Thabang and Catherine are currently climbing the Machame Route on Mount Kilimanjaro, led by travel specialists Wild Frontiers. The small team of eight climbers opted for a longer nine-day route, allowing more time to acclimatise and thereby increase their chances of summiting.

The route has taken the climbers through montane rainforest dense with vegetation, into sparse moorlands with hanging mosses covering trees. They have walked through alpine desert with fewer trees and more rocks, onto the ' Garden of Senecias' where otherworldy senecio plants stand to attention. Yesterday (Sep 10th) they passed through inhospitable 'moonscape' terrain, where sedimentary rock litters the ground like shards of mirror.

Today (Sep 11th) will be a long, hard climb to the crater rim, descending into the crater to Crater Camp (5,700m), where only around five percent of climbers overnight. The team will sleep alongside the Furtwangler Glacier, so it will be very cold with temperatures dropping to -20C.

Tomorrow morning (Sep 12th) before sunrise the climbers will set off on their final ascent to summit Uhuru Peak (5,895m). The team will spend around 15 minutes at the highest point in Africa - watching the rising sun, taking in the view and snapping a few photographs - before they must begin their descent.

On Thursday afternoon the team will return to Moshi where DJ Fresh of 5FM will be waiting to start the live radio broadcast from Tanzania. Be sure to listen to the Fresh Drive from 16:00 – 19:00 (Thursday, 13 Sept) to hear all about the Kilimanjaro experience.

Thabang and the team arrive at OR Tambo International on Friday, 14 September, at 13:10 - please join us there to welcome them home.

And please visit www.thelonelyroad.org to:

· pledge your support for The Lonely Road Foundation

· make an online donation

· read updates and view photographs from the Challenge

· order your Lonely Road branded jacket or fleece

Catherine is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in support of the Lonely Road Challenge.  If you’d like to join DJ Fresh in pledging your support to this worthy cause, please complete the pledge form.