Mount Kilimanjaro Climbing

We generally advise that the best time to climb Kilimanjaro is during the warmest and driest times of year, from December to mid-March and mid-June to the end of October.

However, although these are considered to be the best times to climb the mountain in terms of weather, they are also the busiest months.

Kilimanjaro is non-technical but it does offer a full mountaineering experience. Experience in hill walking is a benefit but not absolutely necessary, since this is a supported climb. The main seasons are traditionally December to March and June to October with temperatures in Moshi averaging 22 degrees C and summit temperatures around - 7 degrees C. The rains are in April, May and November but nowadays climate change has changed this pattern so sometimes the rains come earlier or later. During the rains we run our Rongai climbs as the northern side of the mountain is more sheltered.

A full moon climb of Kilimanjaro, or indeed a new moon climb, is often a popular time to climb. Summit night can be spent walking under the light of a full silvery moon so that you don't even need a headtorch; or, since Kilimanjaro is situated on the equator, under a full sky of both north and south constellations. In fact from high up on the peak you can see the North Star and the Southern Cross in the same sky. If you want to avoid the busier nights on a full moon then we recommend that you offset your summit night. There can be no doubt that on certain nights the summit route can be very busy with a lot of people leaving camp at the same time and initially creating a bottleneck. These groups spread out fairly quickly though.