World's Highest Pop-Up Restaurant Opening 12,500 Feet Above Sea Level

Looks like epicureans are getting adventurous; African chef Pierre Thiam is opening a pop-up restaurant 12,500 feet above sea level on Mt. Kilimanjaro, for climbers only.

The restaurant is opening especially for volunteers who partake in the Mama Hope Kilimanjaro Expedition, a trip that leaves from Washington, D.C. on Feb. 18, 2013. The trip, which costs $5,400, involves flying to Tanzania, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, and celebrating with a dinner at the base camp restaurant helmed by Thiam, who will be hiking with the crew to reach the restaurant base.

Thiam's "specially prepared African regional cuisine" will include abala (a bean purée and sautéed eggplant grilled in banana leaves), yuca and Brussels sprouts mafe (stew), black-eyed peas salad, ndambe (a tomato-based sweet potato and bean casserole), and slow-roasted leg of lamb, a representative tells us. Sure beats trail mix any day.

Following the dinner, volunteers will also work at St. Timothy's school to educate Tanzanian orphans. In total, it's six days of hiking, plus two days of spending time with the kids, as well as several days of introductions. The 11-day journey is broken down here, where you can also extend your vacation to visit Zanzibar or Ethiopa.