Clive Ward – Mountaineer, Speleologist, Safari Guide, Photographer, Dad

Born 28th February 1944 - Left us 5th April 2025

Funeral Service:

We regret to announce the sad news of Clive Ward’s passing on Saturday, the 5th of April, in a hospital in the UK. He died of aortic stenosis, a weak heart valve.

He had just returned from a trip to Kenya, where he had completed a huge six-year project in Kasigau.

Clive was known by many people from all over the world who had interacted with him through his passion for mountain climbing, caving, safaris and his love of photography.

Clive was an old Kenyan hand; he had spent most of his life in Africa, from first arriving in South Africa to finally ending up in Kenya, which he loved dearly.

His mountaineering exploits took him all over the world, the US, South America, Africa and India but he will be remembered mostly for his tour guiding up Mount Kilimanjaro which he climbed seventy times and Mount Kenya a mere fifty! He was equally happy being underground with his caving buddies loaded up with flashlights, ladders and climbing kit. But he always found space for his camera gear. The results are stunning and are in various coffee-table books he produced over the years. The Royal Geographical Society have his papers on the lava tubes of Kilimanjaro, he also spent a lot of time exploring the Kilifi caves with his good friend Clive King.

When he was very young, he was in the Legion of Frontiersmen. It was a patriotic group of militia men on horseback founded in 1905, they fought through the two World Wars. His involvement was purely ceremonial but involved dressing up in uniform, complete with a Stetson-style hat and galloping around arenas doing horseback crossovers! Extremely dangerous but very exciting.

Clive’s life of 81 years was full of adventure, and some of you will have shared experiences with him climbing, hanging on by his fingernails on some unpronounceable named overhang or getting stuck in a tunnel that was narrower than his shoulders on the way down to some guano-covered cave floor.

The stories kept on coming. I heard mine from him over bottles of red wine regularly. A fair number will remember being enthralled sitting around a campfire sharing a cold Tusker and listening to him at the end of a safari day. Other rafikis would have heard them in BB’s bar or some other watering hole.

Clive leaves a daughter, Sidra, who has just started university studying Architecture. She is what Clive lived for for the last twenty-two years. He was immensely proud of her and supported her education at the university. Unfortunately, it’s up to us to raise enough money not only for Clive’s funeral but to help Sidra. Whatever is left after funeral expenses will go towards Sidra’s education and upkeep.

So please raise a Tusker to your lips and dig deep into your pockets, as there will never be another legend like this man, Clive Ward. Thank you all.

For further information please contact:

Sidra Ward +44 (0)7721539498