Lydia, one of Roundabout’s Kilimanjaro trekkers, shares stories from her time on the mountain.

Going into our trek I didn’t have any expectations in the sense that I hadn’t really done any research around what the days might be like as I wanted to go in with an open mind (and not freak myself out beforehand!) One of the main things that surprised me was how different the sights and terrain were each day, I had expected that after the first day things might be a bit desolate but it was from it. Everyday we saw new plants, wildlife and incredible views.

Unfortunately, I have to be that annoying person and say that I didn’t feel like I particularly struggled, apart from a brief stint of altitude sickness, but I would credit a large part of that to being a part of such a great group. A particular shout out is owed to Sarah on that one! I was lucky enough to have my partner, family and close friends on this trip and that really enhanced my experience. I also spent a lot of time with our mountain guides and learning about their day to day lives in Tanzania which was interesting, one of them had been up Kilimanjaro around 200 times so they had plenty of information to share with us.

A highlight for me was the mountain team singing us the ‘Kilimanjaro song’, there was such a sense of community and sheer happiness it was really moving.

It felt like such a privilege to be on the trip and have the experiences we did, it is without a doubt the best thing I have ever done.

We were thrilled to make, and since surpass, our fundraising goal and managed to have a lot of fun with this along the way. The highlight was a charity 5-aside football tournament (accompanied by a bake sale for post-match treats) that was just a really fun day and a great way to get all of our friends together. We are incredibly lucky to have an amazing friend whose employer could do match funding, we really could not have done it without them. My mum also gave being a fundraiser a go and contacted pretty much everyone she knew to ask for donations, I think maybe this could have been her vocation in another life!