The questions people ask before they book a climb, in one place, with short honest answers and links to the pages that go deeper.
These are the questions that come up in almost every enquiry about Kilimanjaro. Each has a short answer here and a longer page behind it. Start with the ones that worry you most.
Places Kilimanjaro
Known as the “Coca-Cola” route, the Marangu route is a classic trek on Mount Kilimanjaro. It is the…
Places Kilimanjaro
The Marangu route is one of the most popular routes to the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Places Kilimanjaro
Six days on the Machame route, camping throughout. The shortest Machame itinerary, with a steeper daily…
Places Kilimanjaro
Seven days on Machame, with the Barranco to Barafu leg split over two days, so the day before the summit…
Places Kilimanjaro
The Rongai route is the only route that approaches Kilimanjaro from the north, close to the Kenyan…
Places Kilimanjaro
Eight days on the Lemosho route, starting in rainforest on the mountain's western side, with the longest…
The routes differ mainly in days and in how well they help your body adjust to altitude. Longer is better. Seven-day Machame and eight-day Lemosho suit most first-timers. Five-day Marangu has the lowest success rate on the mountain. The full comparison is on the routes page.
You do not need mountaineering experience on any of them. The Barranco Wall on the southern routes is a scramble with your hands, and that is as technical as it gets.
Marangu is the only route with huts. Everything else is camping, in tents your crew carries and pitches.
Kilimanjaro is a long walk, not a climb. The hard parts are the altitude, the cold on summit night and the tiredness of a week at height.
You need to be able to walk five or six hours a day on hills for a week. Three or four months of regular hill walking with a daypack prepares most people. You cannot train for altitude. Days on the mountain do that.
People from their teens to their seventies reach the top. The park's minimum age is ten. Fitness matters less than days.
Most people feel the altitude above 3,500 metres: headache, poor sleep, less appetite. That is normal. Serious symptoms, such as breathlessness at rest, confusion or a cough with frothy spit, need immediate descent.
Your guide does a health check every evening. Answer honestly. Guides carry first-aid kits and emergency oxygen, and the park runs a stretcher rescue service. Descent is the treatment, and it works quickly.
Whether to take altitude medication is a decision for you and your own doctor, before you travel.
January to early March and June to October are the dry windows. The first is warmer and quieter with likely summit snow. The second is the driest and the busiest. April and May are the long rains and are not recommended for a first climb. November is quieter than its reputation, and Rongai on the dry northern side works well then.
If a full moon on summit night matters to you, plan for it. Count back from the date, and book early.
Park fees are set by the authorities, charged per person per day, and identical for every operator. They are the largest single part of what a climb costs. The rest pays the crew, the food and the equipment. A quote far below the others is usually paying its porters less.
Tipping is customary and expected. Your operator gives you a guideline at the briefing. Bring the cash in small notes. There is no cash machine on the mountain.
Insurance must cover trekking to 6,000 metres. Many ordinary policies stop lower. The park rescue fee in your permit covers a stretcher and a vehicle, not a hospital or a flight home.
You fly into Kilimanjaro International, stay in Moshi or Arusha, and drive to the gate on the first morning. Arrive a day early for the briefing.
You carry a daypack with water, snacks and layers. Porters carry the rest in a duffel, capped at about 15 kilograms.
There are no showers on the camping routes, no power, and patchy phone signal. A bowl of warm water morning and evening, a power bank, and a head torch are the system.
Three hot meals a day are cooked for you. Special diets can be arranged if you say so at booking.
Summit night starts at midnight, takes twelve to sixteen hours including the descent, and is the hardest and best day of the climb.
Most people combine the two, and the order matters: climb first, then safari, with a rest night between. The mountain is tiring, the safari is the gentle half, and any overrun on the climb costs a safari day instead of a flight.
From Arusha the northern circuit begins two hours west at Tarangire. The safari pages on this site set out each trip.
