A FATHER and son duo from the Hillfoots have set their sights on scaling Africa's highest mountain for charity.

Alva dad Colin Murchison and his son Jack are jetting off to Tanzania next month in a bid to scale Kilimanjaro, raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support in the process.

Jack is in S6 at Alva Academy and is a part of the annual, school-wide effort to help the good cause and to raise awareness.

Colin told the Advertiser: "It's to help Macmillan, but is also a challenge for Jack and myself at the same time.

"We've done a lot of walking up in the Ochils and Munros so we were just thinking of something different.

"Before Jack goes off to uni or work, it is just an opportunity to do something we've never done before.

"We've never been to Africa, never been to the southern hemisphere and have never been at that altitude.

"It just ticks a lot of life experience boxes for us."

Indeed Mount Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano, stands just under 5,900 metres above sea level.

While the pair are confident in their ability to scale hills and mountains in Scotland, there is simply no testing ground for such altitudes in the UK.

The bid to scale Kilimanjaro together will certainly serve as a bonding opportunity for the father and son, who are flying out to Tanzania on Thursday, October 8.

They will start their climb two days later and have been raising funds through sponsorship, hoping to hit a target of £5,000.

Efforts to secure sponsors, including corporate ones as well as generous family and neighbours, have been fruitful so far, the total standing at £4,429 last week.

Colin explained to the Advertiser the original plan was to fly out in June, but coronavirus intervened.

He added: "Back in May when we had the nice weather we did our own version of it up in the Ochils.

"Just over 6,000 metres of climbing and 85km of walking over an eight day period just to try and replicate it.

"We've been climbing Munros since, including Ben Nevis."

The duo will be climbing in their Macmillan t-shirts and plan to plant some charity flags on the summit.

Colin and Jack are supporting fundraising efforts at Alva Academy, which has become the largest non-corporate donor of the charity over the years.

Last year, the school from the Wee County passed £333,333.33 raised in total since 2004, hailed as a "monumental" achievement at the time.