"Across the world, Aquapac is proud to sponsor several teams and individuals who enjoy the great outdoors. Except they don't just enjoy it. They revel in it. They simply love it. Traditionally we've supported people involved in all manner of wind-powered or human-powered expeditions: solo-round-the-world sailors, long-distance kayakers, trans-ocean rowers. As well as pitting themselves against the elements, most also raise money for charity.

From that beginning, we've broadened our sponsorship - and we are now delighted to support inspirational people working to highlight the fragility of our beautiful planet, and committed individuals who help others to enjoy the great outdoors.

We call them the Aquapac Outdoor Champions.

Over the next year or so, we'll feature on this website a series of interviews with Aquapac Outdoor Champions. They range from the Antarctic Kayak Expedition and solo Pacific rowers to mountain-bikers, writers and photographers. There's even a bunch of guys racing a tuk-tuk across India.

Our first interview is with David Else, a professional writer specialising in travel and the outdoors.

Aquapac: You're a writer. What type of stuff do you write? David: I write articles for magazines and websites, and over the years I've written about 40 guidebooks - mainly for international travel publisher Lonely Planet. Some of these books are trekking and walking guides, others are general guidebooks to countries or regions for tourists and travellers. Aquapac: So you get about then? David: Yes. I've been to countries as different as India and Greenland, but the region I know best is Africa. I've travelled widely here, from Cairo to Cape Town, from Senegal to Zanzibar, via most of the bits in between. I especially love the mountain regions, and I've spent a lot of time trekking on Mt Kenya and Kilimanjaro - as well as many of the more obscure mountain ranges. Aquapac: Tell us about your most recent trip to Africa. David: I was riding in a long-distance bike race called the Tour d'Afrique. As the name suggests, it's like the Tour de France, only in Africa. And it's longer (about 10,000km), and hotter, and a lot of it is on dirt roads. But apart from that… Aquapac: Did you cycle the whole way? David: Unfortunately not. I couldn't afford the four months it takes to do the whole distance. But the route breaks down into eight stages of roughly a fortnight each, and I rode one stage (from Khartoum in Sudan to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia) as part of a Lonely Planet relay team.

Images copyright David Else

Aquapac: Were you raising money for charity?

David: The Tour d'Afrique supports a charity called the Tour d'Afrique Foundation, which raises money to provide bikes for health workers in rural areas. In some parts of Africa, nurses and midwives may have to walk for miles on tracks through the bush to reach remote villages. Having a bike makes their job much easier, and means they can help more local people.

As well as raising money, the Lonely Planet team also wanted to raise awareness. The hard truth is that giving some money to buy some bikes isn't going to solve the massive problems that Africa faces every day. We want people to think about the contradictions that surround charitable donations. Giving $10 to Save the Children to help African war orphans is pointless if your savings account earns interest via your bank investing in the defence manufacturer that makes the guns and tanks in the first place.

In the same way, giving $10 to Greenpeace is pointless if your pension fund include shares in a logging company cutting down the rainforest. To me, it seems like giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

I feel that a real way to help is not to financially support (and benefit from) the loggers or arms companies. It seems obvious, but a lot of people simply don't know what their pensions or savings are actually invested in (as recent news stories have shown). On the up-side, there seems to be growing awareness - many people I meet say they're trying to make their bank account or pension fund 'clean' by investing ethically. I think it's an issue I'll be banging on about for quite a while longer though!

Aquapac: And when you're not raising awareness or jollying round the world - what else keeps you busy nearer home?

David: A lot of the time sat at my desk writing books. As well as covering foreign countries, I also write about Britain, and I do a lot of hill-walking - in the Pennines, North Wales, the Lake District and Scotland. I have friends who live in Pembrokeshire, so I go kayaking whenever I'm down there. And I get out on my mountain bike whenever I can. Last summer I did an excellent coast-to-coast off-road trip along the Southern Uplands Way. Although riding through mud on the Scottish moors can be tougher than sand in the Sahara.

Aquapac: Tell us about the Aquapac products you use.

David: For hill-walking and mountain-biking in Britain - where rain and mud are always a possibility - I use the small and medium 'classic' cases for keeping my phone and iPod clean and dry. When kayaking I carry my camera in, you guessed it, a camera case. For the Tour d'Afrique I used the phone and camera cases, not just for protection against tropical downpours but also to keep out the dust of the African roads. The dust is a fine as talcum power and gets everywhere, and it can damage sensitive stuff like phones and laptops if you don't protect it. I also used one of those large cases called a Whanganui to carry my medical kit, and I'm glad to report my gear came through unscathed.

Aquapac: What was the happiest moment of your travel-writing career?

Getting my very first book published, way back in 1988. I realised that maybe I could make a living doing the things I love - travelling and writing.

Aquapac: And the scariest?

Encountering heavily armed elephant poachers while trekking in a remote area on the border between Kenya and Uganda.

Aquapac: what music do you listen to when you're cycling?

I had to do some serious training for the Tour d'Afrique, and listened to a lot of dance music or good old fashioned punk. From one extreme to the other, on long rides I also listen to podcasts from Radio 4. Unfortunately, music in both ears means I can't hear if there's a car or truck behind, so I usually have an ear bud in my left ear only - which sometimes means I miss the finer points of stereo production…

Aquapac: You've been back from the Tour d'Afrique for a few weeks now. What's your next trip?

David: Walking in Scotland in May, cycling in France this summer, and maybe back to Africa later in the year…