ROUGHING it in the South African wilderness with no iPods, make-up or mirrors, has transformed two teens.

Claire Speakman and Lucy Coward-Whittaker have returned from a 24-day trip that saw them sleeping under the stars in game reserves and living with Zulu families.

The Felsted School pupils’ adventure was part of a charity project aimed at heightening awareness of cultural differences. Claire, from Little Braxted, and Lucy, from Aythorpe Roding, walked through two Unesco World Heritage wilderness areas in the Drakensberg Mountains, and the St Lucia Wetlands, spending five nights in the Umfolozi Game Reserve - home to the white and black rhino. The girls went on the trip as part of their Duke of Edinburgh gold award, were accompanied by two armed guides. Claire said: “Sleeping in the game reserve was incredible and scary.”