Kilimanjaro Expeditions and Climbing

I am using the company blog to promote a fascinating individual that I met during my visit to Tanzania (see blog entries for telementoring from KCMC Hospital and the Mdawi Orphanage).

His name is Faustin Meela, and is from the Chagga tribe that live on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, mainly as farmers. As is the custom with the Chagga tribe of Kilimanjaro, Faustin's father left the land divided between Faustin and his 2 brothers. The smaller piece of land was not sufficient to support him and his family and so he went to work in the Tanzanite mines for 7 years, a hard and dangerous job: Faustin lost many friends to rockfalls and suffocation.

His dream was to one day own his own lodge and run expeditions to climb Kilimanjaro (5895m) and safaris to Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro, so he saved as much money as he could and started the foundations of his lodge. After losing too many friends and fearing for his own safety, he left the mines to work as a National Park Ranger for 5 years until his friend and colleague was shot by poachers, at which point he decided to move back home and start climbing for an expedition company.

After 27 years of hard work, saving and building his lodge in his spare time, Faustin opened for business this year, only to be confronted with the largest downturn in tourism in Tanzania.

I visited his lodge on my last day and he is now in the process of building a road that requires navigating a stream and cutting a swathe through 100 metres of volcanic rock to a height of 10 metres.

His story is totally inspiring and he deserves to succeed which is why I have offered to help him promote his business. Faustin was my perfect guide during my stay: he took me to the orphanage and helped with the children and then arranged an unforgettable safari to the 3 main parks. He is quiet and unassuming and is totally reliable and I could not imagine anyone better or safer to take you on safari or to climb kilimanjaro.

So if you fancy an unforgettable "real" safari or hike to Kili, please contact Faustin at

contact@kili-expedition.com or via myself at c.dobbyne@or-tv.net.