In 2008 I was hired by Intrepid Travel to write lively, evocative copy for the 2009 brochure series and for the web. This short piece introduced the company’s series of Kilimanjaro treks.

Feel like a hero on Mt Kilimanjaro’s summit at dawn, watching rosy light sparkle across snow-dusted peaks and endless plains far below. Conquering all 5,895 m is absolutely exhilarating – but it’s also humbling to be dwarfed by a landscape containing almost every climate on earth.

Pass surreal caves and desert moonscapes, lush forests ringing with birdsong and the chatter of monkeys, extraordinary moorlands of hanging moss, alpine lakes and rolling heather meadows.

Sure, it’s a challenging trek, but you don’t need to be a hardened mountaineer to experience euphoria on the very roof of Africa.