FAQS

Frequently Asked Question

 

Got questions about climbing Kilimanjaro? We are here to help.

We receive questions about climbing Kilimanjaro all the time. We have compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions about climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in general, and about climbing Kili with Ndoto Explorers  specifically.

You’ve got questions? We’ve got answers.

Mount Kilimanjaro can be climbed anytime throughout the year. Most travelers prefer climbing during the dry seasons: December to March, June to October. Many consider the best months to climb Kilimanjaro to be January, February and September. More information visit VIEW BEST TIME TO CLIMB MT.KILIMANJARO

The trek up Kilimanjaro is not a technical climb. You do not require any mountaineering equipment to reach the summit. In fact, anyone in good physical condition can reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. You should be able to run for at least half an hour without feeling shortness of breath. You should also be able to walk for at least 2 hours in hilly terrains without feeling overly exhausted. No one with a sore throat, cold of breathing problems should go beyond 3000m. Anyone with heart or lung problems should consult his/her physician before attempting to climb Mt Kilimanjaro.

Yes, all Tanzania National Park (TANAPA) fees are included in our Kilimanjaro price. Currently,fees at Kilimanjaro National Park include day,night,rescue and camping or hut fees. Crew entry fees and Tanzanian Forest Services Agency (TFS) fees (applicable for Rongai, Shira and Lemosho routes) are also included in our Kilimanjaro price.

The minimum age limit set by Kilimanjaro National Park for children trekking to Uhuru Peak on Mount Kilimanjaro is 10 years old

You can expect equatorial to arctic conditions on Mt Kilimanjaro. Depending on the route chosen, you will begin your trek in dry plains or tropical forests with average temperatures between 25⁰C and 30⁰C. You will then ascend through various terrains and weather zones to 67 arrive at the permanently snow-capped summit. Expect rainfalls and sub-zero temperatures on your trek.

Depending on the route chosen, most trekkers take 4-6 days to reach the summit. The longer you spend on the mountain, the more time your body gets to acclimatize, the higher the chance you will succeed in reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Soft kit bag or rack sack (for porters to carry), small daypack (for you to carry), rain cover for backpack/bags, dry sacs for packing inside, sun hat/cap, woolly hat/toque, scarf, balaclava, sunglasses, waterproof jacket and trousers, four-season duvet jacket, warm upper body layers, thermal under layers, trekking trousers, shorts (optional), underwear/sports bra, waterproof gloves, thin gloves, gaiters, thick socks, thin socks, waterproof hiking boots, spare laces, jogging shoes or flip flops for around camp, walking poles, sleeping bag, water bottles or hydration bladder, water purification tablets (optional), water flavoring or rehydration salts, favorite snacks, knee support (optional), eye protection goggles (for wind/dust/glare on summit), head torch, spare bulb, camera, memory cards, spare batteries, towel, toiletries, lip balm, sunscreen, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, personal first aid kit, medication (Diamox optional), insect repellent, pen/paper/playing cards

Yes, any excess luggage you do not need to carry with you on Mount Kilimanjaro can be left at our office or at the hotel. You should keep valuable items with you at all times.

Each porter can carry up to 20kg of luggage, As regulated by Kilimanjaro national park, porters can no more 25kg of total weight including their own personal gears.

Our typical food on the mountain includes:

 

Breakfast:

-Coffee,

-Tea,

-Porridge,

-Fruits,

-Fruit juice,

-Scrambled eggs/omelet,

-Sausage,

-Toast,

-Margarine,

-Honey and jam.

 

Lunch:

-Hot tea,

-Coffee,

-Chips,

-Sandwiches,

-Biscuits,

-Pancakes with honey or jam, and fruits

 

Dinner:

-Soup,

-Cooked meat or vegetarian meal (these include chicken/beef with rice,

sliced fresh carrots and green beans, mashed potatoes, and salads),

-Fruits, and fruit juice, and variety of hot drinks.

 

If you have any suggestions about meals, please do not hesitate to advise and we will work on it as you prefer.

Most certainly! We can cater for vegetarian, gluten-free, or any other special diets. Kindly advise at the time of booking.

Is an option to join a group of 1-8 travelers if you wish, we operate private guided climbs as well.

Yes, absolutely! Because we do not join groups together, you can choose to start your climb on any day you choose.

Before obtaining their license, all guides need to attend training provided by Kilimanjaro National Park – on both theory and practical components as well as First Aid. They will need to pass an exam before they can get their license. We would never consider anyone who is not certified. We always interview potential candidates before we would hire them. We would only use someone who is knowledgeable, has good attitude and good English as assistant guide. We reject a lot of candidates asking for job because they do not meet our standards. Before we would promote someone as chief guide, he would need to have a lot of experience on the mountain and has many good feedbacks from clients. Still we would retrain lead guides and let them know of clients’ feedback so they can keep improving.

