Climb Mount Kilimanjaro

What you are actually taking on

Kilimanjaro is a trek, not a technical climb. There is no rope work, no ice axe and no requirement for previous mountaineering, which is exactly why it attracts people who have never climbed anything, and exactly why it defeats so many of them. The difficulty is not the terrain. It is the altitude, and the fact that you gain it fast.

The single biggest determinant of whether you reach Uhuru Peak is how many days you spend acclimatising. Route choice matters mostly because it decides that number. Five-day itineraries exist and we do not sell them: the summit success rate collapses and the risk of serious altitude illness rises sharply. Seven days is our practical minimum, eight is where most climbers should be, and the ten-day Northern Circuit gives you more time to acclimatise than any other route.

You will walk between four and seven hours on a typical day, sleep in tents on every route except Marangu, and summit overnight, leaving camp around midnight to reach the crater rim at sunrise. Porters carry the group equipment and your main bag; you carry a daypack.

Training and preparation

You do not need to be an athlete. You do need to be able to walk for six hours, on consecutive days, at altitude, while tired, and that is a specific kind of fitness that only walking builds. Start about three months out.

• Months 1-2: three or four cardio sessions a week, hiking, running, cycling, stair machines. Build one long walk each weekend, and add distance rather than speed.
• Month 3: long walks of five to seven hours over hilly ground, carrying the daypack you will actually use, in the boots you will actually wear. Descending is where knees fail on Kilimanjaro, so train downhill deliberately.
• Throughout: core and leg strength twice a week. Squats, lunges and step-ups translate directly to the mountain.
• Before you fly: see your doctor, particularly if you have any cardiac, respiratory or blood-pressure history. Discuss acetazolamide (Diamox). Many climbers use it, and it needs to be trialled at home rather than on the mountain.

Altitude, and how we manage it

Acute Mountain Sickness affects most climbers to some degree above 2,500 m: headache, nausea, loss of appetite, disturbed sleep. That is normal and manageable. What is not normal is HAPE or HACE, fluid on the lungs or brain, which are life-threatening and require immediate descent.

Our guides carry pulse oximeters and run a health check twice daily, recording oxygen saturation and pulse for every climber. Every crew carries supplementary oxygen and a first aid kit, and our guides have the authority to turn any climber around. Comprehensive travel insurance covering trekking to 6,000 m and emergency evacuation is mandatory on our climbs, not optional.

The best defences are still the simple ones: go slowly (pole pole is advice, not a slogan), drink three to four litres a day, eat even when you do not want to, and tell your guide honestly how you feel.

Life on the mountain

Every route except Marangu is camping. Tents, sleeping mats, mess tent, chairs, tables and a toilet tent are all provided and carried by the crew. You bring a sleeping bag rated to roughly -10°C, or hire one from us. Marangu uses shared dormitory huts with bunks and mattresses.

Meals are cooked fresh on the mountain: a substantial hot breakfast, a packed or hot lunch depending on the day's walking, and a three-course dinner with soup. Appetite disappears at altitude, so the cooking is deliberately plain, warm and frequent. Vegetarian, vegan, halal and allergy requirements are catered for with notice.

There are no showers. Warm washing water is brought to your tent morning and evening, and basic toilet facilities exist at each camp alongside our private toilet tent. There is no mobile signal on much of the mountain, and no power. Bring a power bank and keep it warm in your sleeping bag overnight.

What it costs, and why cheap climbs are a problem

Park fees alone run to roughly US$1,000 for a week-long climb before a single wage or meal is paid for, which puts a hard floor under any legitimate operation. Expect from around US$2,000 per person depending on route, season and group size, with premium and private climbs well above that.

Operators advertising well below that floor are recovering it somewhere, usually from porter wages, load limits, food quality or safety equipment. We are a KPAP-principled operation: our porters are our own staff, paid properly, fed properly and equipped properly, with enforced load limits. It is the single most important thing to check before you book any Kilimanjaro climb, with us or anyone else.

Customary gratuities are around US$20 per day for the lead guide and US$10 per day for each porter, pooled and distributed at the end of the climb. We give you a clear breakdown before you go.