AN AMBITIOUS Blockley student is set to climb the highest mountain in Africa in aid of charity.

Ed Sandars will scale Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, this September to raise money for the Meningitis Research Foundation.

The 19-year-old has been busy raising money with a variety of events, but still has a way to go to reach his target of a whopping £3,990.

"I'm just looking forward to it," said the Loughborough University student.

He continued: "I think, at the end of the day, I am just going to enjoy it. The only time I will be nervous about it is when I will have to get up at 3am to do the final ascent. That is when altitude sickness kicks in.

"I am reasonably fit. In the month of August, that is when I will up the training. I'm doing a half marathon three days after I get back from Kilimanjaro."

The hike will take around five to six days, and will see Mr Sandars climb more than 5,800 metres.

The former Chipping Campden High school student said: "A lot of people have told me you can't really describe it when you are up there. I'm just looking forward to the views - just to be that high up and looking around.

"It is like nothing I have done before."

The trip is being organised through a company called Choose a Challenge, which runs charity-based adventure trips for university students around the UK.

Around 40 students will join Mr Sandars for the Kilimanjaro trek, and all of them are raising money for the Meningitis Research Foundation.

The astrophysics and cosmology student said: "I have learned a lot about meningitis and how it affects people. I think a lot of people who are affected by meningitis are my age."

Meningitis kills around 1,000 people around the world every day, and the Meningitis Research Foundation funds research into finding better treatments.

Mr Sandars is now calling for local businesses and residents to help him reach his fundraising target.

To donate visit loughboroughrag.everydayhero.com/uk/ed-sandars