How To Find and Book Your Kilimanjaro Climb

At the Kilimanjaro Wonders Hotel, we often get the question of where to find the best
companies and outfitters for ascending Kilimanjaro. You don’t climb Kilimanjaro
every week, in fact, it is likely you are only going to climb Kilimanjaro once in your life
and you want to make sure of three things: You want to reach the top, you want to
have a beautiful route up and you want to do it with a trusted company. Since it is not
allowed to do it by yourself, you might as well put a lot of serious effort in finding the
right company which will get you all the way to Uhuru Peak.

If you stand on our rooftop, Kilimanjaro looks rather small. But if you realize that Kili is almost
6’000 meters high, that there are six routes to the top and that it takes anything between 5
and 9 days to make it to Uhuru Peak, your perspective changes. Climbing Kilimanjaro is a
serious undertaking and there are many things that you might not think of when exploring
your possibilities.

Kilimanjaro Climbing Routes

There are many roads leading to Rome and there are also different routes leading to Uhuru
Peak. The Marangu Route is one of the oldest routes on Kilimanjaro and it sometimes called
the Tourist or the Coca-Cola Route. With that name, it doesn’t really do the route honor,
because, although it is the only route with huts, it still really is a popular route. Not much
younger but definitely a bit cooler is the Machame Route. As an answer to the Marangu
Route, this route is dubbed the Whisky Route. Having a good single malt on the Whisky
Route is the right thing to do.

Although both the Marangu and the Machame Route are popular options, they are not great
for acclimatization. If you want to do acclimatization right, you don’t want to tackle the
Marangu in 5 or 6 days or the Machame, but you rather take the Northern Circuit. The latter
is the longest route on Kilimanjaro and it involves a detour on the Northern side of
Kilimanjaro. Because of it being so long and it having fewer hectic differences in altitude, this
route is perfect for acclimatization and it is no surprise that it has the highest success rates
of all routes. The Northern Circuit is, however, with 90 kilometers quite a long hike.

According to Sierd van der Bij, trekking expert of Bookatrekking.com, the Lemosho Route is
one of the absolute best-sellers. “But that is not surprising”, Van der Bij says. “Success rates
vary between 85 and 95% depending on how long your itinerary is. For the best
acclimatization, we always suggest choosing 8 days. You are likely to climb Kilimanjaro only
once in your life, so you might as well take it easy. The Lemosho Route is also one of the
more scenic options.” If you want an understanding of all the different route options, we can
suggest reading this blog post by Van der Bij.

Find the Right Climbing Company

It can be a daunting task to find the right company to take you to the top of Kilimanjaro.
There are many out there, international adventure conglomerates and small local outfitters.
Ideally, you would like to support the small guys but you don’t want to take the risk and
rather go with the big guys who do all the big work, right? Perhaps. But if there is a platform
where you can compare the smaller guys and you can still enjoy trusted advise and book in
a trusted environment. This way you are sure that your money lands at the grassroots level
and you are having an authentic Tanzanian experience with a company that can really do
with your support. When we came across Bookatrekking.com, we saw exactly that. Compare
local companies and book their services from anywhere in the world.

Bookatrekking.com offers all climbing routes and works with local companies. They have an
extensive travel guide in which all your questions about climbing Kilimanjaro answered and
they have a wide offer with competitive prices. “We are in very close touch with our partners
in Moshi and we translate all our content and trekking offer from English to Dutch, German
and Spanish. This way, our partners can reach a very wide audience and can focus on what
they do best: Climbing Kilimanjaro,” explains Van der Bij. “Our partners know the mountain
best and they also know where to find the best places in Moshi. That is how we discovered
the Kili Wonders hotel. We listed it in our blog post about where to stay in Moshi.”

Finding and comparing companies for your Kilimanjaro climb has never been easier. At
Bookatrekking.com you have all different route options in an overview, see what is included
in your itinerary and have answers to all your questions. Trekking experts are at your
disposal to answer all the extra questions that you may have during your journey to finding
the best Kilimanjaro climb. That sounds like hakuna matata to us.