Tanzania · 5,895 m
Kilimanjaro, on foot.
Rainforest, moorland, alpine desert and glacier in six days. Two routes, both starting and finishing in Arusha.
Before you book
Altitude decides it, not fitness.
Kilimanjaro is a walk, not a climb — there is no technical section on either of these routes. What stops people is altitude, and the single biggest factor in reaching the summit is how the itinerary handles acclimatisation.
That is why both of our routes are six trekking days rather than five, and why Marangu includes an acclimatisation day at Horombo. Machame’s profile does the same work by climbing to the Lava Tower and then descending to sleep lower at Barranco.
Summit night starts around midnight and is long, cold and slow. Nobody enjoys it while it is happening. Almost everybody is glad they did it.
Combining
A safari either side.
Both routes start and finish in Arusha, which is also where the northern safari circuit begins. Adding a few days in the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater before or after the trek is straightforward — and doing the safari afterwards, when the walking is done, is the version most people prefer.