By Michelle Strydom
On Saturday, 30 July, Joburg2Kili will embark on a journey to the highest mountain in Africa, and now their group has grown with the addition of traveller, life coach and founder of
The Freedom Fighter business and blog, Gareth Pickering.
“Climbing Kilimanjaro is something that I’ve always wanted to do. I love cycling and I’m passionate about Africa. Having the opportunity to combine all of these, while giving back to the communities that we will encounter en route, I didn’t have to think twice to join Warrick and Camilla [Kernes],” says Pickering.
The addition of Pickering will see a few changes to their original plans, like the enhancement of their photography, social sharing and maybe even the possibility of permanent documentation of the events.
“Gareth is already active on social media and through his online business and blog. He's a passionate photographer, and will be posting frequent updates and photos on his blog and social platforms. He also plans to write a book about the adventure,” says Camilla Kernes, one third of the #Joburg2Kili trio.
Besides adding an extra body, the increase in fundraising for
Qhubeka is another development the campaign has seen in recent weeks.
“We have now raised just over R80 000 from friends, family and corporate donations for Qhubeka so we have nearly reached our target of R100 000.”
“We are so grateful for all the support received so far for this great initiative. We were also able to attend a Qhubeka Distribution day on Wednesday, 23 June in Alexandra which was fantastic to be part of to see how this NPO is really making a difference in communities. In terms of personal fundraising, we are still open to any corporates that are keen to get behind our Joburg2Kili expedition to assist with the overall costs of the trip,” says Camilla.
Above everything else, physical and mental preparation is the key to making a success of the expedition. Camilla has been hard at work preparing for the tough journey that lies ahead, finishing her first ever Comrades Marathon and gaining mental toughness along the way.
“I believe that having completed [the] Comrades, it has given me a self-confidence boost going into the Joburg2Kili expedition as I know I have the mental strength to push through pain and just keep on moving forward. I think this mental strength will be invaluable on this journey,” she says.
A hard core expedition like #Joburg2Kili can require many aspects of preparation, especially when it’s a physically straining expedition. This is why Camilla and Warrick decided to test out their bikes on longer distances, since they will be riding up to 135km a day during their expedition.
“Warrick and I went for our first 100km ride on the Qhubeka Buffalo bicycles on Youth Day. It was a lot tougher than we both expected and it took almost double the time to ride this distance compared to riding on our road bikes, so it was a long day out on the bikes.”
In addition to taking first aid courses, getting used to the bikes and daily distances, the team went away on a training camp weekend to the Pilansberg Game Reserve to test their camping equipment and to get to know each other.
The time is ticking away, and as Saturday, 30 July approaches, the team is making final arrangements for their send-off, with more details to follow.