Mount Kilimanjaro Facts

Kilimanjaro is Africa's highest mountain: 5,895 m (19,340 ft) at Uhuru Peak, standing entirely within Tanzania about 3° south of the equator. It is also the world's highest free-standing mountain, rising 5,118 m from its base rather than from a range of other peaks.

You'll have seen most of these figures quoted elsewhere. The difference here is that every one is checked against our own records, our route tracks and our expeditions since 2004, and where a "fact" is less certain than it is usually made to sound, we say so.

Kilimanjaro at a glance

How high is Kilimanjaro?

The summit, Uhuru Peak, stands at 5,895 metres (19,340 feet) on the southern rim of Kibo's crater. If you still have the presence of mind to read the signboard there after a night of climbing, it will congratulate you on reaching Africa's highest point and the world's highest free-standing mountain.

Most climbers reach it from a high camp some 1,200 metres below, starting around midnight. Which camp, and how you get there, makes a bigger difference to your chances than the summit night itself 👉 Best Route

Where is Kilimanjaro?

Kilimanjaro sits entirely within Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, about 3° south of the equator. The towns on its doorstep are Moshi and Arusha.

The closest airport is Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), 47 km from central Arusha. Confusingly, booking sites sometimes label JRO as "Arusha", but Arusha has its own small airport, ARK, and arriving at the wrong one is an easy and expensive mistake 👉 Arrival

What are Kilimanjaro's three peaks?

Kilimanjaro is a volcano with three peaks, which from west to east are:

• Shira — a broad, high plateau on the western side, crossed by the Lemosho and Machame routes
  
• Kibo — the central and highest peak, with a crater whose rim carries Uhuru Peak, Gilman's Point and Stella Point
  
• Mawenzi — a jagged mass of rock pinnacles some 750 m lower than Kibo, which trekkers pass but do not climb

Between Kibo and Mawenzi lies the Saddle, a high, open alpine desert that the Marangu and Rongai routes cross on the way to Kibo Hut.

Why is Kilimanjaro called "free-standing"?

Most of the world's highest mountains are peaks within a range, so they rise from ground that is already high. Kilimanjaro rises on its own from the surrounding plains, which is why it is described as the world's highest free-standing mountain.

We measured how far it rises. The lowest point we could fix on the perimeter of its base lies at 777 m, just outside Himo, which gives a rise of 5,118 m to the summit. In July 2026 John climbed that full height in a single push 👉 Fastest Complete Ascent

How cold is it at the top of Kilimanjaro?

On Uhuru Peak it is usually around −6 °C (21 °F). With windchill, it often feels like −10 °C (14 °F), and summit night is the coldest part of any climb because you start in the dark.

Does it snow on Kilimanjaro?

Yes. Snow can fall at any time of year from around 4,600 m upwards. In spite of being so close to the equator, the temperature above 5,000 m stays below freezing nearly all the time, so precipitation up there falls as snow.

Most of it falls in the two wet seasons, April to May and November to early December. The drier months of January to February and June to October are the ones we recommend 👉 Best Time to Climb

How much oxygen is there on the summit?

Around 48–52% of the oxygen available at sea level. The air pressure falls with altitude, so each breath carries roughly half the oxygen it would at the coast.

You do not need supplementary oxygen to climb Kilimanjaro; that generally becomes necessary only on mountains above about 7,000 m. We do carry it, for emergencies and to support a safe descent for anyone with severe altitude illness 👉 High Altitude

Can a beginner climb Kilimanjaro?

Yes. You need no experience of altitude, or even of trekking. Nothing on the standard routes is technical or vertical: there are a couple of metres of scrambling at one point on the Umbwe Route, and that is all.

What does make it hard is altitude, and that is managed by the route and the pace rather than by skill 👉 How Difficult Is It?

Two rules apply to everyone. You must climb with a licensed guide through a Tanzanian-registered operator. Porters, on the other hand, are not legally required, although most climbers use them.

How long are the routes up Kilimanjaro?

These distances come from our own GPS tracks of each route, the same tracks you can switch on and compare on our Routes map. Each is the full round trip, gate to gate, including the descent.

You will walk further than this in practice, because good guides add short acclimatisation walks above camp. The park also sets minimum durations, including the descent: 5 days for Marangu and Rongai, 6 for Machame and Umbwe, and 7 for Lemosho. We recommend 7 to 8 on any route 👉 How Long Does It Take?

What animals live on Kilimanjaro?

Above the forest, very little lives permanently on the mountain, but the lower slopes are rich.

Commonly seen: blue monkey, colobus monkey, tree hyrax, bushbaby, bush pig, small-spotted genet, buffalo, mole rat, and several mice, including the four-striped grass mouse, harsh-furred mouse and climbing mouse.

Rarely seen: olive baboon, civet, leopard, mongoose, serval, aardvark and honey badger.

Birds: lammergeier, augur buzzard, crowned eagle, white-necked raven, scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird, Hartlaub's turaco, silvery-cheeked hornbill, trogon, speckled mousebird, tropical boubou, Rüppell's robin-chat, montane white-eye, common stonechat, alpine chat, common bulbul and streaky seedeater.

What does "Kilimanjaro" mean?

Nobody is really sure, including people who live on the mountain. The most reasonable guess comes from Swahili and Chagga: kilima means hill or mountain, and the Chagga word for white is very close to njaro, so an earlier form of the language may have rendered "white mountain" as kilima njaro.

Who first climbed Kilimanjaro?

The accepted account. The first recorded ascent was made by the German geographer Hans Meyer and the Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller, who reached the summit on 6 October 1889. They are widely credited as having been guided by a young Chagga man, Yohani Kinyala Lauwo, who later became known as Mzee Lauwo, guided on the mountain for much of his life, and is said to have died in 1996 aged around 125. A descendant of his, Abel Lauwo, still works as a guide on the mountain today.

What is less certain. Much of Lauwo's story rests on his own testimony, recorded late in his life, including his account of having climbed the mountain several times before Meyer arrived. Critics point out that Meyer's own record of the expedition names a helper from Pangani, Mwini Amani, as a key member of the party, and some now question whether Lauwo was there at all. Even the date varies between sources: 5, 6 and 9 October all appear in print.

Our view. 6 October 1889 is the date most sources credit, and Lauwo's role is the account Tanzania itself honours. But a page of facts should tell you which parts were written down at the time and which were remembered later, and this is one of the places where the two differ.

Some people in Marangu, of course, will tell you the mountain was first climbed long before any of them, by a son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Kilimanjaro records

Nearly all speed records on Kilimanjaro start at a park gate, which is already roughly a quarter of the way up the mountain.

• Fastest ascent from a park gate: Karl Egloff, 4 hours 56 minutes, on 13 August 2014
  
• First women's speed ascent: Rebecca Nchereri, one of Team Kilimanjaro's founders, on 21 May 2005, from Marangu Gate 👉 About Rebecca
  
• Youngest person to summit: Bran Rees-Evans, aged 5 years 136 days, at 13:45 on 26 November 2012. Two weeks earlier he had become the youngest person to summit Mount Meru (4,566 m)
  
• First complete ascent from the base: John Rees-Evans, from 777 m near Himo to Uhuru Peak on 7 July 2026, covering 117 km and 5,118 m of ascent 👉 The Full Story

How do you spell Kilimanjaro?

There is only one correct spelling, and every month some nine thousand searches get it wrong. The most common misspellings we see are:

Ready to climb?

If you'd like to see these facts for yourself, from the summit, we'd be glad to help you plan it. Our climbs are limited to 8 trekkers, on routes we designed for acclimatisation rather than speed 👉 Contact Team Kilimanjaro