Immingham Dogs' Home trio kayak crocodile-filled Zambezi for £10k charity push

Kelly Magee owns a dog rescue in Immingham that costs eight thousand pounds a month to keep running. To help close that gap, she is about to paddle a kayak down one of Africa's most dangerous rivers. On Thursday, she and two longtime volunteers—Erica Fox and Ryan Day—will fly to Ethiopia and begin a ten-day expedition down the Zambezi River, covering one hundred ten kilometers through waters thick with hippos and crocodiles. They are aiming to raise ten thousand pounds for the shelter.

The Zambezi flows through six countries: Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. The section where they will spend their first four days is densely populated with the animals they are most nervous about. Erica, who runs a natural dog treat business with her husband Ryan and serves as a trustee at the shelter, has been doing deep breathing exercises and reading extensively about predators. "I think I've read too much about hippos and crocodiles," she said before departure. "But we thought it's got to be bigger this year." Last year, the team completed a twenty-two-mile sponsored walk at night. This year, they wanted something more ambitious.

The planning began in October. Training started in May on the River Ancholme near Brigg, where they learned to turn and steer in conditions nothing like what awaits them. On the Zambezi, they will paddle dugout canoes—traditional hollowed logs—not the modern kayaks they trained in. They will cover between twenty-five and twenty-seven kilometers each day for six days, then spend the final two days white-water rafting toward Victoria Falls. At night, they will make their own camps, cook their own food, and dig their own toilets. Erica gets seasick. Kelly, Erica noted with dry humor, won't even enter a swimming pool on holiday.

The group of ten kayakers will have armed guards with them throughout. Erica moved to the area five years ago and initially ran her own dog rescue before meeting Kelly and the team at Immingham Dogs Home. She was made a trustee; her husband became a handyman there. "I've dedicated my adult life to dogs," she said. "Kelly is the one that lives and breathes these kennels. She spends fifteen hours a day with the dogs." The shelter operates differently from many rescues—dogs get two walks daily and access to a play area, rain or shine. The team does not turn away dogs if there is space, and they take on animals requiring significant medical care.

That care is expensive. This year alone, the shelter has performed three surgical procedures on French Bulldogs to open their nasal passages so they can breathe properly. Each surgery costs two thousand pounds. The shelter relies entirely on donations. Erica described the ethos: "We do whatever we can for the dogs that come in. It all comes to donations." The kayak expedition is their attempt to generate funds that will keep the kennels operating and allow them to continue taking in dogs that need help. They will return on September 20.