Kingfisher Lodge
by Lourens Schoeman

In the middle of the Karoo one of the most striking and tourist-friendly guest houses, Kingfisher Lodge, has already established itself as a major local and international attraction.

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It's the test of time
Saturday Star, 3 October 1998

Along with the sources of the Nile, these mountains held a magnetic attraction for some of the world's greatest 19th century explorers. Kilimanjaro was first sighted by a European in 1884, Mt Kenya the following year, and the Ruwenzoris in 1874. The summits of Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya were climbed in the last decade of the 19th century and the major peaks in the Ruwenzoris in 1906. In a sense, the Three Peaks mountaineers are perpetuating a tradition of African discovery that, in half a century of frantic exploration, brought to a close 2 000 years of legend and conjecture. But symbolically, there is something very different about this challenge.

Of course the peaks have become a great deal more accessible than they were when first climbed. Still, a century from now, these modern explorers may also be remembered not just as the scalers of Africa's three highest peaks, or even as the first all-African teams to take on the triple challenge, but as African mountaineers who celebrated their Africanness in doing so.

The Three Peaks Challenge uniquely combines a trilogy of dream seven to 10 day high-altitude expeditions culminating in a January 1, 2000 ascent of Africa's highest peak with an awareness campaign covering several major new millennium issues.

These include African renaissance, outcomes-based education, biodiversity and tourism. On a practical level, the main ascents, support treks and a programme of public involvement in between and during the flagship events emphasise the teaching, through adventure, of life skills to disadvantaged youth and their teachers.

Conceived as a collaborative effort between community workers, teachers, school children, adventure athletes and adventure trainers and consultants, the campaign is in line with current thinking at the Department of Sport and Recreation, which is supporting adventure industry efforts to set national training and safety standards, but also to introduce disadvantaged South Africans to the benefits of organised outdoor recreation and adventure.

A number of places in the Three Peaks expeditions are reversed for sponsored participants from poor communities. The challenge was officially launched this week on Wednesday in Johannesburg. The flagship ascents will be led by two well-known South African mountaineers. The overall expedition leader is Deshun Deysel. Former teacher Deysel (28), is the first black South African woman to have climbed on Everest, reaching advanced base camp (6500m). She has been a community worker focusing on introducing disadvantaged youth to the benefits of outdoor adventure and is also a motivational speaker. The Three Peaks Mountaineering Consultant is Alex Harris of Adventure Dynamics. Harris has climbed major peaks throughout the world and has twice exceeded 7 000m on Everest.

The summitting of Margerita in the Ruwenzoris and Batian on Mt Kenya requires a degree of technical climbing. Although the highest of the three peaks and presenting an arduous scramble on the final stretch to the top, Kibo on Mt Kilimanjaro does not involve a technical climbing challenge. Not all expedition members need to take part in technical climbing; some may trek only to base camp and lend support there.

Actually summitting is just one of many rewards of taking on the challenge. Trekkers on the high equatorial mountains of Africa move from the tropics to the tundra and back again in less than a week. The trekker may traverse savanna grassland, rainforest, Afro-alpine moorland and wide areas of bare rock and ice.

On the forested lower slopes elephant and buffalo may be encountered. But the thin air environments represent "the other Africa", and hold very different attractions.

Higher up, the vast range of vegetation types on these mountains support a large variety of less familiar animals. Among these are the distinctive black and white colobus monkey and the highly endangered, rarely sighted chimpanzee (which occurs in the Ruwnzoris).

All the flagship treks are preceded by sponsored team-building breakaways to Mt Everest Game Reserve, Harrismith, where the members take part in "self-achievement courses" closely facilitated high ropes experience, which is designed to identify true strengths and weaknesses in the group, and to initiate a bonding process that is the best guarantee of expedition success.

Expedition members recently took part in the reintroduction of the Primitive Wilderness Trail in Umfolozi Game reserve, where they were taught aspects of eco-adventure - bush interpretation and minimum impact adventure travel.

Adventure Weekends for the public, during which participants undergo some high ropes training at Mt Everest, is another facet of the campaign.

General enquiries:
Three Peaks base 1: Tel: (011) 784 0130, Fax: (011) 783 6715.
For enquiries regarding sponsorship contact Integrated Communications, Fax: (011) 880 9272.
To apply for expedition membership:
e-mail: adgeo@gem.co.za or Fax: (012) 349 1734.
The Three Peaks Internet newsletter can be found at:
http://www.adventuregeographic.co.za