Mike Climbs Kilimanjaro for Rooted, Malawi’s farmer and family-first tree planting project

Mike and Monkton Combe School are part of Rooted. An incredible community of supporters of our tree planting project, who meet every month online with the team in Malawi. They talk to farmers, see forests growing and strategies develop and share with us the highs and lows of everyday life.

It’s real-time practical giving.

We think Rooted is a one-of-a-kind giving opportunity.

Just like our tree planting strategy.

Tree planting with us is different because we put farmers and rural families at the centre of reforestation. We don’t mass-plant on bought-up land. We enable people to benefit from trees through sustainable management, micro-business and trees providing better household resources, allowing household money to go further.

Mike and his son Jake, who spent time volunteering with the tree project, climbed the infamous Kilimanjaro. They raised funds for families in Malawi partnering with our tree planting project.

We asked Mike for a first-hand account of his experience.

Having grown up in Malawi, travelled there with Monkton School and been a committed member of the Rooted community, he draws amazing parallels, differences and observational thoughts between Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania.

Donate to Mike’s fundraising page here.

“Having flown over Kilimanjaro so many times over the last fifty years I decided it was time to climb the mountain! Jake kindly agreed to come along and we both wanted to raise some money for the Fisherman's Rest Rooted project.

Our first glimpse of the mountain was as we came into Moshi after a ten-hour ride in a minibus from Nairobi and the first thought was that it looks way higher in real life than any pictures can convey! It did generate a little bit of apprehension in us but also excitement.

Driving down from Nairobi we were able to compare the countryside of Kenya and Tanzania with that of Malawi. Both countries are much bigger and more developed than Malawi and trees were way more abundant. All the hills and small mountains were still very much more forested and only occasionally did you see guys on bikes with charcoal sacks on the saddles. Most houses had electricity, even in rural areas.

Driving to the gate to begin our trek up the mountain we passed many small villages and hamlets. Each house tended to have banana, mango and papaya trees next to them and watermelons were grown in abundance. Though the lower slopes of the mountain had soft ash soils there were no signs of major soil erosion. There were large estates of eucalyptus and pine trees and it was interesting to see agri-cropping with carrots and onions planted between the trees. The soil is highly fertile and it seems yields of these two cash crops (sold in local markets) are very high all year round as the climate is unchanging.

Despite being a very popular draw to tourists it was clear that there has been a real effort to preserve vegetation on Kilimanjaro. The rainforest on the lower slopes showed little sign of deforestation (unlike Mulanje in Malawi); the forest was thick and impenetrable. After a five-hour hike through the forest the moorland vegetation suddenly succeeded the trees at around 3000m (the height of Sapitwa on Mulanje!) followed not long afterwards by the Alpine Desert at 4000m. We spent four days skirting round Kibo, the main peak of Kilimanjaro in the alpine region, often passing giant lobelia and groundsel shrubs. The air was cold but the sunlight was intense being so close to the equator.

After several days of acclimatisation we reached Barafu Camp (4670m) late morning, had lunch and then rested until 10pm before beginning the night ascent to Uhuru Peak at the summit of the mountain. It was cold and our water bottles iced up. The darkness and sensation of sleepiness made you feel a touch disorientated but at around 5.30am dawn began to break and though breathing hard once above 5000m we were spurred onto the famous sign telling us we had reached Africa's highest point! The views were amazing. We were way above the clouds and the air was crystal clear.

Having had about 15 mins at the peak and feeling rather jaded we faced a seven-hour descent (with a lunch break!) back down to 4000m and back in the moorland vegetation. The final morning was a very pleasant descent back through the rainforest to Mweka Gate to have lunch and celebrate the end of our trek.

There is a real sense of satisfaction having reached the top of Kilimanjaro. While it is, essentially, an eight-day walk to Uhuru Peak you are challenged physically and mentally, particularly on the last two days.

It was excellent to raise some money for the Rooted Project at FR. It is clear that Tanzania has certainly made an effort to keep as many trees as possible though there must be areas where deforestation is a problem in the country. In the bus coming away from the mountain back towards Moshi we drove through a huge coffee estate for several kilometres and it was amazing to see that the plantation still had many of its large thorn trees growing between the endless rows of coffee bushes."

If you’re amazed at Mike's insights, or you're wondering how or why he notes a difference in soil erosion and the plentiful fruit trees he saw, then your curiosity will be met by Rooted. If you’d like to join or learn more, click the button below or drop us an email.

If you’d like to fundraise for communities in Malawi and our work click here and drop us an email.