CLIMBING KILIMANJARO COST

The below are factors affecting the Kilimanjaro hike cost.

These Kilimanjaro cost factors are divided into two categories as below.

Kilimanjaro climb packages

Some factors are included in most of the Kilimanjaro climb packages offered by most of the Kilimanjaro operators, and these factors affect the Kilimanjaro tours prices.

• Kilimanjaro National Park Fees

To explain, we must look at the minimum expenses every Kilimanjaro operator faces, such as park fees and taxes, staff wages, food, equipment, transportation, and other logistical costs. Kilimanjaro National Park entrance fees, camping/hut fees, and Tanzanian taxes by far make up the most significant expense, costing about $200 per climber per day.

Below is a breakdown of park fees and taxes:

Kilimanjaro entry Fees: $70 per person per day

The Kilimanjaro National Park authority collects fees from all visitors. 

This includes maintaining the trail, keeping it clean and paying for the rangers. The Kilimanjaro entry fee applies for each day (including partial days). On an 8 days Lemosho climb, the Kilimanjaro entry fees for one person will be ($70 x 8 days) which will result in a total of $560. 

Kilimanjaro Camping Fees: $50 per person per night

This fee is charged for using the campsites on the Machame route, Lemosho route, Rongai route, Northern circuit route, Shira route and Umbwe route.

 On a 9 days Northern circuit climb, you will spend 8 nights on the Kilimanjaro campsites; therefore, the Kilimanjaro camping fees for one person will be ($50 x 8 days) which will result in a total of $400. 

Kilimanjaro Hut Fee: $60 per person per night

This fee is charged for using the simple huts on the mountain.

 Huts are only available on the Marangu route.

 On a 6 days Marangu climb, you will spend 5 nights on the Kilimanjaro Huts; therefore, the Kilimanjaro Hut fees for one person will be

 ($60 x 5 days) which will result in a total of $300. 

Kilimanjaro Rescue Fees– $20 per person per trip

Rescue fees are charged for the chance the park authority may need to coordinate a rescue. This fee must be paid whether or not you require rescue, and the cost is $20 per person per trip.

Kilimanjaro Entrance Fees for Mountain Crew (Guide, Porter, Cook) – $3 per person per trip

All of the mountain Crew must pay park fees to enter. The park entrance fee is $3 per person per trip.

Kilimanjaro Forest fees  

Climber:$10 per person per trip

Mountain crew: $2 per person per trip

Vehicle:$5 per vehicle per trip

You will pay a forest fee to pass the Forest gate on the following route 

• Lemosho Route
• Shira Route
• Northern circuit route
• Rongai route

Tanzania Value-Added Tax – 18% of services

A value-added tax (VAT) is a general consumption tax placed on goods and services whenever value is added at a stage of production or distribution. The Tanzanian government has charged an 18% VAT to Kilimanjaro operators since 2016.

 The above are all the fees paid to Kilimanjaro National Park to climb Kilimanjaro, and these Kilimanjaro costs are always included in Kilimanjaro climb packages.

• Kilimanjaro Mountain Crew Salary

According to Kilimanjaro National Park rules and regulations, you cannot climb Kilimanjaro independently. You will need a Mountain crew (Guide, cook and porters) to accompany you to Kilimanjaro Mountain. 

These mountain crews are the ones who are the backbone of Kilimanjaro Climb, and they will need to be paid the recommended salary by the Tanzania Ministry of Tourism and KPAP.

• Guide salary should start from $20 per day
• Cook’s salary should start from $15 per day
• Porter’s salary should start from $10 per day 

The above is the recommended salary that all the Kilimanjaro operators should adhere to, but budget operators pay low to win the client.

Mountain crew salary amounts to around $80–$150 per climber per day (depending on group size).

Keep in mind that the number of Mountain crew depends on the total weights of the loads during the climb as porters are allowed to carry only 20kg of the Kilimanjaro operator loads.

Kilimanjaro Food Cost

Great food fueling you to the top of Kilimanjaro

Most Kilimanjaro operators provide at least three meals per day to the client, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, water, juice and snacks.

When you book your Kilimanjaro Climb with Eco-Africa climbing, you will be amazed at the variety, quality & quantity of the food we serve to you whilst you are on your Mount Kilimanjaro climb.

As you are trekking for between 6-9 hours a day (before summit night), you’ll be burning many calories – and as you are at altitude – even more than you would at sea level.

