Six epic journeys to school

Canoeing through the Amazon rainforest, treks in the Himalayas, lengthy climbs up some of the steepest mountains - they all sound like major expeditions by brave and famous adventurers...

But in some parts of the world, children your age make journeys like these just to get to school.

In places like Kenya or the Himalayas, schools and villages are very far apart and so there's no easy way for the people to get to them... and sometimes there's even a mountain right in the middle of the way!

Read on to learn about some of the incredible journeys that children around the world have to make in order to get to school.

Crossing gushing rivers

It takes sisters Radhika and Yashoda, aged 14 and 16, two to three hours each way to get to school, depending on the weather.

That's because they live in a remote village in the Himalayas called Syaba, which has no roads coming out of it.

Their schools are located in far-off towns called Maneri and Malla.

To get to them, the girls have to go through mountains and forests, and even pull themselves over a fast-flowing river.

"We have to hold on to the trolley very tight to make sure we don't fall in the gushing waters," Yashoda says.

Crossing the Bhagirathi River is one of the most difficult parts of the journey. The girls pull themselves to the other side of the river in a metal trolley, which hangs by a cable high over the water

Walking barefoot in Kenya

Children living in the foothills of Mount Elgon in Kenya, Africa, often walk barefoot to school.

They can have to walk for a few miles each way just to get to lessons. The roads are made of earth and rocks, and during the rainy season they turn very muddy making getting to school even trickier.

Riding in a canoe in the Amazon rainforest

Kids in Mondana, a small village in Ecuador, South America, take to the water to get to school.

The village is in the Amazon rainforest and there are few roads, so children get into a canoe and travel along the River Napo instead.

Walking along steep mountain paths

The Banpo primary school in China is located halfway up a mountain.

Some students live in the nearby Gengguan village and to get up to the school they have to walk carefully through narrow cliff path on the sides of the mountain.

We hope they're not afraid of heights!

You have to walk in a straight line on these paths

Climbing up mountains in China

Children living in a small village area in China have to climb ladders up the sides of mountains to get back home from school.

Luckily it's not a daily journey that they make, as they're away from home for months whilst at school. When they do return, they have a steep journey!

Trekking through the Himalayas

The icy and snow-filled landscape makes this an epic journey to school.

When the roads are impossible to get through, a few children have to trek along the Zanskar River gorge for 100km along the ice to get to their school.

Luckily this isn't a daily journey either!

Imagine if the Himalayan mountains were on your way to school