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Why climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Everest and more?

Saray Khumalo became the first black African woman to climb and summit Mt. Everest in 2019

"Every one of us has his or her personal mountain to climb. It might not be Everest or it might not be a physical mountain. Yours might be in the boardroom, on a bicycle, in your family, at school... There's always something we need to achieve. Something big, something difficult and something meaningful... And when you get there, remember to be thankful and reach down and pull someone else up with you."

Africa has its fair share of mountains ranges – the Rwenzoris, the Drakensburgs, The Atlas mountains, the Nuba, Mt Kenya, and of course Mt. Kilimanjaro.

They all form a nice backdrop, but very few look at them and say: β€œI’m going to go and climb that mountain!” Those who do lace up their hiking boots and set out to conquer those mountains are a special group – the mountaineer extra-ordinaries.

But one woman is in a league of her own. Saray Khumalo has done all there’s to do with African mountains and once that was done and dusted, she turned her gaze to Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on earth at 8,849m.

But that wasn’t enough. She recently travelled to the South Pole, and she’s now planning her trip in the opposite direction – the North Pole.

Presenter: Victoria Uwonkunda
Guest: Saray Khumalo

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17 minutes

Podcast