Love on a mountain top

AS THE hit Diana Ross single goes ... there ain't no mountain high enough to stop company boss Raj Damani and his wife Shubha celebrating their love for each other.

Instead of a traditional party with family and friends to mark their 30th wedding anniversary the couple's hearts and heads remain firmly in the clouds ... in more ways than one!

For the pair hope to hold hands today on the summit of Africa's highest peak Mount Kilimanjaro and raise money for needy children.

Raj, 53, managing director of architectural aluminium company Arcal, said: "We take a great deal for granted, the food that we eat, the water that we drink. Some children in Africa never see a square meal in their lives and don't have clean water to drink.

"We feel privileged both for the lives we have and the chance to go on this journey so we decided to try to do some good at the same time."

The couple have two children, son Yajur, 25, and daughter Yagna, 23, and live in Saar.

Raj added: "We have always been an adventurous family, over the years we've tried lots of different things from glacier walking to sky-diving."

Adventurers Raj Damani and his wife Shubha, who is also a director at Arcal, were today making their dreams come true by reaching the peak of Africa's highest mountain.

"We've been talking about climbing Kilimanjaro for a long time, in fact we first came up with the idea around 15 years ago and we hoped to do it as a family but, you know how it is, various other things came along and we just didn't get round to it," explained Raj.

But as their 30th anniversary approached - traditionally celebrated with pearls - they decided it was time to take the challenge and for the last six months the intrepid duo have been undergoing some serious fitness training to prepare for their challenge on the 5,895m peak.

Raj explained: "To be honest we've both been, what you might call, fitness freaks for the last 20 years. But we've never climbed a mountain before and with this coming up we knew we needed to get really serious about training so we've been going to the gym for two to three hours a day."

Shubha added: "It has been quite a challenge but we are very excited and have had a lot of support from friends."

A typical workout starts with half an hour on the treadmill to warm up followed by an hour with a personal trainer concentrating on building lower body strength, then it's onto the cross trainer for around 45 minutes before a half hour of stretching to cool down.

And at weekends the pair have been donning climbing gear and rucksacks and trekking up the Jebel to get some climbing practice!

The Damanis started to scale Mount Kilimanjaro from the Tanzania side and the six-day 100km trip has involved camping out in mountain huts at night.

On the first day they climbed up through the rain forest to 2,700m, the second day took them up a further thousand metres at which point oxygen was halved and there was the danger of altitude sickness.

The third day, an extra time for added acclimatisation, involved a climb up to 4,600m and then back down to 3,700 and yesterday it was back up to 4,700m.

Today sees a night climb over steep screed and rock to reach the summit in time for a once-in-a-lifetime sunrise experience.

Raj said: "I'm told the downward journey involves a trek of around 18 hours down to basecamp.

"It sounds like hard work but we're really looking forward to it and to having a good look around while we're in Africa."

When they decided on the adventure, the couple, both originally from India, decided they didn't just want to have a holiday but rather would like to do some good at the same time.

So they are also using the trip to raise cash which they will donate to an African children's charity.

Raj said: "We decided to put our hands in our pockets and raise some cash too. We have not asked our friends and the people we do business with to sponsor us, but when we have explained what we are doing, many people have been very generous. So far we have raised just over BD4,000 which is brilliant.

"I gave a talk at the Rotary Club and they made a donation, we've also had gatherings at our home and there is still more money coming in so that's really good news.

"We haven't decided which charity we will give the money to yet, we will have a look round at the work that's being done while we are in Africa and make the decision when we return."

The couple will be reporting on their journey in a future edition of GulfWeekly.

l If you would like to contribute to the Damanis Kilimanjaro fund-raising call Wilma or Murli on 17701800