We have successfully reached Uhuru Peak, Killimanjaro's highest point

Dear friends, comrades and family

After seven days, 85 kilometers, camping in the bush and waliking through snow we ultimately achieved our objective, to reach Uhuru Peak at 5895m above sea level, the highest point in Africa. We raised the ANC and the South African flag to celebrate the 100th year anniverssary of our mighty movement. It was not easy, it was hard and trecherous, but once we set off from the Machame gate we did not even dare look back. This is our story and we hope it shall inspire many people around the world who care about Africa and the ANC. We will have to take time out to write more detailed accounts of our expedition but for now we are all healthy, recovering from the tough climb and heading home. The ANC recieved our news with pride and have organised to receive us at OR Tambo international airport tomorrow. Follow this blog later for detailed accounts, thanks for all your prayers, thoughts and encouraging messages. Salute!

Kili We have Arrived

Finally after a full day of travelling we have arrived in Moshi and are settling in at our hotel, ready to begin our journey up Mount Kilimanjaro tomorrow. We are all very excited and can feel the atmosphere as we meet with others who have travelled from other parts of the world to also climb Kili. We are keen to get a well deserved rest so we can wake up fresh. It will take us a few days to upload more progress status after we head off to the mountain tomorrow as there is no internet connectivity there, but we are all good and feeling great.

Inspirational Thoughts that bid us Fairwell

We are now just a day away from flying out to the Great Kilimanjaro. To inspire us as we dig deep into our spiritual and emotional senses, Keran Thom from Muthanyi's office sent us the following thought provoking qoutes:

"There have been joys too great to be described in words, and there have been griefs upon which I have not dared to dwell, and with these in mind I say, climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are naught without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste, look well to each step, and from the beginning think what may be the end."
-- Edward Whymper

"In a sense everything that is exists to climb. All evolution is a climbing towards a higher form. Climbing for life as it reaches towards the consciousness, towards the spirit. We have always honored the high places because we sense them to be the homes of gods. In the mountains there is the promise of... something unexplainable. A higher place of awareness, a spirit that soars. So we climb... and in climbing there is more than a metaphor; there is a means of discovery."   
-- Rob Parker

"The pleasure of risk is in the control needed to ride it with assurance so that what appears dangerous to the outsider is, to the participant, simply a matter of intelligence, skill, intuition, coordination... in a word, experience. Climbing in particular, is a paradoxically intellectual pastime, but with this difference: you have to think with your body. Every move has to be worked out in terms of playing chess with your body. If I make a mistake the consequences are immediate, obvious, embarrassing, and possibly painful. For a brief period I am directly responsible for my actions. In that beautiful, silent, world of mountains, it seems to me worth a little risk." 
-- A. Alvarez

What a journey we have ahead of us. Forever forward we march!

Final Killimanjaro Preparation Meeting

Today the group climbing Killimanjaro met for its final preparations. The adrenalin and anxiety of the reality of the coming days filled the room as we chatted about the gear, medication, insurance and all other logistics for the travel to Moshi, the town that hosts this giant feature of our mother Continent, Africa. Muthanyi, Wiseman, Leslie and I (ChilliMan) could now almost visualise the experience. Muthanyi even joked that he had reconfirmed his Will. I guess for me that is the will to summit and make the dream come true.

We are all set into auto mode - there is no doubt, there is no going back, Uhuru here we come!

About Sandton Hiking Club

The Sandton Hiking Club was founded by a group of friends who share a common interest of mountain hiking. The group comprises Tshilidzi 'ChilliMan' Ratshitanga, Muthanyi Robinson Ramaite, Wiseman 'Bhuti' Khumalo, Eugine 'Msizi' Lottering, Thendo Ratshitanga and Leslie Mkhabela. We also have associates, these are the hangers on who havent actually climbed with us yet but who are there when we decend from the mountains, friends such as Bright, Arthur, Colin, Sihle, Mothupi, etc. We are hopeful that one day they will climb a mountain and we will then decide if they have been initiated enough to join the club.

We are all businessmen whose businesses are based in and around Sandton, hence we decided to call our club Sandton Hiking Club. All of us are madly in love with our country and find hiking a perfect time out to recconect with Mother Land and reflect upon our country's journey as she unravels. We spend time together on and off the mountains fiercely engaging about the trajectories of this beautiful country and at the same time taking time out to relax our minds with South Africa's soothing landscapes.

We began hiking in April once we had decided that we were determined to summit on the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Killimanjaro. We have all been training sufficiently and are looking forward to the first few steps on this august treasure of Africa on 8 December 2011.

Given that we are comrades, we have decided to dedicate our summit to the celebration of the 100th year Anniversary of the people's mighty Movemnet, the African National Congress. We will take with us the ANC flag and hoist it with pride on Uhuru Summit, the highest pick of Africa's lands, the pinnacle of Killimanjaro.

But this is also an individual journey for each of us. We will set aside time and give each other space to reflect upon our own individual journeys of life, where we have come from, what is happening in our lives currently and where we wish to head henceforth. We have to find our souls abourd that great mountain and reconcile with our other selves. And as with the reality of life upon most mountains we shall not be alone. Each step of the way we will be joined by the gallaxy of heroes and heroines who have passed over the years, and to whom for this honour we salute ever so permanently in our hearts!