South African Chad Anderson is an enthusiastic mountain climber, explorer and self-confessed adrenalin junkie.

Whether it’s trekking through Brazil, or enduring a full body wax for charity, he relishes a challenge.

And his latest expedition — climbing Africa’s highest free-standing mountain Kilimanjaro, whose highest peak stands at 5,895 metres — was certainly that.

As expedition manager for Charity Challenge, based in Whetstone High Road, Mr Anderson, 36, says he spends 99 per cent of his time behind a desk, but the rest of the time he is fortunate enough to go on some truly “mesmerising” adventures.

He has just returned from Tanzania, raising money for the AfriKids charity, which works with vulnerable children in Ghana.

He said: “This challenge was the hardest thing in my life that I’ve ever had to do — and possibly the most rewarding.”

Mr Anderson and a group of 25 others, embarked on an eight-day trek on the Lemosho route, (thought to be the safest route), to reach the summit, with only one person failing to go all the way due to altitude sickness.

While he emphasised what a tough challenge it was, he admitted: “With hindsight, I’ll probably say it was a breeze and get suckered into going back again.”

PR officer for the company and accomplished expeditionist, Claire Southern, 35, confirms how immense the task of climbing Kilimanjaro is.

She said: “I’ve cycled across Cuba and been on the Inca Trail, so I thought I had been challenged before I did Kilimanjaro, but I was wrong.”

Charity Challenge was established in 1999 by Simon Albert, who is described by his colleagues as an “obsessive fundraiser”.

It focuses on organising group adventure travel expeditions for any potential thrillseekers or open-minded philanthropists, who just want to raise money for a charity of their choice. Mr Albert was inspired to start the company after going on fundraising expeditions and being shocked by the way they operated.

“There were coaches of 50 or more people heading off into the wilderness and from a responsible tourism perspective, these trips should be done in small groups,” he said.

“There shouldn’t be groups of 50 or so people going into such small communities.”

He also wanted the freedom to choose which charity to raise money for, as he had a fixed idea of where he wanted the money to go.

“My girlfriend at the time’s mother was dying of cancer and she wouldn’t come with me on one of these trips unless we could raise money for a cancer charity,” he explained.

Since it started, the organisation has doubled the number of clients it arranges expeditions for each year.

It is estimated that around 3,000 fundraisers will enlist the help of Charity Challenge, which now has a wider range of challenges than ever, in this, its ninth year.

The organisation also offers a wide selection of other challenges, which come in three different gradings — challenging, tough and extreme.

For those who prefer the relatively tame ‘challenging’ grade, some of the more popular trips include an Icelandic Lava Trek; a cycle ride alongside the Great Wall of China and an expedition into the harsh wilderness of Thailand’s jungles.

If, however, if you are willing to face the ‘extreme’ set of challenges on offer, you might want to try a trek through the ‘Avenue of Volcanoes’ in Ecuador, culminating in the ascent of Mount Cotopaxi — the world’s highest active volcano.