This trip is organized by Adventures for Hope. This is a branch of Christ’s Hope Belgium. Apart from the cost for participating in this trip, the participants are asked raise and donate an amount of $ 2500 to Christ's Hope.
We firmly stress on the fact that this money will integrally be transferred to Christ's Hope operations in Africa. This money will not be used to cover operating expenses in Belgium such as marketing or accounting. Your money is thus exclusively used to effectively support the daily operations in Africa in the fully benefit of the children.
How you raise these $ 2500 is, of course, your own choice. Some participants might pay this amount out of their own pocket. We understand, however, that this is a lot of money and therefore recommend that you be creative in your fundraising. Ask friends and family to help you, organize a yard sale, a spaghetti night or start baking waffles to sell,… .You might know a number of companies or organizations who are interested in a Mount Kenya summitpicture showing a flag with their logo. Perhaps they are willing to pay for that picture. Or maybe your employer has a (limited) fund that is used to support good causes.
Anyway, we recommend you to start your fundraising well in advance (6 months to 1 year).
Mount Kenya is the second highest mountain in Africa and rises up to 5199m above sea level. We will climb to the third peak of this mountain : Point Lenana at 4985m. From a technical point of vieuw it is fortunately not a difficult mountain. You do not need to be a skilled mountaineer who has experience with crampons, rope groups or ice axes.
You should have a good general physical condition. Start with your physical preparations long enough in advance. We recommend you to regularly go running and start working on your endurance. On the mountain you will, after all, walk uphill for a longer period of time. Also regularly go walking with a backpack.
On the mountain the local porters will bring your luggage to the next camp. You will just carry your own small daypack with something to drink, some food, a warm sweater or jacket, your camera and some more smaller personal items (iPod for example).
As we said before, you do not need to bring technical climbing gear to Kenya as you will not need it. You will be emailed a packing list stating what you definitely need. (e.g. trekking clothes, sturdy walking shoes, walking sticks, ...)
We have chosen to climb Mount Kenya using the Sirimon route. This route is a bit longer, but we have deliberately chosen for this route. The Sirimon route makes an ideal acclimatization possible as we stay a full day at Shiptons Camp. So, our bodies have enough time to adjust to the thin air at high altitude. We will take it easy, each participant in his/her own pace. The better your acclimatization, the bigger your chances on a successful ascent.
