Departure and Flights from Kilimanjaro
Having had lunch at Moshi (assuming time permits following your descent) and been transferred back to your hotel after the climb, if you are booked into the same hotel that you stayed in before your climb the reception staff ought to have retrieved your bags from their lock room and would normally have this waiting for you at reception. Occasionally however, particularly when your hotel is busy, this may not be possible and you may have to wait while a member of staff goes to the lock room and retrieves your bag for you.
If you have are staying at a different hotel after your climb to that at which you stayed before your climb, you will have had the option to either stow extra luggage at Team Kilimanjaroβs Arusha office or else to keep it at your old hotel. In either of these events please remind the driver to stop of at our office or your old hotel en route to your new hotel, so as to be able to collect your bags. If you are travelling with other climbers who do not need to stop off for bags and you do not wish to delay them unnecessarily, please discuss baggage retrieval options with your guide. These are simple to arrange as our office is around 4-7 minutes from Arusha (traffic dependent).
The recommended first action on entering your hotel room - before beginning to un-pack your bags or settle in - is to immediately test the hot water by running the taps for a couple of minutes. If there should be no hot water this then makes it easier to liaise with reception and arrange to change rooms if necessary, or allows the staff time to do whatever is necessary to ensure that you have hot water as soon as possible where changing rooms will not make any difference. Hot water failure is more usually a concern at our standard range of hotels and is less likely to occur as one upgrades towards luxury.
If it is necessary to re-charge a mobile phone of electrical item, again, you are advised to check that your roomβs sockets work before settling yourself into that room. Please note that the electricity supply is not constant and can sometimes drop to as low as 150 volts at some times of day. This may be of concern for certain electrical items, so please assure yourself in advance of your trip of the possible ramifications of this.
Security in Arusha
Please at all times be aware of the security of your luggage and valuables and make use of your hotelβs safe deposit facilities. We have now experienced two events at two different hotels in the last few years where climbersβ cash has been stolen from within their hotel rooms. While this represents a very low ratio of our climbers overall, we nonetheless advise caution and awareness.
Also, in recent years we have seen a sharp increase in petty thefts and muggings in Arusha. Until last year we were aware of only two visitors who had been mugged. Just this year however, there have been three separate incidents so far. Again, this is still a low ratio overall, but climbers are advised to use taxis when they travel from their hotels, rather than walking on foot, particularly after dark, and we advise that only pocket money is carried, with main valuables remaining inside the hotelβs safe.
Evening Meal Following Your Climb
Climbers will often invite their mountain guide and assistant guide/s and sometimes the cook also, to dinner on the evening immediately following their climb. Please be aware that while this is welcomed, this is by no means expected or to be considered customary. There are a handful of good restaurants in Arusha. Your guide will usually advise you, if asked, while climbing together. The main venues for evening activity are either the Maasai Club, Via Via nightclub, or the new complex at Njiro. There is often live music at these places.
To celebrate your climb, if you wish to treat yourself to the very best cuisine available in Arusha (as the actor Will Smith recently elected to do) it is sometimes possible to get a last minute booking at Onsea House for dinner. Dinner includes wine and several extremely good courses. Even if choosing to overnight at another hotel it is often possible to get a dinner reservation in advance, however it is better to book this in advance during your planning phase.
It is of course also possible to simply take your evening meal at whichever hotel you are staying at, however, unless staying at Onsea, Arumeru, Kia Lodge, Moivaro, or The Arusha Hotel, climbers are generally advised to book their post climb night on bed and breakfast basis only, so as to afford the flexibility to eat out if they feel like doing so on the night.
Onward Movements
Around half of our climbers choose to do a safari with us after their climb, or to go to Zanzibar. We expect to have dedicated websites for each of these options published soon. In the meantime please request customised advice from your climb coordinator as to itinerary options and costs. If however you have made your own plans for onward movements we would ask you to advise us of these in so far as we are then able to assist you with any necessary transfer arrangements to wherever you will need to be once you end your arrangements with us.
