Kate Evans was just seven years old when she stood in front of a huge creature at the elephant orphanage in Kandy, Sri Lanka, and made a solemn promise to help protect the animals.

Twenty years later, the doctor of science from Upper Slaughter in Gloucestershire, kept that promise by setting up the Elephants For Africa Trust in Botswana.

The country is home to the largest remaining population of African elephants in the world and Dr Evans's work is to ensure the long-term conservation of the animal.

Speaking from her office in Botswana, Dr Evans told the Western Daily Press: "I was always a child looking under rocks for grubs – so wildlife has always held huge interest for me.

"As for the elephant part, this is an obsession that started as long back as I can remember but came to a turning point when I was seven and visited an elephant orphanage in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

"It was here that I made a promise to an elephant to work for them and help conserve them and 20 years later I was living up to that promise having set up the research here in Botswana."

Now Dr Evans is undertaking a mammoth triathlon to help raise money for the cause.

Later this month, she and partner Simon Buckingham will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, before running a marathon and finishing with an epic bike ride in an attempt to raise £10,000.

"My partner had a midlife crisis and decided he wanted to climb a mountain," she said. "I agreed to join him and asked which one he wanted to climb. He said Kilimanjaro and we thought this would be a good fundraiser for the charity.

"But then we thought that a lot of people do that how can we make things different? So it grew into the triathlon.

"We run to keep fit but the thought of doing a marathon terrifies me. We love biking, both on road and mountains, so we are looking forward to that part of the challenge."

Dr Evans has been getting fit for the challenge through some orthodox as well as some unusual training regimes.

She said: "In the bush, biking and running aren't really options so I do circuit training every other day. This gives me a good all over body work out and in the heat here it certainly makes you sweat. Otherwise jacking the 4x4 to change tyres and get unstuck from muddy holes is another good workout."

Providing she is successful the money will go towards securing a much-needed vehicle so her team can carry out research more effectively.

"The research needs a good reliable 4x4," she said. "We currently have one loaned to us by the our main funders, Elephant Back Safaris, which is wonderful, but if they need it for any reason then we have to give it back and then we cannot do our work.

"If we get any extra money it will go towards the Boyce-Zero Scholarship fund – set up in memory of two incredible men who taught me so much about the bush and who tragically died of Aids – to assist local students to gain post-graduate degrees here and at the University of Bristol."

And despite being thousands of miles from her family and friends, Dr Evans said they had all been very supportive.

"They think it is great that I am living my dream," she said.

Anyone who would like to make a donation can contact www.justgiving.com/elephantkate or www.elephantresearch.co.uk