Our Mountain crew always make sure that you are well fed and fully fuelled for climbing Kilimanjaro is paramount – so you’ve enough energy to get to the top. On all of our Kilimanjaro climbs, you will be fully supported by a team of guides, cooks, and waiters who will cater to every dietary requirement and have three hot cooked meals a day – plus a plentiful supply of water and hot drinks. 

Below is a sample of our menu during the climb.

Breakfast: Fruit juice and fruit, cereal, porridge, eggs prepared at request, slices of bread and toast with jam margarine and honey, French toast, pancakes, sausage, bacon, teas, coffee, drinking chocolate.

Snacks: peanuts, crisp, popcorn, cookies, chocolate, dried fruits

Lunch: Sliced vegetables, fruit, boiled egg, meat cutlets, various sandwiches options (egg/ cheese/tomato/tuna/meat/peanut butter), macaroni and meat sauce, and slices of bread.

Dinner: soup of the day, slices of bread, salads, rice, pasta, potatoes, roast or fried chicken, beef or fish, curries, mixed vegetables, lentils, fruit salad, fruit with custard, teas, coffee, drinking chocolate.

Summit night, we offer a midnight snack with juice, soup, hot chocolate, tea or coffee, and biscuits. When you return to base camp, a nice meal will be waiting for you to reward all your hard work. We also consider your choice of food that you would prefer -Vegetarian, Vegan, Kosher, and Non-Vegetarian)

 We provide three meals per day for our client; we also offer three meals per day for our Mountain Crew in all our climbs to ensure all our Mountain crew have enough energy to serve our client. Kilimanjaro Food costs come out to about $30–$40 per climber per day (includes food for Mountain Crew).

Your Kilimanjaro food is another crucial aspect of your Kilimanjaro trek cost.

• Kilimanjaro Equipment Cost

Most tour operators offer Camping equipment during the climb on the Kilimanjaro routes, which have campsites except the Marangu route, which has huts.

Sleeping Tents

Our client will sleep in four-season Mountain tents during the trek. 

Our Mountain Hardware tents are warm, waterproof, and roomy -perfectly suited for your Kilimanjaro adventure. We understand that some climbers are anxious about camping for so many days, so we aim to have them be as dry, warm, and comfortable as possible.

Dining Tents with Chair and Table

We provide dining tents for all our climbs, whereby these dining tents are comfortable for our clients to stay to enjoy their food while on the mountain. Tables and chairs are placed inside the dining tent.

Sleeping Mattress

We provide a 1.5-inch foam sleeping pad to all climbers. These locally sourced sleeping pads are better than any commercially available sleeping pad, and they are thick, warm, and comfortable, even for those not used to camping. Our mattresses are placed inside a washable cover for cleanliness.

Kitchenware with the kitchen Tents 

We provide all the kitchenware to our client during the climb, and all the food is prepared inside the Kitchen Tent with our cook.

Portable Toilet and Tent 

On Mountain Kilimanjaro, the toilets are African style, the long drop toilet. Therefore, Private Portable toilets are included in all of our climbs. Private toilets consist of a plastic toilet, a privacy tent, and special porters responsible for taking care of them.

Sleeping tent for our Mountain Crew

We also provide large tents for our Mountain Crew with enough space to sleep in our climb.

Your Kilimanjaro Equipment Cost is another crucial aspect of your climbing mount Kilimanjaro cost.

• Kilimanjaro Accommodation Price

We provide 2 nights hotel (1 night before the climb and 1 night after the climb) on bed and breakfast in all our Kilimanjaro climb packages.

As you arrive on the first day at Kilimanjaro Airport, you will be transferred to Moshi town to rest for the day and start climbing the next day. Again when you return after the climb, you will want to rest for a day. 

The night at Moshi hotel costs $120 for Double Occupancy $90 for single occupancy on a bed and breakfast basis.

Your Kilimanjaro Accommodation Price is another crucial aspect of your climbing mt Kilimanjaro cost.

• Kilimanjaro Transportation Cost

On all our Kilimanjaro climb packages, we provide two ways of Kilimanjaro Airport transfer during your arrival and departure. The cost of two ways Aiport transfer is $100 per person; also, we provide transport on the first day of your climb at the climb start point and the last day after descending from the gate to the hotel.

Transportation costs are about $150 per trip, depending on the route you take.

Your Kilimanjaro Transportation Cost is another crucial aspect of your Kilimanjaro trip cost.

