Kilimanjaro
An ice-capped volcano standing alone at 5,895 m above the savannah: Kilimanjaro is climbed without rope or ice axe — but never without humility before the altitude.
Suggested stay — 6 to 8 days of trekking, 2 nights in Moshi either side
Africa's highest mountain and the world's highest summit reachable as a simple hike, 'Kili' is earned through five storeys of climate: coffee farms, mist forest with colobus monkeys, giant moorland of prehistoric groundsels, alpine desert, then the ice cap — the retreating one, which your generation may be the last to walk. The park mandates a guide and crew: porters, cook, assistant guides, a small human caravan on which your summit depends, chosen as carefully as the route itself.
Because the route is everything: Machame (6-7 days) is the demanding, beautiful classic, Lemosho (7-8 days) the wildest and best acclimatised, Rongai the quiet northern face, Marangu — the only hut route — deceptively easy with its too-fast profile. The golden rule fits in one word: days. On 5-6 days, barely one candidate in two touches the Uhuru Peak sign; on 8 days, it's over 85%. The final push leaves around midnight, headlamps on, for a sunrise over the glaciers that nothing else in the trip will match.
Don't miss
- Sunrise from Stella Point then Uhuru Peak, glaciers glowing pink and orange below you
- Barranco camp and its wall — the trek's most photogenic easy scramble (Machame/Lemosho route)
- The mist forest of the first days: guereza colobus, lobelias and giant groundsels
- The Shira plateau on the Lemosho route, a collapsed caldera at 3,500 m facing the summit dome
Our tips on the ground
- Pay for acclimatisation days rather than the luxury lodge: going from 6 to 7-8 days costs a few hundred euros and nearly doubles your summit odds — the best ratio of the whole trip.
- Choose your operator on porter welfare (KPAP partners) and guide ratio, not on price: below roughly €1,800, the saving comes off the crew's backs and off your safety.
- Self-driving stops at the foot of the mountain: park the 4x4 in your Moshi hotel's guarded lot for the trek, and negotiate the engine pause with the rental company at booking time.
Our flagship guide — €44
Guide available“Tanzania on Your Own”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
No time to do it yourself?
A professional can take care of it: tailor-made trip, equipped 4x4 rental or a local guide. Describe your plans and, with your consent, we pass them on to partner professionals.
1. What you need
Before you go
Readers' questions about Kilimanjaro
Do you need to be a mountaineer to climb Kilimanjaro?
No: no technique, no rope, no glacier to cross — it's hiking, long and high. The real judge is acute mountain sickness, and it respects neither marathon runners nor youth. The weapons: a 7-8 day route, walking 'pole pole' (slowly), drinking plenty, and listening to the guide who checks you with a pulse oximeter every evening.
What does the climb really cost?
Budget €2,000 to €3,500 per person depending on route, duration and operator. Incompressible: around $800-1,000 in park fees (entries, camping, rescue tax) per trekker, plus the crew's wages. Add the customary tips, roughly $250-350 per climber, split between guides, cook and porters — carry them in cash from Moshi.