VIDEO: Father and son Kilimanjaro climb starts with Centurion photograph

A Centurion photographer recently captured a unique moment embodying the excitement and adventure of climbing mount Kilimanjaro, Rekord Centurion reports.

The special picture, taken by professional photographer Peter Morey, is of Sello Hatang and his 10-year-old son, Tshego. This father-and-son team will be reaching the summit of this iconic mountain in Tanzania on women’s day on Thursday, 9 August.

Hatang and Tshego will be part of a team of ten climbers.

It will be the third time that Sello will be climbing the mountain, which is the highest in Africa. However, it will be the first time for his son.

The expedition is part of an initiative started in 2012 by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to raise funds to keep girls in school by providing them with sanitary towels, said Hatang.

“The first climb took place in 2012 and I completed my first expedition in 2015 as a member of the Tutu Fellowship,” he said.

Hatang plans to climb the mountain every year until 2020, by which time he will have helped two million girls stay in school.

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The team has already began their climb, having kicked off this year’s expedition on Sunday. This day also marked the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s capture and imprisonment in 1962.

“We kicked off with Madiba in mind and the difficult time he went through,” said Hatang.

“At the end we hope to have the same sense of freedom he had when we reach the summit.”

However, the man of the hour is definitely 10-year-old Tshego.

“The plan was to only climb the mountain together when Tshego turned 18,” said Hatang.

“However, last year he came across an article about an eight-year-old girl who did the climb. He showed it to me and said he would be 10 this year and he insisted on coming with.”

Tshego has been very enthusiastic, especially when it comes to his training. Hatang told the media he is looking forward to sharing this year’s climb with his son.

“All that parents can do is try to instil a sense of service into their children and that is what I am hoping to achieve,” said Hatang.

However, he will be hard pressed to keep pace with Tshego, who is already proving to be difficult to keep up with.

“He recently completed 15 rounds of the Westcliff Steps in Johannesburg and the rest of the team were still busy with round six. So at one stage he turned and asked me, ‘Dad, how long does it take you guys to do one round?’”

Morey became involved after he heard that Tshego was attempting the climb.

“I had taken photographs for the Nelson Mandela Foundation in the past, so when Sello told me that his son would be climbing Kilimanjaro I said we simply must take a photograph to celebrate that,” said Morey.

“Tshego is a little hero and we salute him and his father for their fantastic cause.”

Morey wished both father and son the best of luck. He urged Tshego to bring back photographs and memories to share with his friends and family back home.