The great mountain of Kilimanjaro is a metaphor for the compelling beauty of East Africa. Rising in absolute isolation, at 5,895 m (19,336 ft), Kilimanjaro is one of the highest walkable summits on the planet, a beacon for visitors from around the world. 

 

 

Just three degrees south of the equator, Kilimanjaro’s great peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi are covered all year round with snow and ice. Most reasonably fit and properly guided climbers can experience the triumph of reaching the crater rim with little more than a walking stick, warm clothing and determination. What makes the climb such a heavy challenge, is more from the rigours of altitude than the actual difficulty of the hike itself. The climb, which takes on average five days (you’re more likely to reach the top if you pace yourself), takes hikers through thick forests and alpine grasslands, desolate rockface and brilliant white glaciers.

Those who reach Uhuru Point, the actual summit, or Gillman’s point on the lip of the crater (Kilimanjaro is a dormant, but not extinct, volcano), will have earned their climbing certificates and their memories.

There is, however, so much more to Kilimanjaro than the summit. A journey up the slopes takes visitors on a climatic world tour, from the tropics to the arctic. The grassy and cultivated lower slopes turn into lush rainforest, inhabited by elusive elephant, leopard, buffalo and antelope. Higher still, heath and moorland, covered with giant heather, becomes a surreal alpine desert and, finally, there is ice, snow and the biggest view on the continent.

December to February are the warmest and clearest months to visit, with July to September being colder but also dry. It is wet in the rainforest from April to June and during November.