Your insurance must cover trekking to 6,000 metres, and many ordinary policies stop far lower without saying so. The warning signs to look for, and what the park rescue fee does and does not cover.
Kilimanjaro needs specific travel insurance. Not because the mountain is unusually dangerous, but because the summit is 5,895 metres and a great many ordinary travel policies stop covering you somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 metres, often in a clause you have to look for.
This page explains what a policy has to say, what the park rescue fee covers, and the questions to ask before you buy. It is general guidance. Read your own policy and ask your insurer directly.
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…
This is the clause that catches people. Many travel policies cover walking and hiking as standard, and then in the small print limit that cover to a maximum altitude. Two thousand, three thousand, four thousand metres are all common. Above that, you are not insured, and a claim after a problem on the summit slope is refused.
Uhuru Peak is 5,895 metres. Your policy needs to cover trekking to 6,000 metres, and it needs to say so in writing. Some insurers offer this as standard on their higher tiers, some sell it as an add-on, and some do not offer it at all.
Do not assume. Find the altitude limit in your policy document, and if you cannot find one, ask the insurer to confirm in writing that you are covered to 6,000 metres on Kilimanjaro.
Emergency medical treatment abroad, with a limit high enough to cover a hospital stay in Tanzania and possibly onward transfer. Most policies quote figures in the millions, and that is appropriate.
Search, rescue and evacuation. Getting you off the mountain and to a hospital. This is separate from medical treatment, and some policies cap it low.
Repatriation. Getting you home if you cannot travel normally, which can cost a great deal on a stretcher with a medical escort.
Trip cancellation and curtailment. If you fall ill before you go, or have to cut the trip short.
Helicopter evacuation, if you want it. This is the one that most policies do not include, or include only through a specific partner. It exists on Kilimanjaro but it is weather-dependent and expensive, and the usual rescue is a stretcher and a vehicle. Decide whether it matters to you and check the policy names it.
Every Kilimanjaro permit includes a rescue fee paid to the park authority. It is often listed in the cost breakdown of a climb.
It covers the park's own rescue service: the wheeled stretchers kept at the higher camps, the porters who carry you down on them, and a vehicle from the road head to the gate or to a clinic in Moshi.
It does not cover a helicopter, a hospital, a doctor, a flight home, or anything after you leave the mountain. People sometimes see the rescue fee in their quote and assume they are insured. They are not. The fee gets you down. The insurance takes over from there.
Does this policy cover trekking to 6,000 metres? Can you confirm that in writing?
Is trekking or hiking on Kilimanjaro a covered activity, or is it excluded as a hazardous sport?
What are the limits on emergency medical treatment, evacuation and repatriation?
Is helicopter evacuation included? If so, through which provider and with what conditions?
Do I need to declare any existing medical condition, and does declaring it change the cover?
What is the claims process from abroad, and what number do I call from Tanzania?
Write the answers down. Carry the policy number and the emergency number on paper, in your daypack, not only on a phone that may be dead at 5,000 metres.
Buy the policy when you book the climb, not the week before you fly, so that cancellation cover starts early.
Read the whole document once. It is dull, and it is the only time it matters.
Tell your operator your insurer's name and emergency number when you book, and put a copy in your duffel.
And see your doctor. Insurance and medical fitness are separate questions, and a policy does not make a climb safe. It makes the consequences of a problem manageable.
Kilimanjaro
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The questions people ask before they book a climb, in one place, with short honest answers and links to the pages that go deeper.
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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…
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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…
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An enquiry, a conversation, a draft itinerary, a quote, a deposit, and then the details. What happens between your first message…
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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…
