real life
THE FIRST BAHRAINI TO
CLIMB KILIMANJARO D onia, a 30 year old Bahraini Adventurer set off with his friend on May 26th, 2015 to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. The climb was successful and Ammr reached the summit on June 01st, 2015 at 07:48 am. Overall, the trek took a total of 7 days / 6 nights, which included approximately 45 hours of trekking 70 kilometers from start to finish. The Mountain stands at 5,895 meters and is the world’s tallest freestanding mountain and is also one of the world’s Seven Summits. It is also the highest point on the African continent, dubbed as the Roof of Africa. Ammr carefully chose to climb the mountain through Rongai Route, a camping route, and one of the 5 available routes to Uhuru Peak – the summit. It is the only route to breach the mountain from the North near Kenya and less popular due to its remoteness. “I am very happy and proud having reached the top; it’s another achievement for myself and a milestone adventure to mark more to come, Insha’a Allah. The climb was tough but thankfully we made it without any incidents or sickness. I cannot describe the overwhelming
16 Bahrain Confidential January 2016
sensation once the summit is reached. I broke into tears upon summiting, just as I have done previously on other peaks. Those were tears of joy, sadness, confusion and relief but also of selfachievement mixed with an extreme sense of fulfillment. Both the emotional and physical agony is immense but well worth the effort once the summit is reached. It seems therapeutic in a way and keeps me going.” “As a proud Bahraini, I raised the flag on top of Kilimanjaro and I hope to raise a few more flags on a number of peaks worldwide,” he said. “I only hope to join other internationally achieving individuals such as His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa and his team who continue to provide a positive image of Bahrianis worldwide,” added Mr. Donia. Mr. Donia is not the first Bahraini to have climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. Some of
the most inspiring no doubt are Parkinson’s patient Ahmed Jaffar, Shaikha Noora Al-Khalifa and Amal Al-Saffar to name a few. Ammr Donia discovered his passion for travel and adventure a few years ago. This has led him to quit his career as a Property Surveyor to establish his own adventure company to encourage travel off the beaten track. Ammr ended up backpacking continuously for 2 years and visited over 45 countries to date. He will attempt to visit 50 countries this year working towards his main goal of reaching 100 countries. He is also adamant to climb another mountain in the near future to break his previous altitude record on Kilimanjaro and cross 6,000 meters. Ammr previously climbed other mountains in the Himalayan region of Nepal including Everest Base Camp, Annapurna Base Camp, Kalapatar Peak and Gokyo Ri.
For more information you may contact Ammr Donia directly via whatsapp +97334335528 or email him at ammrdonia@gmail.com. You can also follow his adventures on Instagram and Facebook at Travel Duck Adventures