A group of students from Bristol's University of the West of England will spend the summer in a remote area of Tanzania building a playground for an orphanage.

The trip has been inspired by student Oliver Goddard, who visited Africa last year. He climbed Kilimanjaro for a charity fundraiser and went to Zanzibar for a holiday. But a day spent at the Light in Africa orphanage had a profound impact on him.

Oliver said: "I am an architecture student and I was intrigued to see the master plan for the new Tudor Village being built at the orphanage. The development will allow all the children to live on the same site, alongside the volunteers, carers, with an assembly hall and a playground. Mama Lynn, who runs Light in Africa, and I began discussing her vision for the Tudor Village and we eventually agreed that I would try to fundraise and bring a team from the UK to help design and build the playground."

Oliver and fellow students in Project Ape APE (Adventure Playground of Education) aim to spend £7,000 on the playground and £2,000 on dispensing medicine to the local community. They have raised the money through pool competitions, curry nights, barbecues and sponsored marathons and half-marathons.

The students are all paying for their own overheads, so all the money raised will be going towards the project.

The playground will be constructed from timber treated to withstand termite infestation with different apparatus designed to appeal to various age groups.

Oliver said: "We have been given additional luggage allowances for equipment, so we will be taking specialist tools and equipment with us.

"The treated wood will be purchased locally to maximise use of the local economy.

"We plan to keep the design simple and focus upon learning interaction and health. At this stage we are planning a playground that will be divided into four areas, with play apparatus to appeal to toddlers, disabled children, young children and older children. The playground will include monkey bars, swings, slides, a football goal, basketball nets, snakes and ladders and a stage to allow the children to perform and rebuild confidence. The entire space will be enclosed within a running track for mini Olympics competitions."

The students supporting Oliver include Helen Romans, Liam Kelly, Sam Fitzsimmons and Kate McLelland. Former UWE students Emily Bell, James Cale, Phoebe Brown and Kari Korppas will also be joining the team.

Phoebe will document the project on camera, with the film to be made available upon their return.

Laura Cox, from Light in Africa, said: "Volunteers contribute so much to the work of Mama Lynn and Light in Africa. The Project APE plans so far are great and the children will get so much joy from the play equipment planned. All team members are an inspiration."

Jo Earl, UWE's volunteer co-ordinator, said : "I was simply amazed to find out just how much this group of students have done. The entire project has been motivated by Oliver who has gathered together a group of exceptionally motivated and focused students. We wish them all the best with this brilliant project."

Steve West, UWE's Vice-Chancellor, said: "These students are simply exceptional. Oliver has inspired a group to do something really positive in a poor region of Africa. We wholeheartedly applaud his group for the tenacity they have shown in getting this project off the ground from the outset. It's even more impressive that they have managed to do this during their final year when exams and final degree projects take up a significant proportion of their time."