Celebrating life on Mt.Meru

They conquered Mt. Meru, got the pictures and got the certificate, but Margaret (Mags) Westerhof does not want to climb a mountain again any time soon.

“It was fantastic, but it was excruciating,” said Westerhof.

Ballito businesswoman Westerhof and five ladies from the Celebrate Life NGO decided to climb Mt. Meru to raise funds for the Thula Thula Rhino Fund.

“Cherry Armstrong, who is the head of Celebrate Life, is a crazy nutter! She put together a phenomenal team, but I told her that if she ever asks me to climb another mountain I will delete her permanently,” said Westerhof.

“We climbed for four to six hours a day because it is a steep gradient right from the start to finish. It was so difficult and your body takes a real knock,” she said.

Westerhof was almost ordered to turn back after suffering from altitude sickness, but when she saw the flag at the top of the mountain, she got a spring in her step and was determined to summit.

“I begged Cherry not to send me back down. I was so close, there was no way I was not getting to the top.”

The whole team reached the summit and Westerhof said they could not have asked for better conditions.

“I kept a diary every day, because when you come back you forget the struggles, the challenges and the beauty that you experienced up that mountain,” she said.

“Climbing a mountain is a once in a lifetime experience and even though I do not want to climb a mountain ever again after this, I probably will!”

The soles of her hiking boots came off at summit and after the duct tape gave out she had to descend with the slippers that her grandfather gave her.

“That did not even bother me, I got to the top of Mt. Meru and no one could take that away from me.”

Westerhof said it was a real challenge physically and mentally but that it was an experience like none other.

“I just realised that when you are at your lowest point and think there is no way that you can carry on, you have got much more left in you than you could have ever imagined.”