Mount Kilimanjaro Holidays

Situated on the border with Kenya, the white-topped summit of Africa’s highest peak awaits: Mount Kilimanjaro. When the clouds clear it emerges, bald and barren, a mammoth free-standing volcano that draws over 25,000 climbers a year. They make their sloth-like ascent, accompanied by a caravan of guides and porters, from the patchwork carpet of coffee and cassava farms at its base through a journey of diverse ecosystems. Routes lead through thick rainforest where colobus monkeys leap between the trees and leopards roam, supported by summit melt-water that flows in crystal streams and waterfalls.
As the air thins, this lush landscape gives way to arctic desert littered with volcanic scree, vast icefields and creaky columns of ice. It’s the three cone peaks, Shira, Kibo and Mawenzi, that draw hikers like a magnet to this land where humans aren’t meant to tread. Up at 5,895 metres above sea level, the views stretch far and wide from the rooftop of Africa, one of the world’s seven highest summits. For some though, just gazing at Kilimanjaro from its surrounding national park is enough. Here, Cape buffalo and elephants can be spotted and cattle graze, herded by the area’s ancient Maasai and Chagga tribes.
Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro may not require ropes or technical experience but the multi-day, high-altitude expedition does call for a team of guides and porters. Talk to our Africa gurus about arranging your visit to this mighty mountain.