Exploradus
Kilimanjaro Climb and Safari
Exploradus is proud to offer you this unique collaboratory expedition to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro followed by a wildlife safari. This trip is supported by Endeavor Expeditions with a daily yoga practice.
Imagine traveling over dry, arid African plains inhabited by a large variety of wildlife. Everything is flat, not a hill in sight until Kilimanjaro. Considered one of the world’s most massive extinct volcanoes, Kilimanjaro is a mountain all its own. With a vertical gain from the plains to the summit being over 15,000 ft., Kilimanjaro is the world’s highest freestanding mountain. With an unprecedented elevation gain, climbing Kilimanjaro is a spectacle of diversity as one traverses its many ecosystems and climactic changes. Enhanced with complex volcanic geology and glaciations, Kilimanjaro offers a brilliant encounter with the mystery and awe of nature. Our extraordinary team is enhanced by the inclusion of a certified Yoga instructor providing all the physical and spiritual benefits of yoga practice in the wilderness. Your cultural immersion is completed by experiencing the wonders of Tarangire National Park. It is home to all of Tanzania’s most iconic animals, from the diminutive dik-dik, towering African elephants and giraffes, to the epic huge flocks of pink flamingos at Lake Manyara. You will see the Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest inactive, unbroken and unfilled volcanic caldera.
The climb follows the Lemosho Route to the summit, one of the least traveled routes on Kilimanjaro. It is also the longest route at 90 km, allowing the team a good chance to fully acclimatize.
Yoga Offerings – complimenting your climb and safari:
- Post-travel (70 minute) yoga class to help relieve jet lag
- Mountain morning pre-trek sun salutations mixed with Vinyasa Flow, to include dynamic stretching with trekking poles
- Mountain afternoon post-trek yoga cool-downs, including restorative stretches with yoga straps
- Potential chair yoga in community tent during inclement weather
Yoga potentially provides the following benefits:
- Improves concentration and endurance while climbing
- Builds pre-trek energy by igniting the agni (fire) in the body
- Provides cooling effects for post-trek recovery
- Strengthens ligaments and tendons allowing for greater balance on uneven terrain
- Supports high altitude lung function, blood pressure and brain function
- Provides improved circulation to all fatigued extremities during treks
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Team Leaders
Expert Expedition Leadership — Jim Williams
Jim Williams founded Exploradus in 1985. He’s has been touted as the Ernest Shackleton (a renegade Polar explorer of the 1900s) of our time. From successfully guiding the Seven Summits (the highest mountains of each of the seven continents) in under one year, to retracing Shackleton’s epic crossing of South Georgia Islands in the hazardous Antarctic to co-leading the first Ski Expedition to the South Pole, Jim has earned a world-class reputation as an explorer and mountain guide.
Jim has been honored numerous times for his prowess and dedication: recipient of the National Park Service Search and Rescue Award – 2003; Named a member in 2005 of the “Durable Dozen” in Best Life Magazine (along with Ulysses Grant, Ernest Shackleton, Chuck Yeager, and others) for Seven Summits guiding achievement; the prestigious Explorers Club – 2009 Lowell Thomas Award; and the 2009 Exum Award for Excellence in the Art of Guiding Jim is also an AMGA Certified Alpine and Rock Guide.
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Facebook: Exploradus
Wilderness Leadership from Soldier to Explorer — Jim Sumpter
Jim Sumpter has over 25 years expedition experience across four continents, both leading and guiding in remote and global locales. Following years of training and deploying elite Army recon teams across foreign deployments, Jim embarked on his civilian pursuit of exploration and discovery. He is a Certified Wilderness Instructor for the Professional Association of Wilderness Guides and Instructors (PAWGI) in South and Central America. Jim also offers numerous military qualifications in wilderness leadership and advanced warfare. He is a member of the Explorers Club.
Jim is also a certified leader in the world’s leading Duke of Edinburgh International Youth Award, and was recognized by HRH Prince Edward for his leadership mentoring young adults.
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Instagram: sumpterjim
International Yoga Teacher — Kristi Paxton
Meet Kristi Paxton, our world-class Certified Yoga Instructor (RYT500) with a truly global background. Her initial yoga instructor training began in 2011 at Balance Health Studio in Seagrove, Florida with a certification in Vinyasa Flow Yoga. Following ownership of a successful yoga studio and teaching nationally with Wanderlust International Yoga Festival, Kristi took her passion for global adventure and a pursuit of advanced, anatomy-based yoga studies internationally with Yoga Medicine 2013 (@yoga_medicine). Yoga Medicine is a global community of instructors who teach a fusion of science and research with traditional practices and experience.
Her additional certifications include: SUP Yoga Instructor, BogaFit Master Trainer and Sound Healer.
