A Reservoir Hills, Durban, resident is among a cohort of climbers who are attempting to summit Africa’s tallest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro this weekend, to raise funds for three charities.
At 58, the grandfather of a toddler and father of three adult children, is attempting a mean feat – scaling over 5 000 metres to the world’s 12th highest mountain peak – for the sake of charity, a bucket wish list item and to pay homage to a fallen fellow-hiker-climber.
A line floor manager at textile industry, Spinks Subramoney Isipingo, had set up a Facebook and WhatsApp accounts – headlined Kilimanjaro – after he and his two friends from his old hometown of Tongaat, retired teacher, Rajendran Pillay, 55, and fresh-produce dealer, Anesh Rampurtub, 57, embarked on the epic expedition at their own cost of R50 000 to summit the Uhuru peak of the famous snow-capped mountain.
All three hikers are new grandfathers.
The symbolic mountain memorial will be played out when the trio are expected to summit the 5 895-metre Uhuru peak atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on Sunday. So far they are making significant progress from one base camp to another until they reach their 40-minute window of opportunity at the summit.
On arrival in Moshe, Tanzania, after a long-haul overnight flight from Johannesburg to Addis Abba, Ethiopia, Subramoney began his hourly and daily postings of details and photographs that has already attracted keen interest and amassed a large following of family members and friends, well-wishers and donors for their charitable climb cause.
Social media was abuzz and in overdrive as hundreds of well-wishers and donors took to online platforms like Facebook to give the hikers and climbers the big thumbs-up for their inaugural expedition to remember prominent lawyer, Theasen Pillay, whose death in 2021 rocked the legal profession and the social-media community.
The regular road-runners and hikers are undertaking the mountain mission under the banner of the Natural Bourne Trekkers-RSA Club, a fledging movement aimed at encouraging people of colour to take to hiking and climb hills and mountains.
‘’As friends and fellow hiker-climbers, we are giving back to each other and the community and the funds raised during this climbing challenge will go towards worthy causes, and we will be planting the hiking stick of the late Theasen Pillay,’’ Subramoney said.
‘’The beneficiaries from our efforts will be the cash-strapped Verulam Day and Frail Care Centre, Krsna Goshala, a sanctuary for neglected cows and the Buffelsdale Secondary School that serves pupils from the poorest community belts of Tongaat,’’ he said.
The father of three adult children, daughters Natasha, 32, Kimeshnie, 27, and 29-year-old son, Segal, said his first expedition had received the support of his wife, Cindy, 58, and his family. In one of his postings, he posted a photograph of his grand-daughter, Leah, child of Tasha and Preshan Govender.
All three men are expected to be reunited with their respective families before Valentine’s Day after the final leg of their climb this weekend and then the long haul back home to Durban.
During this expedition, Theasen Pillay’s 69-year-old widowed mom, Navanayagee ‘’Babs’’ Pillay, of Durban North, took to social media and shared her deep sorrow and grief about the tragic death of her son who loved hiking trails and climbing mountains since 2018.
She is among other mothers and wives who are praying for the three middle-aged men achieve their goals and return home safely. After an emotional farewell to her son, Anesh Rampurtub, and his fellow hikers in Johannesburg, Lelyithee Rampurtub said: ‘’I will only celebrate my 80th birthday party when my son returns home to me and our family.’’
Rampurtub’s wife, a retired teacher, Jenny Harilall, and their daughters, Kerusha, 34, Avneeka, 24 and son Karshin 31, of Sea Tides, Tongaat, are looking forward to receive the mountain man of the house, Anesh, a veteran of 12 Comrades Marathon medals.
Across the town centre in Tongaat, Nancy and her three daughters, Kristine, 34, Denise, 31 and Dr Melanie Pillay, 29, are planning a welcome-home celebration for the leader of the pack, Rajendran Pillay, a veteran of 15 Comrades Marathon medals.
Inspired by Theasen Pillay’s new-found passion to hike on mountain trails, Rajendran Pillay had teamed up with Rampurtab and Subramoney to climb for charity.
Since 2018, the two close relatives had trekked up a volcanic mountain in Bali and the Mafadi peak on Drakensberg Mountain on the SA-Lesotho border: ‘’Quite remarkably, Theasen Pillay traversed through Mount Kailash in 2018 in India’s mountainous range that is famously renowned ever since the Hindu deity, Lord Shiva, retreated to a peaceful haven that has been described as the ‘centre of the globe where earth meets heaven’ and he achieved his feat on a solo expedition.’’
‘’This is also a holy pilgrimage to the mountains in memory of a deeply religious and spiritual humanitarian and caring lawyer who worked among the disadvantaged communities.’’
The keep-fit trio who underwent regular breathing exercises in yoga to beat the thin oxygen challenge near the Uhuru peak – their triumphant journey’s end – plan to promote hiking and climbing among men, women and youth in their communities.
