Philanthropic Journey to Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro

“I’ve dis­cov­ered that for those who try to climb Kili, the moun­tain is almost always a metaphor. You climb it not just to reach the sum­mit, but to prove some­thing to your­self,” says Richard Wiese, for­mer pres­i­dent of The Explor­ers Club.  “How­ever, for thought­ful trav­el­ers, there is a respon­si­bil­ity to research and choose a com­pany that prac­tices and pro­motes respon­si­ble, sus­tain­able tourism.”

Wiese and Aber­crom­bie & Kent came together to cre­ate Mount Kil­i­man­jaro: To the Sum­mit on a Mis­sion. This phil­an­thropic jour­ney gives trav­el­ers the chance to explore Tan­za­nia while giv­ing some­thing back as they deliver the third in a series of weather sta­tions to mon­i­tor the cli­mate changes affect­ing Kilimanjaro.

Wiese will point out the changes he has seen on the moun­tain over the years due to global warm­ing. “Peo­ple who take a trip like this are look­ing for more than just adven­ture and chal­lenge,” adds Wiese. “They want to be involved in a project that is related to under­stand­ing how global warm­ing is chang­ing our world. This is impor­tant sci­en­tific research that is being sup­ported by tourism dollars.”

Aber­crom­bie & Kent was recently rec­og­nized as a Part­ner for Respon­si­ble Travel by the Inter­na­tional Moun­tain Explor­ers Con­nec­tion (IMEC),  a not-for-profit orga­ni­za­tion whose mis­sion is to pro­mote respon­si­ble and sus­tain­able con­nec­tions between trav­el­ers and the peo­ple of devel­op­ing moun­tain regions of the world.

Since much of a climber’s suc­cess in sum­mit­ing Mt. Kil­i­man­jaro depends on the assis­tance of the porters, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy has pledged ongo­ing sup­port for IMEC’s Kil­i­man­jaro Porter Assis­tance Project, which seeks to improve their work­ing con­di­tions by:
• Pro­vid­ing indi­vid­ual porters with warm, high-quality cloth­ing free of charge.
• Offer­ing free Eng­lish lan­guage, first aid, and HIV/AIDS aware­ness classes.
• Edu­cat­ing guests about accept­able stan­dards of porter treatment.

Mt. Kil­i­man­jaro: To the Sum­mit on a Mis­sion is sched­uled for Decem­ber 27, 2009 through Jan 8, 2010 with Richard Wiese; thir­teen days from $7,795, plus $1,200 dona­tion (tax deductible) required.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit Aber­crom­bie & Kent or call 1-(800) 554‑7094.