A teenager from Suffolk is getting ready to head off on the trip of a lifetime to South America.

East Anglian Daily Times: Flora Bagnall is raising money to take part in an exhibition in Peru with The British Exploring Society in July. Picture: GREGG BROWNFlora Bagnall is raising money to take part in an exhibition in Peru with The British Exploring Society in July. Picture: GREGG BROWN

A teenager from Suffolk is getting ready to head off on the trip of a lifetime to South America.

Flora Bagnall, who lives near Sudbury, will be heading to Peru to visit the Amazon rainforest in July.

The 18-year-old will be helping scientists from The British Exploring Society as they take on conservation and sustainability studies to help scientists better understand the eco-system of the area.

Among these jobs will be entomology and canopy surveys – and the latter will see Flora climbing to great heights to check on bug life.

East Anglian Daily Times: Flora Bagnall is raising money to take part in an exhibition in Peru with The British Exploring Society in July. Picture: GREGG BROWNFlora Bagnall is raising money to take part in an exhibition in Peru with The British Exploring Society in July. Picture: GREGG BROWN

It’s a career path that Flora hopes to take herself in the future.

“I see what I want to do with my life. I would like to be a research scientist and work on future sustainability and conservation,” she said.

“I want to be finding solutions to big environmental problems.”

In order to achieve her goal, Flora has been tirelessly fundraising.

She has turned her hand to everything from quiz nights to selling Christmas cards to help raise money.

As well as these more traditional methods, Flora has also been making nautical knots for people to use as door stops.

The teenager has been a keen sailor since she was young and so decided to put her talents to use.

This May she will be taking on a new challenge when joins thousands of other runners at the Edinburgh Half marathon.

Flora will be running to help raise money for her trip but also to raise money for Anorexia and Bulimia Care who helped her when she suffered from an eating disorder when she was younger.

Despite the recent cold and wet weather, Flora is happy with how her preparations for the big race are coming along.

“Training is going really well,” said Flora, “I’ve been running for ages.

“I just love being outside and running gets me outside.”

If running, make gifts and cards wasn’t enough Flora is also about to launch her Cakes for Conservation fundraiser which will see her sell handmade cakes locally.

As for her trip, Flora can’t wait to jet off to Peru.

“I can’t imagine what is going to be going through my head,” said Flora.

You can donate to Flora’s fundraiser here.