CNBC Africa and ABN360 do the Harlem Shake on Mount Kilimanjaro

Fifteen people climbed to Mount Kilimanjaro’s highest peak and the first thing they did was … the Harlem Shake.

As if climbing to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro’s highest peak, Uhuru, wasn’t challenging enough, the CNBC Africa and the ABN360 team decided to do something for charity while up there. Southern African Tourism Update, a digital magazine, launched a Harlem Shake competition where the best shaker wins R1000 to donate to a charity of their choice. The CNBC Africa and ABN360 team was obviously up for the challenge and the end product was a group looking like they’re in their sleeping bags trying to perfect a scene out of the Step Up movie.

The technicalities

On Friday 15 March, Quintin Scholes, the Kilimanjaro team leader said they were already four hours up the mountain and that they weren’t facing any challenges as they were taking their time and resting enough. He also mentioned that all the camps were full, but that the mountain was quiet as soon as they continued their climb. By Saturday 16 March, they were suppose to reach the summit, which is 19,341 feet above sea level, after approximately 14 hours of climbing and, thanks to their very entertaining Harlem Shake video, it seems that they were in high spirits after arriving at their destination.

For those of you who don’t know what the Harlem Shake is:

In the beginning of February, five teenagers from Queensland, Australia, known on Youtube as TheSunnyCoastSkate, uploaded their rendition of the Harlem Shake onto Youtube. This video was a follow-up on the comedy video blogger, Filthy Frank’s Youtube video, wherein he dances in a pink lycra suit to the song Harlem Shake by DJ Baauer. Basically, The Harlem Shake is a 30-second meme, the first fifteen seconds is about a helmeted or masked dancer amongst a couple of people who are completely disinterested in what he is doing, until the bass drops with the words, “Do the Harlem Shake”. Suddenly everyone in the room breaks out into crazy, impulsive dance made up out of pelvis thrusts, head banging, jumping and random jerky moves and shakes.