Although I’d already climbed the 7 Summits (highest mountain on each continent), when I summited Kilimanjaro (highest mountain in Africa) in 2004, I didn’t have my Knight Frank flag. So I returned in 2023 to take the flag to the summit.
Normally Kili takes a week to climb. However, we decided to attempt it Alpine Flash (fast) and in 2023 we summited Kili in a single epic push which took, round trip, 33hrs. From the park gate, to summit, and back to the gate, we covered a 30 mile round trip and scaled 2 miles in height, summiting at 19,340ft.
Rolfe Oostra was outstanding as lead guide, supported by Julio Ludago and the local porters. Equally as important (if not more so) were incredible logistics by Marni Oostra of 360 Expeditions and her team (plane connections, food supplies, supplementary oxygen, tents and much more). We summited Kili on 5th August 2023 at 6am BST and door to door, literally, back home to Leicestershire in 79hrs (Thursday-Sunday).
