A Preston army team aims to become the first ever group of people to travel the length of a crocodile infested African river .

Officers and soldiers from the 5 General Support Medical Regiment, based at Fulwood Barracks, Watling Street Road, will attempt the first recorded descent by canoe of Africa's White Volta River, covering 650 miles in 30 days.

On November 1 the 15 men and women will start the challenge in the far north of Ghana where the terrain is mostly jungle.

During the month-long expedition the team will paddle in temperatures ranging between 30 and 40 degrees centigrade and cross a game reserve which is home to elephants, crocodiles and hippopotami.

The journey will also take the team across one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, the 8,600 square mile Lake Volta.

The feat has never been completed before. In 1999 a team from the Royal Engineers attempted the challenge but failed to set a record because they were forced to catch a ferry for part of the trip.

A container with seven two-man canoes, a Land Rover, a equipment has already arrived in the West African country, along with ten bikes, baby care products, and rations which the team will distribute to people along the way.

Staff Sergeant Dave Shead, 35, of Ingol, said: "I am really looking forward to it, big operations like this only come round every three of five years.

SSgt Shead, whose job is to manage the squadron's mess store, said his wife, Amanda Jane, 40, is more worried about the expedition than his previous three postings in Iraq.

"It's the lions and hippos she's worried about," he said.

Captain Mike Tomkins, the expedition leader, said: "This is going to be the journey of a lifetime for all of us. The weather will be hot, we won't wash for days, we'll be trying to avoid crocodiles and we'll be shattered - but it will be a great achievement." In a separate operation, 15 Territorial Army soldiers from 208 Field Hospital soldiers will spend two weeks in December paddling the last 90 miles of the river.