Kilimanjaro
Six routes go up Kilimanjaro. They differ in days, scenery, crowds and how well they help you get used to the altitude. This page…
Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro is a walk, not a climb. The altitude, the cold on summit night, and the length of the days make it hard. This page…
Kilimanjaro
Altitude sickness is why people turn back on Kilimanjaro. This page explains what it is, what it feels like, how to lower your…
Kilimanjaro
Wake-up tea at six, breakfast, walk, lunch, walk, camp by mid-afternoon. Here is how a day on the mountain runs, from the first…
Kilimanjaro
Three cooked meals a day, snacks on the trail, and more of it than you expect. This page covers what the crew cooks, how, and why…
Kilimanjaro
A Kilimanjaro climb is carried by a crew that outnumbers the climbers. Here is who they are, what they do, how they are…
Kilimanjaro
You do not need to have climbed a mountain before. Most people on Kilimanjaro have not. This page covers what a first-timer needs…
Kilimanjaro
Three months of regular walking, some hills, a loaded daypack, and two long days back to back. Here is a training plan that…
Kilimanjaro
You leave camp at midnight, climb for six hours in the cold and dark, reach the roof of Africa at sunrise, and then descend for…
Kilimanjaro
Tents on every route but one, huts on Marangu, and a high camp on bare rock the night before the summit. A tour of the camps…
Kilimanjaro
Daily health checks, trained guides, emergency oxygen, and a park rescue system. Here is how safety works on the mountain, and…
Kilimanjaro
Warm forest, cold nights above 3,000 metres, and a summit that can be twenty below with wind. The weather on the mountain, zone…
Kilimanjaro
Every month on the mountain, in one place: weather, crowds, summit snow and which route works best. Pick your dates from this.
Kilimanjaro
The porters carry your main bag. Each day you carry a small pack with water, layers, snacks and a few essentials. Here is exactly…
Kilimanjaro
Your insurance must cover trekking to 6,000 metres, and many ordinary policies stop far lower without saying so. The warning…
Kilimanjaro
Fly into Kilimanjaro International, stay in Moshi or Arusha, and drive to the gate on the first morning. Here is how the arrival…
Kilimanjaro
Three points on the crater rim count as the summit of Kilimanjaro. Here is where each one is, what it takes to reach it, and why…
Kilimanjaro
Two landmarks on the southern routes that every climber asks about. One is a scramble with your hands. The other is the day that…
Kilimanjaro
Nobody climbs Kilimanjaro unaccompanied, but plenty of people arrive alone. Private climb or join a group, what each costs you…
Kilimanjaro
There is ice on the equator, and it is disappearing. What the glaciers are, why they exist, how much has gone, and what you…
Kilimanjaro
The numbers people ask for: how high, how wide, how old, how many climb it, and why it stands alone. Clear answers, one fact at a…
Kilimanjaro
Most climbers add a safari, and the order, the rest day and the route between mountain and parks decide how well the two fit. A…
Kilimanjaro
Meru is 4,566 metres, four days, and an hour from Arusha. Climbing it first is the best acclimatisation there is. This page…
Wildlife
Where the wildebeest herds are through the year, and what that means for when to travel.
Planning
What to bring on safari and up Kilimanjaro, and what you can leave behind.
Planning
Most visitors need a visa, and most can get one on arrival or online in advance. What the visa covers, what to bring to the desk…
Planning
Park fees are the largest fixed cost of any safari or climb, and they are the same for every operator. Who sets them, how they…
Planning
Fly into Kilimanjaro International for the northern circuit, Dar es Salaam for the south, Zanzibar for the beach. Airports…
Planning
A permanent lodge, a tented camp, a mobile camp that follows the migration, or a tent you camp in yourself. Each level described…
Planning
Tipping is customary in Tanzania and it is a real part of what your guide and camp staff earn. Who to tip, how it is usually…
Planning
Malaria, yellow fever, the routine jabs, and the small things that spoil a trip. What to discuss with your doctor or travel…
Planning
Tanzanian shillings for small things, US dollars for the big ones, and cash for almost everything outside the cities. How money…
Planning
An enquiry, a conversation, a draft itinerary, a quote, a deposit, and then the details. What happens between your first message…
Planning
Early mornings, long quiet stretches, a vehicle that becomes home, and hours that pass in a way nothing else does. What the days…
Planning
Medical cover with a high limit, evacuation from the bush, cancellation, and the activity clauses. What a safari policy has to…
Places
A national park on the doorstep, a crater lake, coffee farms, the markets and Mount Meru. The best ways to spend a day or a half…
Places
Materuni waterfall, Kikuletwa hot springs, Marangu, Lake Chala and the coffee cafés. What to do with a day or two in Moshi before…
