Why Climb Kilimanjaro for Charity?

Every year thousands of people climb Mount Kilimanjaro for their own personal reasons. Mount Kilimanjaro, located in Tanzania, is one of the seven summits and the highest peak in Africa (19,345 feet tall). Mount Kilimanjaro has high name recognition and a reputation for being an arduous, demanding trek. Yet surprisingly, climbing Kilimanjaro is possible for nearly anyone who has a reasonable level of fitness and training.

Therefore, to climb Kilimanjaro for charity is a high profile way to keep people interested in you, your expedition and ultimately - your charitable cause. Undoubtedly, the interest in the Kilimanjaro climb itself gives you the platform to communicate your message with far more frequency and greater magnitude than fundraising alone. And as people follow the months of your preparation, days of your travel and moments of your climb, you will have a captive audience for soliciting donations.

In recent years, there have been some well documented climbs on Kilimanjaro involving celebrities from all over the world.

In 2009, nine celebrities from the United Kingdom climbed Kilimanjaro with operator African Walking Company to raise money for Comic Relief, a British charity organization, to help the people of Africa. The celebrity group included Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating, Chris Moyles, Ben Shephard, Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh, Denise Van Outen, Fearne Cotton, and Alesha Dixon. Known as the BT Red Nose Climb, the event was covered extensively by BBC and raised a staggering 3.3 million British pounds (5.2 million US dollars).

In 2010, a group of American celebrities including Jessica Biel, Emile Hirsch, Kenna, Lupe Fiasco, Santigold and others climbed Mount Kiliamanjaro with operator Thomson Safaris to raise awareness and bring change to the global clean water crisis. The group raised money for the United Nations Foundation, Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, UN Refugee Agency, and PlayPumps International. The Summit on the Summit Expedition was filmed and televised by MTV.

Also in 2010, six celebrities from Hong Kong climbed Kilimanjaro with operator Ultimate Kilimanjaro to raise money and awareness against man-made climate change. The group included celebrity models Rosemary Vandenbroucke, Jocelyn Luko, Anthony Sandstrom, as well as Janice Chia, Jack Brockway and expedition leader Sean Lee Davies. The Project C:Change expedition raised HK$600,000.