Returning Home or Flying Onward from Kilimanjaro
To avoid the extremely unwelcome scenario of missing your plane, please pay very close attention to the followng guidelines.
Collection Times for Transfers to the Airport
If your homebound flight is scheduled to fly abroad from JRO please be ready to be collected from your hotel 2 hours and 45 minutes prior to your scheduled flight departure time. This will allow you time to be transferred to the airport and to have 2 hours available for check-in and boarding.
If you are flying on to Zanzibar, or another destination within East Africa, from JRO or Arusha Airport please be ready to be collected from your hotel 1 hour and 45 minutes prior to your scheduled flight departure time.
This will allow you time to be transferred to the airport and to have 1 hour available for check-in and boarding. We have been conscious in the past that climbers who have not read this page and have also not requested confirmation from their guide or our local office as to their pick up time, have risen very early in the morning, lost precious sleep, and expected a much earlier pick up; so we would seek to clarify that JRO is a very small airport with no very interesting ways to pass spare time, and there is little to gain by arriving early.
Additionally, there is no access to the tiny shops, stalls and one cafe inside until you have passed through check-in. Check-in doesnβt open any earlier than our suggested timings will get you there, so if you do arrive very early, you will have to queue outside on the pavement with your bags - arguably a poor use of your time when compared to some extra well deserved sleep.
We advise a 15 minutes tolerance on all scheduled times. In any event that one of our representatives has failed to reach you within 15 minutes of the time that you have been advised, we ask that you please call us our Arusha office on +255 78 777 5895 or +255 76 777 5895 and we will advise you of an amended ETA if we have information that an accident has blocked a road, or similar, or will arrange an alternative driver to collect you. Happily, such events are rare and our drivers are generally ahead of their timings.
If you want to make a significant, positive contribution towards cleaning up Kilimanjaro and help us return its ecology to a pristine wilderness environment, please make use of the following payment facility:
Following Frank John's sad passing away in March 2022, some former climbers have requested the opportunity to contribute towards helping Frank's surviving wife, Clara, cover the costs for the family.
Several years ago, Team Kilimanjaro were approached by representatives of the Maasai community that live close to the Lake Natron region of northern Tanzania, with a request to assist villagers in obtaining clean water.
It is estimated that since the turn of the previous century, the world has lost more than 99% of its rhino population, and that today, only 29,000 of these majestic creatures survive.
Wilderness first aid is the knowledge and ability to effectively address injuries, illnesses, or emergencies outside of modern facilities, out in the wild. Skills include knowing how to dress a wound, treat a burn or bite, or set an injured limb. These are important skills that can save your life or the lives of other outdoor enthusiasts. Learn more and be better prepared for your next hiking or backpacking adventure.
Mobile users: Scroll right π
Many people spend a lot of time and money training and equipping themselves for a Kilimanjaro climb, only to fail in their objective of reaching the summit. Failure is avoidable and we really want trekkers to understand how to prevent it.
As from March 2021, PCR testing (or rather, sample-taking) is now available at Seronera and Ndutu airstrips in the Serengeti. This facility has been implemented to prevent clients having to either curtail their safaris or dissect their safaris with a journey to Arusha or, more recently, Karatu (FAME Hospital), mid-safari - so as to satisfy the "less than 72 hours old" validity rule that most airlines are required to enforce.
Arusha Pedal Series club aims to organise a group ride three times a week - on Mondays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, and Saturdays. All keen cyclists are welcome to join.
We read widely divergent estimates of deaths on Kilimanjaro, but how dangerous is it really? In this post we share our own experience of the dangers.
First of all - you can definitely still climb Kilimanjaro during COVID-19! There is absolutely no impediment within Tanzania. Issues only potentially arise with your own country's rules.
Although there is no requirement to have a PCR test for COVID in order to enter Tanzania, many climbers are nonetheless required by their airline to show evidence of a negative COVID test before boarding the flight home.