We always boil and filter drinking water for our clients. Cooks always make sure the food is well cooked and utensils are sterilized with clean hot water before they are used. The mess tent is cleaned on a daily basis. Mess tents are solely reserved for clients’ use and we do not allow porters to sleep in them.

Yes. The price also includes the salary of a porter to carry the oxygen tanks during your summit attempt.

Yes, portable toilet is available for rental at US$200/group (up to 4 climbers).

You will have one lead guide and an assistant guide for 2-3 climbers.

For 4-6 climbers, you will have one lead guide and 2 assistant guides.

For 7-8 climbers, you will have one lead guide and 3 assistant guides.

For 9-10 climbers, you will have one lead guide and 4 assistant guides.

You will have 4-6 porters per person for your group. This depends on your group size and the weight of your luggage.

The porters will carry all the tents, food, and the luggage that you do not require while hiking so you will only need to carry a day pack during the day.

We use high quality of waterproof tents imported from the USA, Canada and Australia. We also provide foam mattresses designed for mountain excursions (not the thin yoga mat type).

All of our lead guides are trained and certified in the following areas: altitude sickness and recognizing symptoms in the early stages, emergency use of oxygen, wilderness first responder and performing CPR. Each guide carries a first aid kit which includes: paracetamol, Imodium, ibuprofen, rehydration salts, paraffin gauze, sterile swabs, bandages, plasters, cotton wools, latex gloves & tongs, antiseptic disinfectant, antimicrobial cream, antihistamine, Diamox, etc.

 

We check in with the clients and crew daily at camp as they are equipped with mobile phones. Each ranger post also has radio communication.

 

  • What if one member of the group gets sick while trying to reach the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro?

Because you will have many guides and assistant guides, an assistant will take the ill person down while the rest of the group goes on. If the person is extremely sick then we call for a dispatch for stretcher – the rescue fee is included in your quote. But before reaching that point, our guides are very careful and they will monitor the health of everyone every day on the mountain to make sure that the sickness does not get to that point.

We would recommend that you carry no more than 10kg. The average is 7kg. You only need to carry the essentials (3 L drinking water, valuables, camera, lunch/snacks, rain layer…). The rest of the items you can leave with porters to carry.

Yes. In addition to paying a proper wage above minimum rate and supplying proper food and tents on the mountain, we also cover for any medical expenses in case of injury or illness arising from work.

Most certainly! Please ask, we are here for you.

We have put together this short documentary to show you what it’s really like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Find out what it’s really like to summit the roof of Africa at 5,895 m (19,341 ft) above sea level. No matter where you are in the planning stages, it’s an extremely useful watch. Meet the mountain crew who make this magnificent once-in-a-lifetime experience possible. Watch the team trek through five unique ecosystems. And find out what it really takes to conquer one of the world’s greatest natural wonders. 

Tanzania has three major international airports: Dar es Salaam (DAR), Zanzibar (ZNZ) and Kilimanjaro Airport (JRO). The latter is the most convenient for Kilimanjaro, sitting only 42 km away from the mountain town of Moshi and 50 km from Arusha. In addition to flights to Tanzania, you may consider flights to Nairobi in Kenya, which is only a 5-hour shuttle bus ride to Arusha or a 1-hour plane ride to JRO. Note, however, that by choosing to fly to Kenya you may need a multiple-entry Kenya visa (if you are flying out of Kenya, too, for example, and spend longer than a fortnight in Tanzania), which can cost as much as $122 – thereby reducing or eliminating any saving you may have made in airfares.

In deciding which flights to book, you should take the full trip into consideration. For example, if you would like to spend a couple days in Zanzibar after the climb, it might be best to book one-way tickets from your home to Kilimanjaro Airport for the climb, from Arusha to Zanzibar after the climb, and then from Zanzibar back to your home.

We recommend arriving one day early (called “arrival day”). This will give you time to relax, meet your fellow travellers and get a proper briefing before the climb starts. We do know, however, that travelling to Kilimanjaro can be a challenge and so we will accommodate your arrival time as best we can (for example, if you arrive only late at night the day before the climb starts).

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Get your Kilimanjaro guide!

All you need to know for a successful Kilimanjaro climb.

You will need a passport that is valid for at least six more months as well as a flight card which you will receive on the plane. Finally, you need a Tanzanian visa. US, Canadian, British and most European citizens can simply obtain their visas upon arrival at the airport. The cost is $100 for US passport holders and $50 for others. If you are a citizen of a different country, please check with your embassy if you can obtain a visa upon arrival.

