Ben Hyde Takes on the Sahara Desert Trek Challenge to raise awareness amongst Younger People

Tell me a bit about yourself - what do you do?

I currently go to University in Birmingham and work part-time as a sales assistance as well.

What made you decide to take on the Sahara trek?

I like travelling. This year I have been to seven different countries. I like pushing myself physically and doing something that when I look back at it in the future or tell people about it, I can say I’m glad I did this when I had the chance to.

Do you have a personal connection to Dementia? Can you share that story with us?

My Nan has Dementia. She is 96 and is in a Care Home. She has had Dementia for three four years now. I’ve seen her gradually deteriorate. Also, because I visit her in the care home, you see other People with Dementia around her deteriorate as well. That is why I wanted to do this challenge for Dementia, because it is not a very nice thing to happen to you. When I was writing my trek brief I was looking up statistics about Dementia and realised how young people don’t seem to have much awareness about Dementia, so I also wanted to do something about that.

Can you describe what the trek involves - how many days is it, what are the conditions like?

It’s seven days walking and camping. There is a limited amount of stuff that you can take and I can only take the clothes that I wear, so that is going to be a bit rough. I have a sixteen week training plan that I have to follow in the four months leading up to the challenge. It involves going to the gym, walking, running and try to get fit enough to do it. I do a lot of physical activity anyway, so it should not be very dissimilar to what I do already I think. I fly into Marrakesh and then take a four to five hour minibus that takes us to a place in the desert where the trek starts. We have camels to carry our equipment and stuff. I need to take a tent and a sleeping bag and they supply the water and the food. It is rationed for the seven days so you can’t drink loads of water all the time.

Here is Ben when he did a trek up Snowdon/ Yr Wyddfa a week or so ago as he’s trying to consistently keep his training up for the Sahara trek. 

Have you done anything like this before, or is this completely new territory for you?

This is the most extreme that I’ve done. I’ve walked up mountains and things like that, but never a challenge that has lasted more than two days. Seven days is going to be a big step up.

What was your initial reaction when you committed to doing this - excitement, fear, both?

At the moment I’m excited, but I expect that as it gets nearer I’ll be more nervous. My family is a bit nervous. I think it will be one of those things that it will be very strenuous but there will also be very nice aspects. For example there will be no light pollution, so at night you can see all the stars in the sky. That will be quite impressive to see. I will be taking a camera or video to record the day-by-day activity that I do that I can show everyone when I get back.

What do you think will be the hardest part?

The heat - I think it’s going to be bad. I’m doing the challenge in October, which is meant to be a cooler period, but I read it still goes up to 35 degrees at times. I think that after wearing the same clothes in that heat for seven days I’m going to be a hot sweaty mess.

How are you preparing yourself mentally for this challenge?

I’m planning to do quite some camping across the UK to get used to that kind of independence I will have to have. I usually go travelling with friends. Even though there will be other people there, I will have to get used to walking long distances on my own.

What are you most looking forward to?

I like wildlife, so I look forward to seeing the wildlife in the Sahara. I’d imagine there will be snakes and scorpions in the Sahara. Just seeing different wildlife from what we see here, I look forward to that.

What’s your fundraising target and how close are you so far?

My target is £2,300, that is the minimum I need to get to be able to do the trip. Then raise money for the charity obviously. I’ll try to raise as much money as I can. So far I have raised 10% of my target already.

What would you say to someone considering making a donation?

It’s not about how much people donate, it’s about the cause and for people to recognise the problems associated with Dementia and the amount of People dealing with it and the importance of helping.

How can people follow your journey and support you?

For those who would like to support my challenge, they can find my fundraising page here:

https://DASaharaTrekOct26.enthuse.com/pf/ben-hyde-saharatrek2026

The challenge I’m doing is on the 10th of October 2026.