Kilimanjaro
Tanzania
A walk to 5,895 metres, where the days on the way up decide whether you reach the top
Photo by Crispin Jones on Unsplash
Photos by Nichika Sakurai, Anna Claire Schellenberg, Crispin Jones and Nichika Sakurai on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Tanzania
January, February, and June to October (the two dry seasons)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 132mm in Apr
Where it is
3.35°S, 37.34°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Take seven or eight days rather than five or six: the extra days are acclimatisation, and acclimatisation is what gets people to the top
- Pick the route by its profile, not its reputation — Marangu has huts and the lowest summit rate of any route, Lemosho and the Northern Circuit are long and have the best
- Walk slowly from the first hour; "pole pole" is the advice you will hear a hundred times and it is right
- Use an operator that is a partner of the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project, which checks loads, food and pay
- Spend a day around Moshi before the climb, at a coffee farm or the Materuni falls, to get over the flight
- Take the descent seriously — knees, not lungs, are what the Mweka trail wears out
Kilimanjaro travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Tanzania
Very expensiveA climb is priced and paid in dollars, and the park fees inside that price are the largest single line of it — they are paid by card to the park, by the operator, not by you at the gate. What you do pay in cash is the tip for the crew at the end, which is a real share of their income and runs to several hundred dollars for a party; agree the amount and the split before you start. Dollar notes must be 2013 or newer.
ATMs & cards
CRDB, NMB and Exim all have machines in central Moshi. Draw the crew tips in the days before the climb rather than the morning after it — machines limit each withdrawal and some run dry at weekends.
Avoid these
- leaving the crew tips to the morning you come down
Use these instead
- CRDB
- NMB
- Exim (all in Moshi)
There is nothing on the mountain and nothing to spend money on. The tips are cash, in dollars or shillings, and they are the one large sum you carry yourself.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Tanzania
SafeAltitude is the risk, not the walking. Headache and nausea are expected; confusion, stumbling and breathlessness at rest are not, and the only treatment that works is going down. Choose an operator whose guides check oxygen saturation twice a day and will turn you round. Your insurance has to cover trekking to 6,000 metres and helicopter evacuation, and many standard policies do not. Moshi itself is calm and easy by day.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Moshi — the town centre, by day
- Marangu
- Machame Gate
Worth more attention
- Altitude sickness, which does not care how fit you are and is treated only by going down
- Barranco Wall — a scramble with drops beside it, slow in a queue and harder in the wet
- Uhuru Peak — the summit night: cold well below freezing, in the dark, at the point you are most tired
- Cheap climbs, where the saving is usually the porters' pay, food and kit
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Tanzania visa rules
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$50 ($100 for US passports)
Available on arrival too, but the queue at Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro is long and the e-visa avoids it. Compulsory travel insurance is now sold on arrival in Zanzibar (~$44) unless you hold a qualifying policy.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Apply at visa.immigration.go.tz, allowing up to ten working days. Yellow fever certificates are checked if you are arriving from an endemic country, including via a long layover.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Tanzania
Evacuation likelyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate if arriving from a country where yellow fever is present — including via a layover of more than 12 hours in one
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Malaria prophylaxis — Zanzibar is a genuine malaria area
- Rabies for longer stays
- Cholera for extended rural stays
Getting treated
The weakest on this list. Zanzibar has clinics that handle minor problems and a private hospital in Stone Town, but anything serious means an evacuation flight to Dar es Salaam or Nairobi. Travel insurance with air-evacuation cover is genuinely essential here, not a formality.
Malaria is the real risk and prophylaxis is strongly advised — take it as prescribed and use repellent and nets. Do not drink the tap water. Watch the yellow-fever transit rule closely, because it catches people connecting through Nairobi or Addis.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodIn Moshi, mshikaki skewers and nyama choma with ugali, and the Chagga banana stew, mtori, on the lower slopes. On the mountain a cook carries everything up and the food is better than it has any right to be; eat it even when altitude takes your appetite, which it will.
Travel tipsGetting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
Uber Dar es Salaam
- From the airport
- Kilimanjaro airport to Arusha $50–60 by shuttle
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper in the cities. On safari the vehicle is the operator’s and none of this applies.
Time zone and your working day
Africa/Dar es Salaam — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Tanzania, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Swahili
- HelloHabariha-BA-ree
- PleaseTafadhalita-fa-DHA-lee
- Thank youAsantea-SAN-teh
- Yes / NoNdiyo / Hapanan-DEE-yo / ha-PA-na
4 more phrases
- Excuse meSamahanisa-ma-HA-nee
- How much is it?Bei gani?bay GA-nee
- The bill, pleaseBili tafadhaliBEE-lee
- No problemHakuna matataha-KOO-na ma-TA-ta
Jambo is the tourist greeting; habari is what locals actually say to each other. Using it changes how you are received.
Travel tipsReligion
Muslim on Zanzibar, split on the mainland
The mainland is roughly half Christian and half Muslim; Zanzibar is around 99% Muslim and noticeably more conservative. Cover shoulders and knees in Stone Town, and swimwear stays on the resort beach.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Cover shoulders and knees away from beach resorts — Zanzibar is conservative and predominantly Muslim
- Greet with habari and take the time for it; greetings are extended here
- Use the right hand to eat, give and receive
- Ask before photographing anyone
Don't
- Do not wear swimwear off the beach, including walking through Stone Town
- Do not show public affection, including between couples
- Do not eat or drink publicly during daylight in Ramadan
- Do not use the left hand for anything social; it is the toilet hand
Where to stay in Kilimanjaro
No Holistay rentals in Kilimanjaro yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Kilimanjaro on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Kilimanjaro JRO
45 minfrom the airport· 31 km as the crow flies
45 min to Moshi.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
