Following their graduation in December, two childhood friends UW-Madison seniors will attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro—the tallest mountain in Africa.
UW-Madison seniors Brianna Bakker and Julia Piernot of New Berlin, Wis., decided a trip to the 19,340-foot tall Mount Kilamanjaro, which is located in Tanzania, would be a great way to end their college years.
“We decided now is the time to take a trip before we have to get real jobs and settle down,” Bakker said.
Bakker first heard about trips to Mount Kilimanjaro in an article featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about a mother and daughter who climbed it together. Since August, the two girls have been looking for a company that is dependable and inexpensive for them to make the trip.
“We wanted something challenging,” Piernot said. “We wanted to go on a vacation in some aspects but we also want to feel like we were accomplishing something after graduation.”
This led them to Adventures Within Reach, a company that sends thousands of people each year on treks and cultural tours to Tanzania, Peru, Galapagos and the Himalayas.
“For us, adventure is really defined as activity, culture and nature,” said AWR President Robin Paschall. “Most of the people who do it have done nothing remotely like it before. It’s definitely a life changing experience.”
Paschall said AWR has interest from many students right after graduation who want to do a big trip before they join the workforce.
AWR differs from other travel groups because the company’s groups are small, usually four to five people, and participants can start any day of the year opposed to choosing pre-set departure dates. The company also started a non-profit organization in Tanzania to help a local orphanage, which participants can volunteer at during their stay.
Bakker and Piernot will be climbing the Rongai Route, one of the less traveled routes on the mountain. The seven-day trek begins on the north side of the mountain, which borders Kenya.
Bakker said she is most worried about altitude sickness, while Piernot has focused more on conditioning for the hike, making sure her body can handle the climb.
“We picked this trip verses another sort of vacation because we wanted to challenge ourselves in a place we weren’t familiar with,” Piernot said. “We encourage other people to take trips different from other experiences they’re used to and open their eyes to the world.”
