The things people ask us most

The nine-day Northern Circuit, at around 95%. The eight-day Lemosho follows at about 90%. The pattern is consistent across every operator's data: success tracks the number of days far more closely than it tracks fitness or route difficulty. Six-day itineraries sit around 65%, seven-day around 85%. If reaching the summit is your priority, buy days.

They join up and share the same summit approach, so the difference is in the first few days. Lemosho starts on the quiet western side and takes an extra day to reach the point where Machame begins climbing hard, which acclimatises you better and puts you among far fewer people. Machame is a day shorter and a few hundred dollars cheaper, and it is busy. If your budget and calendar stretch to Lemosho, take Lemosho.

January to mid-March and June to October. January and February are warmer and clearer, with more snow at the summit. June to October is the long dry season — cooler, very reliable, and the busiest. Avoid the long rains of late March through May, when the forest section becomes genuinely unpleasant, and expect afternoon rain during the short rains in November.

You need to be able to walk for six to seven hours a day, on hilly ground, on consecutive days, carrying a light daypack. That is the standard. Most reasonably active people can reach it with about three months of preparation — long weekend walks, hills, and some back-to-back days. Summit night is the exception: twelve to sixteen hours of very slow walking in the cold and dark, which is more mental than physical.

No. Kilimanjaro is a walk, not a climb. There are no ropes, no crampons, no ice axes and no technical sections on any of the standard routes. If you can hike, you can attempt Kilimanjaro. The Umbwe route is the one exception we gatekeep — it is steep and fast enough that we only recommend it to experienced hill walkers with previous altitude exposure.

It is a 250-metre rock face on the Machame and Lemosho routes that you climb on the morning of day four. You will use your hands, but it is a scramble rather than a climb — there is no rope, no equipment and no serious exposure, and porters carry full loads up it every day. It takes most groups about an hour and it is usually the part people enjoy most. If you are uneasy with heights, tell your guide beforehand and they will stay with you.

Your guide makes the call, and it is not a negotiation. If your oxygen saturation, symptoms or condition indicate you should descend, you descend — with an assistant guide, while the rest of the group continues. Descent is the treatment for altitude sickness and it works fast. Serious cases are evacuated by stretcher or, where necessary and where your insurance covers it, by helicopter.

A 4x4 with a full pop-up roof for standing game viewing — most often a Land Cruiser, though the exact vehicle is confirmed on your quotation. Maximum 6 guests per safari vehicle for comfort and viewing space. Each has a cool box, charging points, binoculars and field guides on board.

Camping safaris put you inside or immediately beside the parks, cost considerably less, and are a great deal more atmospheric. A cook travels with you and the food is better than you expect. Lodge safaris give you a proper bed, hot water and usually a pool. There is no wrong answer, and you can mix the two across a single trip.

More than most people expect. Arusha to the central Serengeti is a full day on the road, much of it unpaved. The crater and Tarangire are far closer. If your time is tight, flying one leg into the Serengeti and driving the other is money well spent — ask us to price it both ways.

There is no legal minimum for the parks, and safari works well with children from around six. Under-16s pay reduced park fees, which makes family trips cheaper than people assume. Kilimanjaro has a national park minimum age of ten, and we would generally encourage waiting longer than that.

It is the most common way we are booked, and the sensible order is mountain first, safari afterwards — the climb is the part that needs you fresh, and the safari is a much better way to recover than the reverse. Allow at least one rest day in between.

If you are in the right part of the Serengeti in the right month, almost certainly — the herds are somewhere in the ecosystem all year round. River crossings are the exception: they are genuinely unpredictable and no honest operator will promise one. If crossings are your goal, plan three nights in the northern Serengeti between August and October and treat anything you see as a bonus.

Four steps. You send us an enquiry with your dates and rough plan; we send back a day-by-day itinerary and an itemised quotation; you confirm with a deposit, which secures your dates, guides and permits; and we meet you at Kilimanjaro International when you land. Nothing is charged while we are still discussing the plan.

A deposit of 30% of the trip cost confirms the booking, and the balance is due 60 days before departure. Book inside 60 days and the full amount is payable at the time of booking. The exact figures and the accepted payment methods are set out in writing on your quotation before you are asked to pay anything.

Yes, and for Kilimanjaro it is mandatory. Your policy must cover trekking to at least 6,000 metres and include emergency evacuation, including helicopter rescue. A great many standard travel policies exclude high-altitude trekking outright, so check the wording rather than the summary, and send us a copy before you fly.

Most nationalities need a visa, available in advance as an eVisa or on arrival at Kilimanjaro International. A yellow fever certificate is required if you are arriving from, or have recently transited, a country with risk of yellow fever transmission. Malaria prophylaxis is strongly recommended for the parks and the coast, though not needed at altitude on the mountain. Requirements change — confirm the current position with your own government's travel advice and a travel clinic before booking flights.

US dollars are widely accepted for tourism services and are what tips are usually given in. Bring notes issued in 2009 or later, as older notes are frequently refused. Tanzanian shillings are better for markets and small purchases, and ATMs in Arusha and Moshi are reliable.

Tell us as early as you can. We charge nothing to move a booking beyond any difference in price and any fee a supplier imposes on us. More than 60 days out it is usually straightforward; closer than that it gets harder, because permits, camps and flights are committed. A change we cannot accommodate is treated as a cancellation, and the scale on our terms page applies.

It depends on the notice you give us. Cancel 60 days or more before departure and you lose the deposit; 45–59 days, 50% of the trip cost; 30–44 days, 75%; inside 30 days, the full cost. Park permits, conservation fees and ticketed internal flights are not recoverable whatever the notice. The full scale is on our terms page, and this is precisely what cancellation cover in your travel insurance is for.

Safety decisions sit with your guide and are made in the moment — a route may be changed, a day may be adjusted, or a summit attempt may be abandoned. We will always find the best alternative available, but we cannot refund national park fees already paid to the government, and we cannot control weather. This is precisely what travel insurance is for.

You still keep your climb, your guides and everything else you paid for — the price buys the expedition, not the summit, and no reputable operator prices it any other way. Roughly speaking, most people who take enough days do get there. Nobody can guarantee it, and you should be sceptical of anyone who tries.

Warm layers, a waterproof shell, broken-in boots, a four-season sleeping bag and a 30–35 litre daypack are the essentials. There is a full list on our Kilimanjaro page. The short version: layers rather than one thick coat, and boots you have already walked a hundred kilometres in.

Yes, and you should. Down jackets, sleeping bags, poles, gaiters and waterproofs are all available to hire in Arusha and Moshi for a few dollars a day each, and the quality is generally good. Tell us what you already own and we will tell you what is worth hiring rather than buying for a single trip.

Neutral colours, long sleeves and trousers for mornings, evenings and mosquitoes, a warm layer for early game drives — the crater rim is genuinely cold at dawn — a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and high-factor sun cream. Avoid blue and black, which attract tsetse flies. Binoculars are worth more than an extra camera lens.

On the mountain, porters carry a maximum of 15kg of your kit in a duffel, plus whatever you carry in your daypack. Anything else stays at your hotel. Light aircraft between the Serengeti and Zanzibar restrict you to around 15kg in a soft bag with no rigid frame — hard suitcases will not be accepted.