On 7 January 2012, a team of ten people - comprising Italtile employees, associates, and volunteers from the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) - climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds to rebuild the Plettenberg Bay NSRI Station and buy much needed equipment for the Knysna Station.
The Italtile Kilimanjaro expedition was launched to support the NSRI, whose volunteers recovered the wreckage of a PC-12 aircraft that was carrying nine people, including Italtile employees, suppliers and two pilots. The plane crashed off Plettenberg Bay's Robberg Nature reserve on 8 February 2011, killing all on-board. The expedition is being undertaken in memory of those who lost their lives in the crash, and the volunteers who worked tirelessly for days to ensure an exhaustive recovery operation.
The team hiked along the seven-day Machame route, ascending through Machame Camp, Shira, Barranco, Karanga, the Barafu Hut, and finally summiting on Uhuru peak at 19,341 feet, or 5895 meters, above sea level and reached the snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, known as the "roof of Africa", the team walked close to 100 kilometres throughout the week, passing through five different ecosystems, from rain forest to arctic tundra, and temperatures ranging from 30 degrees celcius to -15 degrees celcius.
The team members include Tasmin Mulder, Vivienne Pepper, Meagan Murray, Monika Matika, Josie Gaglio, Scott Wilkinson, Daniel Munslow, Brett Pepper, Darren Berry, and Marc Rodgers.
To date, over R700,000 has been raised through this initiative. To donate R10 SMS KILI to 38770 (R10/sms) or visit www.nsri.org.za, click on "DONATE NOW" and use 'KILI' as the project/reference.
Source: www.prlog.org
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