• Kilimanjaro Private Climb or Group Climb 

The number of people who climb Mount Kilimanjaro with you determines the Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro Cost. More people (Group Climbs) will decrease the cost, while private tour climbs significantly increase your climb cost.

For example, when one person booked our 7 days, Lemosho route cost $2750 per person for the private climb, while 6 people 7 days Lemosho route cost $2550 per person to join the group.

Your Kilimanjaro Private Climb or Group Climb choice is another crucial aspect of your hiking mt kilimanjaro cost.

• Kilimanjaro Climbing Route 

Seven hiking Kilimanjaro routes lead you to the summit of Kilimanjaro Uhuru Peak. The route you choose will also affect how much your climb costs. With more days on the mountain, Longer routes increase your chances of summit success by having a better acclimatization protocol. Some people try to save on the cost by opting for the shortest route possible as 5 days Marangu route.

Below are our Recommended Route, which we suggest our client take

• 7 days Lemosho route costs $2750 per person to join the group.
• 8 days Lemosho route costs $2950 per person to join the group.
• 9 days Northern circuit route costs $3250 per person to join the group.

Your Kilimanjaro Climbing Route choice is another crucial aspect of your cost of the Kilimanjaro trek.

• Kilimanjaro Climbing Duration 

The more days you will spend on the mountain, the more money you will need to pay as climb cost involves park fees, food, equipment, mountain crew salaries, and other logistics. 

If your goal is to reach the summit, you need to give your body a chance to adapt to the altitude and acclimatize properly. It’s not much good if you’ve booked  6 days machame climb and have to turn back on day 3 with altitude sickness.

For this reason, we don’t recommend our climber to take a minimum of 6 days route, as for most climbers, it gives insufficient time for acclimatization and, as a result, has a much lower summit success rate.

Eco-Africa Climbing recommends 7 days as a minimum, but 8-9 days on the mountain gives you the best acclimatization protocol and offers the highest chance of a safe and successful summit.

The longest route on Kilimanjaro Mountain, the northern circuit, costs more; for example, 9 days Northern circuit route costs $3250 per person to join the group. 

Your Kilimanjaro Climbing Duration is another crucial aspect of your climb mount Kilimanjaro price.

• Kilimanjaro Climbing Package 

Your choice of the Kilimanjaro climbing package will differ from budget operators, midrange operators, and luxury operators. This depends on the Mountain services, equipment, safety measure, and welfare of the Mountain Crew.

The budget operators charge from $1000 – $1600  

Midrange operators charge from $2500 to $4500

Luxury operators charge from $3500 to $7000

Nobody likes to pay more than necessary to climb Kilimanjaro. But we implore you to do some research into the working conditions of porters before you decide to climb with a budget operator. 

You may unknowingly be rewarding a company’s unethical behavior and exploitation of others.

There is a fair share of budget operators who offer cheap climbs. But in return for that low price, these operators engage in appalling practices that are often out of sight to the tourist. 

These include:

•  Paying porters less than minimum wage or not at all
• Allowing guides to take tips and wages meant for porters
• Feeding porters only once or twice a day
• Requiring porters to pay the operator a fee for food or camping on the mountain.
• Forcing porters to carry loads greater than the weight limit of 20kg
• Allowing porters to climb with insufficient clothing
• Providing poor shelters (such as mess tents) for porters to sleep in.

Once you are aware of porter mistreatment issues, we hope that you will only support Kilimanjaro operators that demonstrate their commitment to porter welfare.

KPAP partner companies, like Eco- Africa Climbing, are leading the industry to improve working conditions for all porters on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Fighting for the fair treatment of porters is an uphill battle. There is strong resistance to change from certain local budget operators who have considerable power and influence over government and park regulations. To stop the abuse, tourists need to stop supporting the behavior and boycott budget operators.

Your Kilimanjaro Climbing Package is another crucial aspect of your hiking mt Kilimanjaro cost.

• Kilimanjaro Operator Profit

The Kilimanjaro operator’s profit differs from one Kilimanjaro operator regardless of budget, midrange, or luxury operator.

The Kilimanjaro hike prices for the operators not based in Tanzania are always high compared to those established in Tanzania. 

Therefore keep in mind that most abroad and western Kilimanjaro operators tends to subcontract their climb to Tanzania-owned company. Hence their Kilimanjaro climb prices tend to be higher to keep some profit.

Nowadays, most of these abroad and western Kilimanjaro operators claim to have their climb operation in Tanzania, which is not true as the License to operate the Mountain Kilimanjaro business is offered only to a Tanzanian, so they must subcontract their climb operations to a Tanzania owned Kilimanjaro operator.

