Mountain Treks
Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro, properly guided
Point Lenana at 4,985 m and Uhuru Peak at 5,895 m — both walkable, neither trivial.
Neither of these mountains needs ropes or technical skill. What they need is time. Altitude sickness is the reason people turn back, and altitude sickness is almost entirely a function of how fast you climbed. That is why we push the seven and eight-day routes on Kilimanjaro over the five and six-day ones, even though they cost more.
Our mountain crews are the same people trip after trip — guides with Wilderness First Responder training, cooks who can produce three hot meals a day at 4,500 m, and porters paid at or above the KPAP and Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project recommended rates. Your guide carries a pulse oximeter and checks everyone daily; if someone needs to go down, they go down, and an assistant guide takes them.
You do not need to be an athlete. You need to be able to walk five to seven hours a day for several days in a row, and to be sensible about pace. We will send you a training and kit list when you book, and hire out the heavier gear — sleeping bags, down jackets, poles — in Moshi or Nanyuki.
Before you book
- Travel insurance covering trekking to 6,000 m is mandatory on Kilimanjaro and strongly advised on Mount Kenya.
- Longer routes cost more because you pay another day of park, hut and crew fees — and they get more people to the summit.
- Diamox is widely used; talk to your doctor before you travel, not on the mountain.
- Tipping the crew is customary and separate from the trip price. We will give you the current guideline amounts.
Choosing a route
- First high mountain, Kenya: Sirimon up, Chogoria down, over five days.
- Best odds on Kilimanjaro: Lemosho over eight days, then Machame over seven.
- Rain likely: Rongai, on the dry northern side.
- You want a bed, not a tent: Marangu, the only hut route on Kilimanjaro.
6 itineraries
5 days · 4 nightsMountain Trek
5 Days Mount Kenya — Sirimon up, Chogoria down
The finest traverse on the mountain, and the one we recommend first
Mount KenyaPoint Lenana (4,985 m)
From NairobiView itinerary
6 days · 5 nightsMountain Trek
6 Days Kilimanjaro — Marangu Route
The Coca-Cola Route — the only one with huts instead of tents
KilimanjaroUhuru Peak (5,895 m)
From Moshi or ArushaView itinerary
7 days · 6 nightsMountain Trek
7 Days Kilimanjaro — Machame Route
The Whiskey Route — harder walking, better acclimatisation, higher success rate
KilimanjaroUhuru Peak (5,895 m)
From Moshi or ArushaView itinerary
7 days · 6 nightsMountain Trek
7 Days Kilimanjaro — Rongai Route
The quiet side of the mountain, approached from the north
KilimanjaroUhuru Peak (5,895 m)
From Moshi or ArushaView itinerary
8 days · 7 nightsMountain Trek
8 Days Kilimanjaro — Lemosho Route
The most scenic route, and the one with the best summit statistics
KilimanjaroUhuru Peak (5,895 m)
From Moshi or ArushaView itinerary
None of these quite right?
Almost every trip we run started as one of these and ended up somewhere else. Send us your dates and we will rebuild it.