Useful advice, tips and information
The posts in this category have been written with the aim of helping those seeking more in-depth information on a certain topic. For example, parents looking to take their child on Kili, or climbers of more advanced years looking to head to Kili and seeking any useful tidbits that may help them to the summit. Solo trekkers and female climbers are also catered for with posts just for them. Those who are looking to do more than just trek up the mountain – by cycling up it, or round its base, for example, or paragliding off its slopes, will also find posts for them here.
If you want a specific question answered, your best bet is to use the search facility, above. Or, as always, you can just get in touch and I’ll do my best to help.
Why do we climb Kilimanjaro at night?
Why do we climb to the summit Kilimanjaro at night? Several times a year people who are looking to climb Kilimanjaro write to me and ask the same question: Why is it that most [...]
Taking a group up Kilimanjaro
Advice for organising a group trek on Kilimanjaro Are you planning on climbing Kilimanjaro with a group of friends or family? Are there at least four of you in your group? Have you been nominated [...]
Kilimanjaro and COVID – all the latest news
Kilimanjaro and COVID: all the latest updates for travellers to Tanzania * LATEST NEWS On this page you'll find all the latest updates regarding COVID and Kilimanjaro. In other words, how the global pandemic [...]
Solo travellers Kilimanjaro: some advice and tips
Coming to Tanzania alone to climb Kilimanjaro? People who have a burning desire to climb Kilimanjaro comes in all shapes and sizes, are all ages and from every country in the world. Their motives for [...]
Advice and tips for women on Kilimanjaro
Advice for female trekkers on Kilimanjaro Tips, advice and information for women planning to climb Africa's Highest Mountain Currently just under a half of our climbers in 2020 were women. This figure includes over a [...]
Taking children on Kilimanjaro
Should you take your child on Kilimanjaro? Contemplating whether to take your family on Africa's highest mountain? We'll discuss whether you should - and how best to go about it? Last week we received an [...]
Older climbers on Kilimanjaro: advice, info and tips
How do senior trekkers fare on Kilimanjaro? Some facts, advice and tips In July 2019 Anne Lorimor, from Phoenix, Arizona, reached the summit of Africa's Highest Mountain aged 89. In doing so she became the [...]
Success rates on Kilimanjaro: Can you trust them?
If a company advertises a near 100% success rate for getting people to the summit of Kilimanjaro, should you believe it? This week I was contacted by a reader who had just got back home [...]
Buying your flight to Kilimanjaro: when is the best time to book your tickets?
When should you book your flights for Kilimanjaro? I am prompted to write this following an email from one of our climbers, Perry. He gave me a piece of advice that I hadn’t heard before. [...]
The plastic bag ban in Tanzania – an update
We've had a lot of emails from our climbers asking about the ban on plastic bags in Tanzania. This follows the recent announcement by the government. You can find out more on this by reading [...]
Climbing Kilimanjaro without porters
Climbing Africa’s highest mountain unaided Can you carry your own bags up Kilimanjaro? By coincidence, over the past few weeks we’ve received several emails on a very similar subject. All of the correspondents want to [...]
Why Amboseli is the best place to take a photo of Kilimanjaro
Why Kenya's Amboseli National Park is the best place to take a photo of Kilimanjaro Everybody wants to take that classic photo of the Roof of Africa. The one where the mountain provides a spectacular [...]
Is it possible to climb Kilimanjaro independently?
Can you climb up Kilimanjaro without a crew? It's a question readers still ask me regularly each year. Is it possible to just turn up at the foot of Kilimanjaro with a rucksack full of [...]
Climbing Kilimanjaro in the rainy season – is it worth it?
Climbing Kilimanjaro during the rainy season Whether to do it, how to do it, and what to expect April and May is traditionally the low season on Kilimanjaro. Very few people climb at this time. [...]
LGBT in Tanzania: advice for gay travellers to East Africa
Homophobia in East Africa Can being gay really stop you climbing Kilimanjaro? I was prompted to write this article after being contacted by a gay travel agency from California. This agency was looking to organise [...]
Mount Meru: a guide
A guide to climbing Mount Meru Why everyone should climb Kilimanjaro's little brother Mount Meru, which overlooks the city of Arusha from the nort, is used by many trekkers as a warm-up trek to Kilimanjaro. [...]
Is Machame too popular?
Is the Machame Route too popular? Has Kilimanjaro's busiest route become too busy? For over a decade now the Machame trail has been Kilimanjaro’s most popular trail. According to the latest figures given to us [...]
Cycling around Kilimanjaro – bike trip through an African Paradise
Cycling around Kilimanjaro: a bike trip through an African Paradise Prior to COVID, the upper slopes of Kilimanjaro were getting ever busier. More and more people were marching to the summit of Africa’s highest mountain. [...]
Activities around Kilimanjaro
Other things to do around Kilimanjaro There are plenty of other things you can do on the mountain other than climbing it. Let's look at some of the other activities around Kilimanjaro (and on [...]
Is the Umbwe Route the mountain’s best-kept secret?
Why everybody should consider Umbwe When the latest set of statistics were given out by the park authorities recently, one figure in particular stood out. While 47,232 people climbed the mountain that year, only 589 [...]
Maximise your chances of getting to the summit of Kilimanjaro
Top tips for getting to the top of Kilimanjaro There's no doubt about it: getting to the top of Kilimanjaro is largely a matter of luck. After all, the main reason why people fail [...]
Mawenzi, Kilimanjaro’s second summit, reopens to climbers
Mawenzi Peak, Kilimanjaro's second summit, opens to climbers once more After more than a decade, the authorities have decided to allow climbers back onto Kili’s hazardous Mawenzi Peak. The peak sits to the east of [...]
Paragliding on Kilimanjaro to be promoted!
KINAPA promotes paragliding on Kilimanjaro Following on from last week's bulletin about cycling on Kilimanjaro, the park authorities, KINAPA, also announced that they have made plans to allow and promote paragliding on Kilimanjaro. Like all these special [...]
Cycling on Kilimanjaro!
Bicycles on Kilimanjaro! The park authorities of Kilimanjaro, KINAPA, are hoping to promote cycling on Kilimanjaro. The news came to light in an interview I did with the boss of KINAPA, Betty Lobooiki, for the next [...]
Beware of online reviews!
I have recently had a spate of emails from people complaining about a trekking company. It wasn't their service that had got them upset. (Though that was, by all accounts, rather poor too.) But it [...]