Visit the Lost City of the Incas – and raise funds for cancer prevention
Howard Lake | 8 December 2010 | News
Contact: Andy Wilks on 020 7343 4273
E-mail: a.*****@wc**.org
For immediate release
Intrepid travellers are being offered the chance of a lifetime to visit one of the wonders of the world as part of a fundraising expedition for World Cancer Research Fund.
The charity – which funds cancer prevention research and education – is offering places on three trips to see the ruins of Machu Picchu, high in the Peruvian Andes.
Trekkers only need a £450 registration fee to reserve a place and then raise £3,395 in sponsorship before setting out on a ten-day journey to visit this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The hike follows a different route to the extremely busy Inca Trail and will take participants off the beaten track to witness life in the Andes as it has existed for centuries, as well as some of the most spectacular scenery the mountains have to offer.
Included in the itinerary – apart from seeing the famous ruins – will be time exploring in and around the Inca capital Cusco while acclimatising to the altitude, visiting the isolated and unspoilt Lares valley and stopping off at hot springs 2,670m (8,760ft) up in the Andes with views over snowy peaks and glaciers.
Three trips are being organised in 2011 – May 19 to 28, September 30 to October 9 and October 14 to 23. Each expedition will consist of 30 travellers.
Sian Fraser, WCRF Events Fundraiser, said: “Machu Picchu is an amazing wonder to visit and we are offering the chance for someone to do that for a minimal amount while raising cash for cancer prevention.
“Once you raise the sponsorship you don’t have to worry about paying for anything else – flights, accommodation or food.
“The money you raise will go to vital research as well as our education programme which helps people develop healthy habits to reduce their risk from cancer. This is important because scientists believe a third of cancers could be prevented.”
Sited on a 2,430m (7,970ft) mountain ridge above the Urubamba River, the ‘city’ is thought to have been built for a 15th century Inca emperor but abandoned 100 years later, when the inhabitants probably succumbed to smallpox.
‘Discovered’ in 1911, the site was made a UNESCO site in 1983 – when it was described as “an absolute masterpiece of architecture and a unique testimony to the Inca civilisation” – and voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.
It is located 80km (50 miles) from Cusco but unlike many other Inca settlements it escaped destruction or vandalism at the hands of Spanish conquistadores.
To sign up or find out more about the trip please visit www.wcrf-uk.org/peru or email ev****@wc**.org
ENDS
For more information contact Andy Wilks on 020 7343 4273.
About WCRF
World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) raises awareness that cancer is largely preventable and helps people make choices to reduce their chances of developing the disease.
This includes funding scientific research into how cancer risk is related to diet, physical activity, and weight management, and education programmes that highlight the fact that about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented through changes to lifestyle.
The WCRF report, called Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, is the most comprehensive report ever published on the subject and can be downloaded at www.dietandcancerreport.org
For more information about WCRF, visit our website at www.wcrf-uk.org; follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wcrf_uk, read our blog at http://blog.wcrf-uk.org or visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/wcrfuk
WCRF UK is part of the global network of charities dedicated to the prevention of cancer. The WCRF global network is led and unified by WCRF International, a membership association which operates as the umbrella organisation for the network .The other charities in the WCRF network are American Institute for Cancer Research in the US (www.aicr.org); Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds in the Netherlands (www.wcrf-nl.org); World Cancer Research Fund Hong Kong (www.wcrf-hk.org); and Fonds Mondial de Recherche contre le Cancer in France (www.fmrc.fr).
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.