What is the Daily Schedule on Kilimanjaro?
Mornings: Start of the Day
During a normal day on the mountain, a member of the staff will wake you up from your tent at approximately 6:30 AM. The team prepares hot water for your washbasin, tea, and other hot beverages, and breakfast. Will be served at 7:00 a.m. Your day will start bright and early, with a friendly wake-up call as the sun peeks over the horizon. A team member will bring you a basin of warm water to wash your face and brush your teeth. Before having breakfast, we recommend preparing your day pack and duffel bag and placing them outside of the tent for the porters to take down the tent.
Meals are served in a mess tent or occasionally outdoors if the weather is nice, complete with chairs, tables, dinnerware, and silverware. You usually begin walking around 8:00 AM, while the porters stay behind to clean up the campsite, and pack up the tents and other equipment. A health check will also be performed in the morning.
Hiking During the Day
The duration of your walks may differ on a daily basis, but on average, you can expect to walk for four to six hours. Longer routes or days with acclimatization hikes may require more time. Your guide will determine the pace with plenty of rest stops for you to catch your breath, eat a snack, and appreciate the dramatic scenery of this unique mountain.
Most days on the mountain are enjoyed at a leisurely pace.
Clients commonly express concern that they will be “too slow” and lag behind the guide and the rest of their group. This concern is unwarranted. Being slow is fine, and in fact, recommended. The guides set a pace that will give everyone the best chance to acclimatize to the increasing altitude. People who are turned around on the mountain typically do so because they have succumbed to altitude sickness, not because they were physically too tired to keep up or continue.
Be sure to let your guide know if you have a headache, nausea, disorientation, or any other unusual symptoms.
While you hike, the porters consistently move ahead of the group in order to prepare food, collect water, and set up tents, so that everything is ready when the party arrives.
We’ll stop for lunch along the way. Some days this will be a hot lunch served in a mess tent; on other days we’ll have a picnic lunch, depending on the weather conditions, route or schedule. We aim to do most of the hiking in the morning so that after lunch, it’s a shorter trek to our campsite.
Evenings Hiking Kilimanjaro
Upon reaching the campsite, you’ll find your tent ready for you and your duffel bag inside. It’s important to change out of any damp clothing (whether from rain or perspiration), roll out your sleeping bag so it has a chance to “fluff up” (a compressed sleeping bag doesn’t insulate well), before heading over to the mess tent for a tea-time snack and hot beverage. Following that, dinner is served at approximately 6:00 PM. An additional health assessment is carried out during the evening. The guide will go over the activities planned for the next day with the group after dinner. Free time can be spent engaging in conversation with fellow climbers, interacting with staff and other campsite occupants, reading, or simply unwinding.
This is the routine for most days on the mountain, and you’ll get the hang of it after a couple of days. We believe the schedule is pretty easy to follow and not very demanding. Of course, that’s our goal, because we want you to feel strong and well rested. It shouldn’t feel like work.
Schedule for the Day of the Summit
The day of reaching the summit can be challenging, lasting anywhere from 10 to 14 hours.
This monumental effort is what makes climbing Kilimanjaro an achievement. It begins very early as guides try to time their trekking party to reach Uhuru Point at sunrise. Climbers go to sleep after an early dinner the night before and are awakened around midnight to prepare for the summit attempt. After a light snack or quick “breakfast”, climbers ascend in the darkness, cold and wind. It goes without saying that under these conditions, climbing is difficult, especially on loose rock and up a very steep slope. This is where your physical prowess and mental toughness will be tested.
Our team of Hiking Kilimanjaro guides will be with you every step of the way to assist you during your ascent. Short breaks, usually lasting less than ten minutes, will be taken along the way for a quick snack and drink. This is to make sure the climbers stay energized and hydrated but do not get cold by sitting still. The guides will regularly check to see how everyone is feeling and offer a hand to those who may need extra help.
Ending the Ascent
It is possible that someone may have to turn around on the mountain due to altitude sickness, exhaustion or a variety of other matters. Each group will have a lead guide, a number of assistant guides depending on the party size, and summit porters – all of whom are able to escort climbers down. Therefore, if a person cannot continue the ascent, one of the staff members will accompany this climber while the lead guide takes the group onward. The remaining party is unaffected and continues their climb as scheduled.
After the Summit
Once you reach the summit, some time is spent celebrating and taking photos, before returning to the high camp, either Barafu or Kibo Hut. There, you eat lunch and regain your strength before continuing the descent to a much lower camp.
The long descent immediately after summiting is where most people get tired, because of the partial night’s sleep, the expenditure of energy required to reach the top, and the particularly long distance covered that day. This is completely normal. For those who may be feeling ill from the altitude, getting to this lower elevation can relieve symptoms quickly and completely.
Acclimatization to High Altitudes
There is a strong correlation between the amount of time spent on the mountain and the summit success rate. Because the human body adapts to high altitude slowly, the more time it has, the better the chances of acclimatization. A successful summit is usually a question of how well a climber can acclimatize to the high altitude, rather than the climber’s ability to ascend.
By trekking standards, most of the day hikes on Kilimanjaro are not very strenuous. The big exception to this is the summit attempt, which requires a tremendous effort and is hard for nearly everyone. Climbers who acclimatize well to the altitude have a splendid chance of making it to the top.
How one reacts to high altitude is uncertain. Some people’s bodies adjust well to the decreased oxygen levels; others do not. Being physically fit and in good health, although helpful, is no guarantee of your ability to acclimatize. Therefore, the best advice we can give is to take 7 or more days on the mountain and to follow our acclimatization guidelines.
