Freelance writer Sean O’Toole, well known to Sunday Times readers, has joined an Kilimanjaro expedition which hopes raise awareness of melting glaciers and the plight faced by coffee farmers on the mountain’s lower slopes.

The expedition, led by top SA mountaineer Sean Wisedale, is heading up the tougher Umbwe route.

Kilimanjaro’s melting ice cap is directly threatening Tanzania’s coffee farmers who rely on the glacier melt for water for their coffee trees which they grow under the forest canopy on the mountain’s slopes. The 8-day climb is being funded by Woolworths, which has a mentoring programme for Tanzanian coffee farmers and sources organic green coffee beans from Kilimanjaro Native Co operative Union (KNCU).

The crew are currently on the second day of the climb, making their way through the rain forest.

You can follow the expedition at http://ow.ly/3D0TQ

PHOTO: Jenna van Schoor and Sean O’Toole, right, take a breather on the mountain

Kilimanjaro: Coffee climbers head for the high ground | The Wanderer.