Dori Kaufman started planning what she hoped would be a trip of a lifetime – an African safari – nine months in advance. She worked with a travel agent well-versed in safaris to craft the perfect itinerary for her family.

“I was really excited, until about one month prior to leaving,” said Kaufman, who, with husband Charles, owns San Diego's Bread & Cie bakery. “Then I looked at a map and saw that one place we were staying in Zambia was right across the river from Zimbabwe.”

With a guide, a map and lots of tea breaks, Simon Calder retraces the steps of Felice Benuzzi, a PoW who escaped to climb Mount Kenya – then snuck back into camp.

Three in the morning is a tough time to start a walk, especially if it involves clambering over scree, snow and ice to gain half-a-mile of vertical altitude. But you need to begin at "stupid o'clock" if you are to tackle the final stages of Shandy Mountain. This is the uncharitable title given to Mount Kenya by those who have conquered Kilimanjaro. Africa's highest mountain, known as Kili or "the Hill" by braggarts, is located fractionally south of the Kenyan border in Tanzania. It towers over the continent at 5,895m – almost a kilometre further from the centre of the earth than the target of my climb.