There are 7 different Kilimanjaro routes up the mountain. We recommend the Lemosho and Machame routes. These two routes offer the best balance of a high success rate, beautiful scenery, and smaller crowds.

This is an outdoor adventure trip in the African wild. There are no showers on the mountain. Warm water will be supplied in a bowl and you will be able to wash your face and hands. For the rest you can bring wet wipes.

At each campsite, we set up a private toilet tent which contains a plastic toilet. There are also simple, hole-in-the-ground public toilets (usually very dirty and not recommended). If you need to use the bathroom on the trail, you will find a spot behind a tree or rock.

On our Kilimanjaro climbs, we aim to build groups of 6 to 10 fellow travellers, with 12 people being the limit. Follow Alice groups are typically made up of 20 to 35 years olds who are sociable people from around the world looking to share an unforgettable adventure with you.

Yes, we even encourage you to sign up! We make sure to match you in a bigger group of like-minded fellow travellers that will soon be your new friends. There is nothing greater than being ‘stuck’ with each other for a week on a mountain in Africa

There are no specific vaccine requirements for entry into Tanzania. However, be aware that the Government of Tanzania requires proof of yellow fever vaccination upon arrival if you are travelling from a country with risk of yellow fever. We suggest you talk to your doctor about getting the following vaccinations (which are standard in developed countries): Hepatitis A & B, typhoid, yellow fever, tetanus, polio, MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) and meningococcal meningitis (Africa and Asia). Please check the Fit for Travel website for more up-to-date information.

Kilimanjaro is climbable all year round. The best months to climb, however, are July to October and December to February, as these are the warmest and driest months. July, August and September tend to be the busiest months on the mountain. Another factor to take into consideration is the full moon: summiting Kilimanjaro on a cloudless evening is without a doubt an unforgettable experience. Now imagine seeing the glaciers glitter in the moonlight – absolutely stunning. You can also summit the mountain to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Kilimanjaro requires no technical climbing experience and any moderately fit person can summit the mountain. However, for most people, it will be one of the most difficult things they ever do in their lives.

All climbers pay a rescue fee to the Kilimanjaro National Park (included in our package price). If you cannot continue the climb because you get injured or sick, the guides and porters will gladly assist you on the way down. There is no extra charge for coming down and being taken back to the lodge early, but we will not be able to refund you for the days you missed on the mountain. Moreover, we ask all of our travellers to purchase a special adventure travel insurance that covers any possible medical expenses and evacuation costs – just to be safe!

If all goes according to plan, you will be coming off the mountain knowing that you are one of the very few who have succeeded in climbing Kilimanjaro – well done! Now, it’s time to relax and take in some of the amazing sights and experiences East Africa has to offer.

Choosing between a safari in the Tanzanian plains and a relaxing vacation on the great white sandy beaches of Zanzibar is tricky. The week on the mountain will be exhausting – so if you’re eager to charge the batteries before the busy everyday life starts again, go with Zanzibar! But if you feel this might be the only time you come visit Eastern Africa, we encourage you to go on a once-in-a-lifetime safari with us.

Any special requests regarding your menu? No worries. We can accommodate vegetarian and vegan diets. For those with special diets, please contact us to discuss what we can or cannot do.

Choosing between a safari in the Tanzanian plains and a relaxing vacation on the great white sandy beaches of Zanzibar is tricky. The week on the mountain will be exhausting – so if you’re eager to charge the batteries before the busy everyday life starts again, go with Zanzibar! But if you feel this might be the only time you come visit Eastern Africa, we encourage you to go on a once-in-a-lifetime safari with us.

During the climb, we sleep in three-person, four-season dome-style mountain tents, two people per tent. These tents are modern and have an outer flysheet and large vestibules where you can store your equipment during the night. On the day before the trek (arrival day) and the day after the trek (departure day), we stay in a comfortable lodge set in spacious grounds shaded by banana trees near Arusha or Moshi. Both have stunning views, with lovely rooms and facilities to match. We understand that coming from a week on the mountain, you want to treat yourself with a hot shower, great food and maybe a good bottle of wine to celebrate!

We can genuinely say that you can have an incredible Tanzania Safari Tours at any time of year – truly!

We have numerous upbeat customers going with us amid the “long rains” of April and May, and the “short rains” of November. Try not to be put off voyaging at that point. It surely does not rain each day, frequently the precipitation is around evening time, and you can at present observe some stunning natural life. Additionally, housing are less expensive, lodges are less full, and there are less different autos in the national parks.

It can get somewhat troublesome in the event that you need to make a trip to extremely remote regions amid blustery season, anyway the streets between Arusha, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and Serengeti are great and all around kept up, and still particularly tolerable notwithstanding amid the downpours.

