Sunrise On Africa's Peaks

A friend and Berg buddy of mine, Karen Hauptfleish, is currently in Chad and will climb the country's highest peak Emi Koussi (3445m) in the next few days.

She is aiming to climb the highest peak in every African country. This has only been achieved once before, by Ginge Fullen, and they are together on the current trip.

She is one tough cookie! On several occasions I have seen her take stuff out of other hikers packs (including men) who were struggling up a Berg pass. Many times I have also seen her carry out big bags of litter strapped to her pack.

There has been some previous coverage on VE about her exploits:
www.vertical-endeavour.com/blog/84-general/sunrise-on-africas-peaks.html

She is the hard-working founder of SoapKidz a charity that works with vulnerable children and teaches them about the environment. She is very passionate about litter clean-ups in the mountains. Don't ever dare let her catch you dropping a piece of paper in the Berg!

Check out the SoapKidz website:
www.soapkidz.org/

This particular page details her Africa project:
www.soapkidz.org/Africa/Default.htm

Will post updates. And this isn’t the only country she is visiting on this trip.

Latest update from Karen and the team yesterday was that they had covered 21km in 8 hard hours and are now at the base of Emi Koussi. I am not entirely sure when the actual climb begins.

Here is a link to an eNCA snippet on SOAPKidz and her current trip to Chad:
www.enca.com/africa/hope-soap

She was also interviewed by John Robbie on 702 a few days before she left.

The team did summit yesterday. Congratulations to them!

This is Karen's progress to date:

Latest update from Karen:

Greetings from the Sahara Desert! We are back in Ouiyanga Kabir (Lake Yoa) after leaving here nearly ten days ago. After being in the desert in Mauritania in 2010, I really hated the sand and this harsh environment, however after the last four weeks I have changed my mind. I am starting to love the desert and all it has to offer. The sand is not dirty and I cannot stop looking up at the night sky to see the stars and the shooting stars. This is truly a remarkable place.

I haven't washed my hair for over 10 days due to the water restrictions and must admit it is starting to bother me now! I have been called mad after proposing a dance on top off the mountains, but that is how you all know me!

I am in such a good space and cannot think of anywhere else I would rather be! AIWIA (All Is Well In Africa), Madame Afrika

(She has earned the nickname Madame Afrika)