By Michelle Strydom

This year, the Kernes couple will attempt #Joburg2Kili, an expedition that will see them cycle from Johannesburg to Kilimanjaro to help raise funds for the non-governmental organisation Qhubeka. With any trip as straining as this one, comes detailed planning and preparation, which all sounds easy coming for a fit couple.

Camilla and Warrick are an exceptionally active couple, both attempting big events like the Comrades and Iron Man, but cycling 4631km to the highest mountain in Africa is a different ball game. The couple are always keeping fit, so special preparation is not needed.

“We both keep really active as it is, and I’m doing comrades and I’ve heard that running helps to keep you fit for cycling. Warrick rides frequently and he’s running with me. We are keeping active but we haven’t prescribed to a specific program. A lot of people say you get fit while you do something like this, so if you go in with a certain level of fitness you should be okay,” says Kernes.

The expedition will not be a spontaneous adventure. Warrick has mapped out the locations where they will be staying overnight and setting up camp with their crew, who will be following in a Jeep vehicle with supplies and support.

As for the locations, it will be a combination of camping at specific sights and ‘winging it’.

“Warrick learned how to use the software Tracks4Africa software which has huge value because people who have done trips like these self-populate, so it stores where they set up camp and who to call if you need help with camping sites in the area. There are instances where we’re not going to be able to get to a nearby town so Warrick looked at the land and looked for areas where we could set up camp or find someone who would allow us to put up our tent,” says Kernes.

Although they will be riding for a purpose, Camilla and Warrick have set aside some days they will be exploring the beautiful sights and meeting up with Camilla’s parents to share the experience with family.

“We have days off, so we’re planning to take every fifth day off and in certain areas we’ll take two days off to enjoy some places and take in some of the sights. The intention is to explore on our days off, because we’ve never been to these places before.”

The ultimate goal of their expedition is to raise money Qhubeka. When they decided they were going to do the expedition, their first priority was to find an NGO that supported cycling. For Camilla, Qhubeka ticked all the boxes.

"We first heard about Qhubeka last year when Team MTN-Qhubeka rode in the Tour de France. This year the Team is sponsored by Dimension Data for Qhubeka. Giving a bike to someone mobilises them. There are kids that can’t get to school because they live too far and because of Qhubeka, they can now get there easily,” she says. 

Kernes adds that they would’ve gone on a touring bicycle, but will be using the Qhubeka bicycle which they aren’t used to, so they will be facing another challenge.

Followers of the expedition can look forward to updates every ten days if possible, and tracking of where the couple will be every day.

“We hope to have internet every 10 days, so will try to keep people updated on our journey via my blog and Twitter. We will also have tracking device called a spot, which we’ll embed to a map on our website. This tracker will indicate where we are on the map and this way people can see how far we’ve progressed. On this tracker, you can also enable pre-tweets, so we will be making use of that,” says Kernes.

For more information, visit joburg2kili.com. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter using the #Joburg2Kili hashtag.