Whatever is left of the year is commonly dry, however June can likewise be somewhat wet.

Find a brief summary of some Tanzania National Parks and get the Best Time To Visit Tanzania for a real safari experience. The best wildlife sighting in Tanzania is amid the dry season from late June to October. The most obvious opportunity with regards to seeing the wildebeest movement in the Serengeti is amid June and July and an opportunity to see the wildebeest calving is late January to February. The southern and western circuit parks are best visited amid the dry season (June to October), dissimilar to the more mainstream northern circuit stops that can be visited all year. Tarangire is the main special case since its natural life seeing is impressively better in the dry season also.

The Great Migration, in Tanzania and Kenya, would one say one is of nature’s most noteworthy occasions, however how would you know where and when to go to really observe it?

The immense Serengeti fields and the slopes of Kenya’s Masai Mara are the setting for the world’s most prominent untamed life exhibition, the 1.5 million creature ungulate (wildebeest) relocation. Over 1.4 million wildebeest and 200,000 zebra and gazelle, constantly followed by Africa’s extraordinary predators, move in a clockwise style more than 1,800 miles every year looking for greener grass.

Once the ‘short downpours’ fall in November and December (some of the time as ahead of schedule as October) the relocation moves from Kenya’s Maasai Mara down through the eastern side of Tanzania’s Serengeti into its sweet and prolific southern-grass fields. Here, the wildebeest and different ungulates settle among January and April. In April and May the ‘long’ downpours set in and the relocation begins moving from the exhausted southern fields north to the long grass fields in the western passage. Extensive stream intersections on the Grumeti and Mara Rivers happen as the relocation heads once again into Kenya’s Maasai Mara – the season dries out and crisp touching and water can be found in the far north. The Masaai Mara is more often than not taking care of business in August, September and October.

From the dry acacia forest of Tarangire National Park and the sensational bluffs of the Rift Valley to the tremendous Serengeti fields and the master feathered creatures of the Usambara, Uluguru and Udzungwa mountains, northern Tanzania is a birders heaven.

With near 1,150 types of birds, of which 23 species are endemic and 36 species internationally compromised, Tanzania positions as one of the best birding goals in Africa, and the second most fluctuated avifauna of any nation on the African mainland.

Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, The Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park are best Tanzania Destinations for birding.

This is your safari trip, your experience! You choose how you need to invest your energy in this excursion. In the event that you might want to spend an entire day on safari, you are certainly invited to do as such. Safari Infinity does not confine your mileage, fuel or how much time you need to be on safari. While some days you may choose set out by dawn, different days you can have a slower paced breakfast before begin your everyday investigation. Just take a seat with your manual for plan your day and dinners the prior night. Your guide will have a lot of proposals, obviously the choice is yours.

A wildlife guide, who is additionally your private driver, will go with you. In the event that you pick a camping safari, you will likewise go with a cook, who will set up the majority of your tasty dinners while in the bramble.

It is critical to never expect that any of the animals experienced on your diversion drive are manageable. In spite of the fact that assaults by wild animals are abnormal, nothing in the African wild is unsurprising. While you are remaining in your safari lodges and camps, it is imperative to be particularly careful and mindful of your surroundings the same number of these zones are not fenced and contain wildlife meandering openly. In the event that you have kids with you, keep them in sight and don’t give them a chance to meander alone. At littler rose lodges, you will dependably be escorted to and from your tent for supper or amid the night. Should you have any worries, kindly don’t dither to raise them to the staff or your guide

Completely. We give unlimited refreshments in our safari vehicle including packaged drinking water, your favoured soda pops, juice, household brew, French-press coffee and tea. All our safari vehicles are outfitted with a little cooler to keep your beverages chilled for you to appreciate amid your safari.

Indeed! Or possibly it positively can be. When we see that there are youngsters present on your outing, we will do everything we can to make your program as friendly as possible.

We can choose child-friendly accommodations – this could mean anything from having an extraordinary pool, to gigantic rooms resting up to 4 people, to a lot of room for pursuing cycle a difficult day of diversion driving. We will design a program which downplays exchange times. We can suggest extraordinary exercises, for example, vessel outings, climbing and following chasing follows Bushmen – all incredible approaches to invest some energy outside of the safari vehicle.

On the off chance that going with very young kids, we can likewise give vehicle seats to use inside the safari vehicle, and infant transporters.

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Hello Adventurer! Welcome to Ndoto Explorers, your gateway to unforgettable experiences in the heart of Tanzania, nestled in the shadow of majestic Mt Kilimanjaro. Are you ready to embark on a journey of a lifetime? Ndoto Explorers is here to turn your dreams into reality. How may i be of help for you in planning your perfect adventure?

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