WE DID IT!

Well, the moment we waited for for 6 months has finally been and gone. Team Panache successfully summited the highest mountain in Africa, one of the seven summits and the tallest free-standing mountain in the world: Mount Kilimanjaro!

To say I’m proud of the entire team is an understatement.

We persevered through the biggest physical challenge of all our lives. We came together as a team when times were tough and the air was thin. We lifted each other’s spirits and kept the vibes high even when it felt near impossible.

And most importantly, we did it all for Reuben’s Retreat.

If you’ve not seen our emails or socials talking about our Kilimanjaro trek, and haven’t heard of Reuben’s Retreat, let me share that with you now.

Reuben’s Retreat was founded in August 2012, just two days after Reuben Graham died aged 23 months. His Mummy Nicola created the charity to help others who are facing or already dealing with similar heartbreak. The wonderful hearts at Reuben’s Retreat walk side-by-side with families, offering emotional and practical support for parents and siblings bereaved of a child and for families of life-limited or -threatened children who face uncertain futures.

Around Christmas time in 2024, Panache Cruises founder James Cole had an idea. His 50th birthday was approaching, so he pledged to raise a minimum of £50,000 in 2025 for Reuben's Retreat, to help fund the renovation of their family retreat in Glossop. The fundraising page is still open if you would like to donate here.

A group of us jumped at the chance to join James on the adventure of a lifetime for a great cause and set about planning a trip to Tanzania to scale Africa’s tallest mountain.

We spent six months planning and fundraising and managed to surpass the £50,000 mark by May. What an achievement! Soon enough, the fifteen of us were meeting at Manchester airport, ready to board our flight to Tanzania.

Thus ensued two days of travelling, settling into our hotel in Moshi, meeting our wonderful local guides, our expedition leader from The Bucket List Company (huge shout out - they organised this whole trek for us!) and repacking our bags and rucksacks for the actual trekking part of the trip.

With Reuben’s Retreat in mind, we embarked on a six day hike through jungle, forest, desert and mountain landscapes, covering around 65km and more than 4,000m of elevation gain. We took the Marangu route which provided us with huts rather than tents to sleep in and, on average, climbed around 1,000m per day for four days.

I’ll skip past the details of each day and provide a selection of photos instead. The only thing to note is that as we progressed along the route, we all started to feel the effects of exercising at altitude…it was tough!

Summit night began at 11:30pm and after a snack and an hour’s nap, we spent seven hours hiking at a snail’s pace through the night. It was without a doubt the most difficult part of the entire trek; both mentally and physically. Sadly, just one of our team members didn’t make it and had to head back down. 

At 6:30am we watched the sun rise over the Serengeti and (most of us) regained a newfound energy and lease of life. Our lovely guides not only carried our backpacks for us, they also carried mugs and flasks of hot tea for us to enjoy before continuing on to reach our goal. We could finally see the summit, we were going to make it!

Another couple of hours of trudging through snow in -15C temperatures and we made it to the roof of Africa at 5,895m.

There were many tears shed at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and so much joy that we had succeeded. We were all so proud of what we had achieved for Reuben’s Retreat; we had put our bodies through something that so many can only dream of, and others are denied the opportunity to do. It is a humbling feeling and one that will remain with us all forever.

Sparing the details of our knee-breaking descent, we all returned safely to Moshi where we spent a much-needed day recovering. Pizza, safari beer, relaxation by the pool, music and dancing was very welcome after a grueling six-day trek.

We have now surpassed the £60,000 mark for our fundraising and have set a new goal of £75,000. So please, if you are impressed by our achievement (!) or would simply like to support a wonderful charity, Reuben’s Retreat, then we would all be incredibly grateful for any donation. You can find the link here.

Thank you!