Later in the year, from the 11^th to the 21^st of December, I will be walking up to the summit of Kilimanjaro in Africa for the charity ‘Royal British Legion’. The Royal British Legion provides practical, emotional and financial support to all members of the British Armed Forces past and present, and their families.

I am doing this because a friend of my dad asked me to join him and a few friends to take on this challenge and I thought it would be a great and unique opportunity to climb the fourth highest peak in the world.  I also thought that it would be good to try and challenge myself by walking up such a height as it is so physically demanding. The mountain itself is nearly 6000 meters tall which is about 19,300 feet; this makes it the tallest free-standing mountain in the world (meaning that it isn’t part of a mountain range). Kilimanjaro consists of 3 volcanoes of which 2 are extinct but 1 is dormant however, the dormant volcano (Kibo) hasn’t erupted for 360,000 years and is unlikely to erupt soon (I hope!).

I am doing the climb with my dad and other people from the village I live in and we all have to get some injections and medication for the trip, some of these include: yellow fever, hepatitis A and anti malaria drugs to stop us getting infected on the mountain.

At the end of the walk I hope to achieve to be a better person in the sense by putting myself through a strenuous task and having to walk a long distance in a country where there is not many luxuries. I will also be able to get an insight into the people I’m walking with and also the African life style and how everybody copes with the stress as there is also a mental challenge, not just the physical one. The mental challenge I think will be harder to overcome because it is walking over and over up the same mountain for over a week which can be very challenging as we will be walking for most of the day, starting very early in the morning.

I hope you will support me by donating to a very worth while charity in the Royal British Legion.

Thank you

Cadet George Harris