Our Team

We are commited to providing you with the best service in the business to ensure climbing Kilimanjaro is the trip of a lifetime you will never forget. Our Kilimanjaro Challenges wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the fantastic teams we have both in the UK and out in Tanzania making it all happen. From the moment you sign up to a challenge to the moment you return home, our London Kilimanjaro team is with you every step of the way, working hard behind the scenes to ensure you have everything you need in preparation for the climb.

On the mountain all of our Action Challenge Head Leaders are Mountain Leader qualified, and we provide a doctor with altitude experience for our Open Groups to ensure a safe and secure summit. Our in country team of local guides and porters live and breathe Kilimanjaro and are on hand throughout the challenge to provide our groups support transporting luggage, setting up camp, cooking meals, providing safe drinking water and generally making sure we are well looked after every step of the way.

Stefan Meigh | Director

Stefan founded Action Challenge in 1997 after 11 years working on international challenge and sporting events. For 3 years he organised challenge events for the UK based charity Sense and in that time took them to be one of the market leaders in International Charity Challenges. Stefan is a keen mountaineer, cyclist and traveller, spending as much time as possible guiding and exploring the more extreme parts of the world. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and it passionate about eco-tourism and the environment.

Julian Risley | Director

Julian joined Action Challenge in 2008 , having met up with Stefan and Action Challenge on a trek to K2 Base Camp and concluded that combining a passion for trekking with an exciting business venture was not a bad career move. Prior to this he held senior management positions within retailing and the oil industry. He is a keen cyclist and skier and spends much of his spare time in the Alps.

Helene Tasker | Kilimanjaro Challenge Co-ordinator

Helene joined Action Challenge in September 2009, and after having spent time in the British Army and travelling in East and West Africa, decided it was time to test herself in the adventure and travel industry. Helene coordinates our Open Group Kilimanjaro Challenges as well as challenges in Peru, China and Nepal. Helene has now climbed Kilimanjaro twice via the Machame and Western Breach Routes and hopes to climb it at least once a year from now on! In her spare time she enjoys road cycling, running, skiing and generally being outside.

Chris Ward | Kilimanjaro Challenge Co-ordinator

Chris studied Geography at the University of Aberystwyth, graduating in 2007. Although he has spent the last couple of years travelling extensively across Eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia, India, Nepal and Australasia, his favourite place in the world is the English Lake District. Chris's passion for travel brought him to Action Challenge, where with Helene he coordinates our Open Group Kilimanjaro Challenges. Chris spends most of his time seeking out adventure through mountain biking, running and snowboarding. Next month will be taking on the role of Assistant Group Leader on one of our Kilimanjaro Challenges.

Tariq El Kashef | Operations Manager

With Egyptian / Dutch parentage, Tariq's interest in travel was cultivated from an early age. Prior to joining Action Challenge, Tariq spent 5 years leading tours for one of Europe's adventure travel specialists. Tariq has been fortunate enough to lead more than 100 adventure tours in 20 countries and on 4 continents. His favourite regions include South East Asia, the Middle East, and anywhere that you can eat momos! Since then he has used his capacity for organisation and event management to plan tradeshows and conferences across Europe, and joined Action Challenge in 2009 to manage our very busy and ever expanding international operations team.

Jodie Parkes | Operations Co-ordinator

Having always had a passion for travel Jodie furthered this through studying a Degree in Adventure Tourism and Business Management. After graduating she spent a year working in the French Alps and has travelled extensively throughout Europe and Morocco. After two and a half years working in the Commercial Travel sector Jodie joined Action Challenge in 2010 as Operations Co-ordinator and is primarily responsible for flights and transport logistics. Jodie is a keen Rock Climber and Snowboarder and enjoys many other outdoor pursuits.

Juliet Radojcin | Challenge Co-ordinator

Juliet joined Action Challenge in September 2010 after graduating from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a degree in Social Anthropology. Before university she lived in Cusco, Peru, where she worked in an orphanage. During her time there she explored the surrounding area extensively, from the Inca trail to more remote treks. Since then she has lived and worked in Asturias, Northern Spain, where she spent many weekends in the beautiful ‘Picos de Europa’. Some of Juliet’s other travel highlights include Australia, Morocco, Hungary and Corsica. She is generally drawn to warmer climates for her adventures. Despite this, her love of London and the English countryside will never change!

Kate Parkin | Business Development Manager

Kate's passion for travel and the great outdoors prompted a career change after 4 years in media sales, and in 2007 she joined the Action Challenge team as Business Development Manager. Her travelling adventures have taken her to Europe and Africa, down through the Americas, across South East Asia and over to Australasia. As well as a keen trekker, Kate's an avid photographer and likes nothing more than putting on a backpack and taking off to the mountains with her camera. Kate first climbed Kilimanjaro in 2008 and will be back on the mountain in early 2010! Her top tips for Kili are wet-wipe bathing and looking after your feet with a dose of talcum powder before bedtime!

