Africa, March 2: A nine-year-old girl from Andhra Pradesh has become the youngest girl in Asia to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. Kadapala Rithvika Sri from Anantapur became M Agraharam village in Tadimarri Mandal, achieved the feat.
Rithvika conquered Mount Kilimanjaro along with her father Kadapala Sankar who is also her guide. Sankar, a cricket coach for Special Olympics, had scaled the mountain in Tanzania on January 24 last year.
The girl climbed to Gilman’s point at 5,685 meters above sea level.
District Collector Gandham Chandrudu helped her by releasing Rs 2, 98,835 from the SC Corporation for her expedition on February 1.
Chandrudru congratulated the young girl for achieving the feat. “Congratulations to Ritwika Sree of Ananthapur for becoming the world’s second youngest& Asia’s youngest girl to scale Mt Kilimanjaro. You have grabbed the opportunities despite many odds. Keep inspiring,” the collector posted on Twitter while sharing pictures of Rithvika on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Rithvika held the Indian national flag with pride at the peak of Africa’s highest mountain.
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She was trained at the Rock Climbing School in Bhongir, Telangana, and received level two training in Ladakh.
In 2018, Samnanyu Pothuraju became the youngest girl to climb the Uhuru peak of Mount Kilimanjaro at the age of seven. Samnanyu’s mother Lavanya, Coach Thammineni Bharath, a fellow mountaineer Shangabandi Srujana, and a local Tanzania doctor had accompanied him.
“The day was rainy and the road was full of stones. I got afraid, I had leg pains, but I took rest and completed it,” Samnanyu said.