Book your Climb with Eco-Africa Climbing as we are a Tanzanian-owned company that is a midrange Kilimanjaro operator with the best quality services and a member of KPAP. 

Kilimanjaro Operator Profit is another crucial aspect of your Mount mount Kilimanjaro cost.

• Kilimanjaro Season

The best season to climb Kilimanjaro tends to be the warmest and driest months. The primary issue is safety, as the risks associated with climbing increase significantly when the weather is foul.

The dry seasons are from December through March and then from late June through October.

These are considered the best season to climb in terms of weather and are the busiest months (high season). Our group climbs are scheduled to correspond with the dry season. From January through mid-March are the warmest months, with clear skies in the mornings and evenings. During the day, clouds may appear along with brief showers. The best season to climb Kilimanjaro will decide your prices as well. During the peak Kilimanjaro Climbing seasons (June-October), flights to Tanzania are more expensive, so you will need to book well in advance to secure affordable flights. Many climbers choose peak season as the weather is pleasant and more wildlife visibility is possible for those who would like to add the safari to their Kilimanjaro climb. This increases their Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro Cost.

The long rainy season spans from the end of March to early June. 

This is the low season in Tanzania; hence the Kilimanjaro park fees and hotel prices usually descend and lower the mt Kilimanjaro hike cost.

We do not recommend climbing during this time unless you are an experienced backpacker who has trekked in similar conditions. It can be very wet, and visibility may be low due to heavy clouds. The crowds are gone, however. From mid-June to the end of October, the mountain is generally colder and drier. The short rainy season spans from the beginning of November to the beginning of December. 

Your Kilimanjaro Season is another crucial aspect of your Kilimanjaro Climb Cost.

You can choose the Best Time To Climb Kilimanjaro at your convenience.

• Mountain Kilimanjaro Safety  

Your safety in the Kilimanjaro climb is crucial; most of the midrange Kilimanjaro operators have established safety measures and evacuation procedures during their climb different from budget Kilimanjaro operators.

Your Guide needs to know how to conduct daily health checks, recognize the early signs of altitude sickness, and know how to use everything in their medical kits. Top-quality guides know their worth and don’t come cheap. An attempt to save money by employing untrained guides can be catastrophic in an emergency.

The below are Eco-Africa Climbing Safety Practices and Measure on Kilimanjaro Climb

• Our Mountain guides are certified Wilderness First Responders (WFR)
• We have our protocols for handling emergencies on the mountain.
• We conduct twice-daily health checks using a pulse oximeter and stethoscope to measure pulse, temperature, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation.
• We implement the Lake Louise Scoring System. Lake Louise Scoring System (LLSS) for Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)
• We carry emergency oxygen on all climbs to combat severe cases of altitude sickness.
• We carry first aid kits to treat minor injuries such as blisters.
• For emergency evacuation during the Kilimanjaro climb, we are working with KILI MEDAIR, who provide Helicopter Search and Rescue operations, ensuring the safety of everyone on Mount Kilimanjaro. It would be best to have insurance that covers emergency evacuation 6,000 meters above Sea Level to use this service. When they evacuate you on the mountain, all the costs are covered by your insurance. We highly recommend that you get insurance with Evacuation coverage up to 6,000 meters above Sea Level in case of any emergency during the climb.

Your Kilimanjaro Safety is another crucial aspect of your Kilimanjaro Climb Cost.

Environmental Impact

With the rise in tourism on Kilimanjaro, there’s also the environmental impact. All rubbish has to be carried off the mountain, which comes at a cost.

Lack of understanding about environmental Impact has harmed Kilimanjaro’s incredible environment. Essentially, unlicensed operators are responsible for most of this adverse effect, either from ignorance or in an attempt to run treks in a shoddy manner. In respect for the natural environment, we humbly request you book with a licensed operator that has conservation policies in place: operators that follow ‘Leave No Trace’; respect the wildlife of Kilimanjaro and never contribute to practices that damage Kilimanjaro’s environment. The increase in popularity of climbing Kilimanjaro has brought opportunities for employment to the area, but this has led to some unscrupulous employment practices. A happy crew equals a happy climber.

Eco-Africa Climbing is also a member of Carbon Tanzania; for every Mountain Kilimanjaro trip and Wildlife Safari done by our client, we have offset Carbon.

 Environmental Impact is another crucial aspect of your Kilimanjaro trek Cost.