Pune mountaineers hoist the Tricolour on Africa’s highest Mount Kilimanjaro

On August 15, a team of 7 mountaineers from Pune-based Giripremi Adventure Foundation hoisted the Indian Tricolour on Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, to commemorate India’s Independence Day.

Located in Tanzania, near the Kenya border, Mount Kilimanjaro stands tall at 19,341 feet (5,895 metres) and is one of the Seven Summits, the highest peaks in each of the seven continents.

The team, led by GAF’s mountaineer Ankit Sohoni, included Shashikant Hiremath, Subhash Pawar, Mangesh Gokhale, Aniruddh Deshpande, Vaibhavi Deshmukh, and Anjali Hazari. They reached the summit after an 11-hour climb and hoisted the Indian flag at 10:35 am, singing the national anthem.

At 68, Anjali Hazari was the oldest person in the group to scale the peak.

Other team members, including Asawari Joshi, Sucheta Mohite, Vikram Daundkar, and Sanjay Bhapkar, reached Stella Point at a height of 5,756 metres; while Medha Medsikar, Sharmila Fernandes, Madhavi Renuse, and Sangeeta Shalgar accompanied the team up to an altitude of 4,800 metres.