Ed Cervantes-Watson | Commercial Manager

Ed has travelled extensively, living and working in the Cape Verde Islands, South Africa, and Namibia. Prior to joining Action Challenge he acted as an Incident Response Manager in the Overseas Operations Department of a leading expedition provider. With Action Challenge Ed looks now looks after commercial development of the business including new clients and products. He has also led groups in Nepal, India, Cambodia, Tanzania and Costa Rica. As a qualified Yacht master and Windsurfing Instructor Ed is never far from the sea, but is equally at home in the hills and fells of the Lake District.

Nicola Smith | Challenge Event Marketing

After 2 years of commercial experience working within the travel industry, Nicola joined Action Challenge in 2009 and looks after challenge event marketing, including our Kilimanjaro Challenges. After university Nicola embarked upon a 6 month round the world adventure, which left her with the feeling that there was still much more of the world to explore, and has set about seeing as much of the world as possible ever since. Nicola summited Kilimanjaro in June 2010 and some of the photos included on the website are a result of Nicola's handy work as one of our designated Kili photographers! Nicola's tip for Kilimanjaro is to bring chemical hand warmers for summit day.

Damon Blackband | Expedition Leader

Ex Army Warrant Officer Damon is an accomplished mountaineer and mountain guide. He has led over 40 expeditions around the world including numerous ascents of Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya in Africa and has also climbed over 40 of the European Alpine 4000m peaks. Damon is a keen cyclist and has cycled across Vietnam and Cambodia as well as many of the more established rides closer to home. Damon loves to travel and lists food, wine and photography as his main interests and some of the photos used on this website have been taken from Damon's numerous ascents of Kilimanjaro. On Kilimanjaro Damon says "Im here to get you to the top of Africa, and expect to suffer if you want it bad enough" top tips for Kilimanjaro - 'wet-wipes and a nail brush'.

Dom Rudd | Expedition Leader

Dom has had four wonderfully rich and varied careers, from the Royal Marines, in business, to Chief Executive of Samaritans and now, following his passion, leading treks and expeditions overseas. Dom has a reputation for really taking care of his groups. His knowledge of the mountains and over 22 years experience in the outdoors including mountaineering, ice-climbing and rock-climbing helps ensure that challenges are met and personal goals are achieved whilst having fun. Dom summited Kilimanjaro in June 2010 and says “getting to the top is a real achievement - life affirming - but so is the attempt even if you don’t make it."

Fiona Hainey | Expedition Leader

Based in Scotland, Fiona is fortunate enough to have the highlands & mountains within arms reach and uses them as her training ground. Having developed a passion for trekking, travel, meeting new people & cultures, she has undertaken and guided treks in Peru, China, India, Brazil, Tanzania & Scotland!. From trekking in Peru and scaling Kilimanjaro, Fiona developed an ‘addiction to altitude’ and has since scaled peaks in the Andes & the Alps and plans to keep going higher! In her spare time she also enjoys rock-climbing, snowboarding and travelling anywhere! Fiona says that "to enjoy Kilimanjaro you need to relax and enjoy the trek day by day, as it’s not just about getting to the summit."

Bob Minns | Expedition Doctor

Bob has been working for Action Challenge as an Expedition Doctor for 8 years now and has almost 20 years experience in medicine, working as a GP, a trainer and university tutor both in the UK and New Zealand. He has trained in expedition medicine and is a member of the Royal College of General Practice. He is a keen trekker and cyclist and has worked as an Expedition Doctor on Action Challenge cycling events in Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Jamaica, and on high altitude treks in Lesotho, Nepal and of course our beloved Kilimanjaro. He travels widely in Asia both on his own and also with his wife and children, and if not in the mountains or on the road, he can be found on the water either sailing or canoeing.

Katie Kerr | Expedition Doctor

Katie is passionate about the outdoors and loves to travel to wild and beautiful places to trek, climb and ski. Katie's adventures have brought her to remote corners of many countries including China, Mongolia and recently Swalbard. She is always ready to explore new destinations and experience new cultures and is a keen cyclist both on and off road and is also known to do the odd Triathlon and adventure race. Katie first climbed Kilimanjaro almost 2 years ago when she worked as a doctor for Action Challenge. "Kilimanjaro presents a superb challenge for those who want to experience a big mountain and test their endurance at altitude as no technical skills or previous mountaineering experience are required."

Geoff Perry | Expedition Doctor

Geoff's choice of adventure is trekking and having tested the mountains of South America, Canada, Sierra Nevada, Kenya and Kilimanjaro to name only a few, he is always looking for his next challenge. Geoff has been a doctor since 1990 and has worked with Action Challenge as Expedition Doctor for a number of years now on challenges including India, Pakistan, Canada and Kilimanjaro. In his spare time he is a keen runner competing in half and full marathons.

Amol Kulkarni | Expedition Doctor - Tanzania

Dr. Amol Kulkarni is a surgeon from India. After completing his training and two years work experience, he moved to Tanzania in 2008 and currently works at the Bugando Medical Centre Mwanza in the ER casualty department. Amol's interest of working in wilderness environments and in the field of emergency medical care promoted him to set up a company for wilderness medical training and consultancy services in Tanzania. He also volunteers at the Flying Medical Service in Tanzania, is an instructor and committee member for the Primary Trauma Care (PTC) organisation in Tanzania, and has also just been selected as a part time Wilderness Medical Associate in the USA.