Kilimanjaro’s trekking seasons
The mountain can be climbed all year round, There are, however, a couple of rainy seasons – April-May and November-mid-December – that are best avoided. We think January-March and October are the best months as the skies tend to be clear and the mountain quieter.
Our favourite time to climb Kilimanjaro
Personally, we like to trek in March and October. These are our favourite months. There are two main reasons for this:
- The weather is usually good and the skies are often clear during these months.
- Because they both fall just before the rainy seasons, they tend to be quieter than other months. People are probably afraid that the rains will come early, so opt to avoid these months. But in our experience, the rains are more likely to fail than arrive early. Thus the mountain is usually emptier, and quieter. And yet the weather is still lovely.
Note that June and late December, though they also fall outside of the rainy seasons, but only just, are not such good times to be on Kilimanjaro in my experience. The clouds tend to linger after the rainy season, even if the rains have largely finished, so views are restricted.
Budgeting: how much does it cost to climb Kilimanjaro?
The most significant cost of your holiday in Tanzania is the cost of the Kilimanjaro trek itself. The absolute cheapest trek is around US$1000. To get this price, however, you would probably have to travel directly to Tanzania and negotiate with various agencies, look to join a group, and opt for the cheapest route (Marangu, probably) and the shortest number of days (5). As soon as you start looking at a route other than Marangu, opt for more days (highly advisable, or your body probably won’t have enough time to acclimatise), or insist on walking without other trekkers, or go with anything but the cheapest (and thus, probably, worst!) operator – then count on it costing a good deal more. A decent trek, should, to be honest, cost double this – US$2000-3000.
Once on the mountain, however, you won’t need to pay for anything else throughout the trek, except for the occasional chocolate bar or beer which you can buy at the ranger’s huts on the way (though don’t forget tipping!!!).
