In our lat­est Trav­el Jour­nal, we inter­view fel­low Clymb mem­ber and avid adven­tur­er, Bill, about his incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence hik­ing Mt. Kil­i­man­jaro. Plus our very own Trav­el Pro­gram Coor­di­na­tor, Court­ney Ger­ard, tells us how her trek changed her per­cep­tions about group travel.

Trip High­lights
Tan­za­nia is full of wild­ly diverse ecosys­tems. As a self-pro­claimed nature geek, trekking through Kil­i­man­jaro’s lush forests, high­land val­leys, and expan­sive red deserts was a dream come true. When I pic­tured Africa I had this idea of sweep­ing plains stud­ded with baobab trees, and while we did get to see those amaz­ing land­scapes, Kil­i­man­jaro’s diverse ecosys­tems deliv­ered so much more.

Pleas­ant Surprises 

I’ve nev­er been one for group trav­el. I gen­er­al­ly find myself using trav­el as means of find­ing free­dom and I was hes­i­tant to get caught up in an orga­nized itin­er­ary. This expe­ri­ence real­ly changed my perceptions.

The peo­ple in our group were incred­i­ble and so full of life and wis­dom. From our guides singing to us as we hiked through the night to col­lec­tive­ly shed­ding tears as we watched the sun­rise over Kenya on the sum­mit, I could­n’t imag­ine this expe­ri­ence with­out their spir­it and encouragement.

Why One­Seed Expeditions?

Every time you book a trip with One­Seed, 10% of the trip cost goes back to local com­mu­ni­ties through micro-finance loans that help entre­pre­neurs start and grow their busi­ness­es. While I was there I was for­tu­nate enough to meet Judith, an entre­pre­neur who start­ed a bak­ery with the help of One­Seed funds. After years of hard work, she now employs over 250 indi­vid­u­als and has forged a path for women from rur­al vil­lages to gain valu­able work expe­ri­ence that will help them lead inde­pen­dent lives for many years to come. See­ing the pride on the faces of Judith’s crew was worth every penny.