Author Description

In February 2008, thirty-five employees of Royal Dutch Shell attempted to scale the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, the world tallest free standing mountain, one of the largest volcanoes to emerge from the earth's crust and a snow capped mountain on the equator! The expedition was organized to raise funds to alleviate the plight of HIV/AIDS orphaned children in Africa. Thirty-five staff volunteered for the climb, and also self-sponsored their expedition. I was one of the volunteers, and I volunteered for the climb for three reasons To support the noble objectives of alleviating the plight of HIV/AIDS orphaned in Africa To rediscover myself and, Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro is one of my lifelong ambitions. I trained hard for the expedition, and I was prepared for the expected and the unexpected. All through the preparation I never had the plan of writing a book about the expedition, however during the climb when I saw the extent of the challenges and difficulties involved, the changing and beauty of nature at different altitudes, and the bond that develops between climbers, it then occurred to me that I have to tell our story. So I went back in 2009 to re-experience the climb.