingston woman will set off on a pioneering trip to a remote South American rainforest.

Together with five teammates, Gundula Hennig, 34 of Chestnut Road, hopes to become one of the first women to map a new trail through the Amazon Rainforest in Guyana from the Orunduik Falls to the Kaieteur Falls.

The aim is to create a route which other eco-trekkers can follow on guided tours in the future, bringing the benefit of eco-tourism to the country while maintaining the forest's status as one of the last five remaining pristine rainforests in the world.

Gundula, who has a PhD in biological anthropology, is an experienced athlete in cycling and rowing and regularly trains on the Thames near Kingston.

She has competed in the German equivalent of the Tour de France and coaches people specifically for those types of events.

All of which should stand her in good stead for dealing with 600 miles of sweltering jungle 90 miles of which are on foot crocodile-infested rivers and any confrontation with one of the world's most venomous snakes, the fer-de-lance, which makes the undergrowth its home.

  • You can keep track of the team's journey at www.girlsgoguyana.com.