You can’t climb Kilimanjaro without learning at least two words in Swahili; the greeting of ‘Jambo’ (hello), and advice to walk ‘Pole-pole’ (slowly). The cultural experience is amazing, but my photo above sums up why Kili is such an amazing mountain. I took it back in 2006, when we’d reached the top with a fast group just before sunrise. We sat on the top, and watched the curvature of the earth turn orange, before the sun started to rise behind the Kili summit sign. The vastness of the African plains stretched to all horizons, and at the same moment we felt mighty and yet insignificant.

Jill from our Windermere office, has just finished writing the mountain focus page on Kilimanjaro (click here), and it’s part of a huge ongoing process to ensure that our website is more of a resource than purely a sales tool. We want to help you research your trip, learn about the mountains, and realise that knowledge of the rich historical, geographical, ecological tapestry of each peak makes an ascent so much more special. What really marks Kili out for us are the five vegetational and climatic zones you pass through on your climb, from rain forests to Arctic regions. Jill’s mountain focus page also provided a great insight into the history of the first attempts to climb the peak.

We offer ascents via the Machame and Rongai routes, usually descending by the Mweka. The focus page also outlines the routes we offer for bespoke trips, including the Lemosho and Shira routes. This year we celebrate offering trips to Kilimanjaro for 16 years. We’ve got a great logistics team in Tanzania, and our itineraries have been carefully designed to allow you enough time to acclimatise safely, to give you the greatest chance of reaching the summit.

Link to the Kilimanjaro mountain focus page: click here.
Icicle trips via the Machame or Rongai routes: click here.