STAFF from the Lye-based Midlands Air Ambulance Charity will be taking on an exclusive Bear Grylls survival challenge in Africa later this year.

Flight paramedics will join with some of their corporate partners on an intensive five-day survival course in Zimbabwe in November to help raise funds for the charity.

The Midlands Air Ambulance relies purely on donations to operate its three air ambulances and it is hoped sponsorship raised by the team taking on the Bear Grylls Survival Academy Challenge will add up to around £100,000.

The gruelling event culminates with a 36-hour expedition which will test the group's skills in tracking, skinning and travelling across difficult terrain.

Sofia Voutianitis, the charity’s corporate partnerships manager, is among the 12-strong team which also includes flight paramedics Ryan James and Karen Baker.

Sofia said: "When the Bear Grylls team offered to create an exclusive challenge for our corporate partners we jumped at the chance.

"It will be the biggest physical challenge in the history of the charity, but we’re committed to raising as much as we can.”

Anyone wishing to sponsor the team can do so online at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/beargryllsafricachallenge2016