Finding your best Kilimanjaro group tour means finding your best group and getting your best offer from the best tour operator. If you already have a group of climbers, then skip to the section on how to get your best Kilimanjaro climbing offer for your group. If you don’t have a group yet, you have two choices: form your own group or join an existing group.
To find your best group tour, it’s best to start planning at least 6 to 9 months ahead of your climb. Leave yourself enough time to carefully consider all criteria to watch out for in a Kilimanjaro group tour. When you book well in advance, it’s much easier to find your best tour, coordinate it with your schedule, and secure matching flight tickets at a reasonable price.
If you’re more of a spontaneous traveller and looking for a group to join at your convenience, search for group climbs by date here to see what options are available.
Form your own group
To form your own group for your Kilimanjaro climb, you would of course start by asking your closest friends and family to join you. Let’s assume you have done that and they all declined. That’s no reason to give up on your plans, you’re only just getting started! Here are two ideas for you:
- Share your plans to climb Kilimanjaro on social media. Maybe an old school friend, a former work colleague or random travel friend from a long-ago vacation has been thinking of climbing Kilimanjaro too! They will be excited to see your post. What better way for the two of you to catch up and get back in touch! Or perhaps one of your friends has climbed before and will offer to lend you some gear. Don’t be afraid of sharing. Even if you no one reacts, you win: Research shows that we are twice as likely to achieve our goals if we state them publicly. So go ahead and share your plans to climb Kilimanjaro now!
- Another good way to find climbing buddies is through common interest or networking groups: sports club, local neighbourhood community, professional network, dating app, language course, . . . Perhaps they have a forum where you could post, or simply speak up at the next gathering and let everyone know your plans to climb Kilimanjaro. If you’re not part of any such group, try meet-up platforms such as meetup.com. Look for outdoors or hiking groups in your area. Not finding anything? Why not create your own event on meetup.com, for example, an informal after-work gathering or Sunday hiking trip for people in your area that might be interested to learn more about climbing Kilimanjaro. People browsing for nearby events will find your meetup. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet climbing buddies in your area to prepare and train together. If not, you might still make some interesting new connections along the way!
Sounds too complicated, or not working for you? No problem – simply join one of many pre-scheduled group climbs! Read how to find the best Kilimanjaro group tour to join.
Get the best offer for your group
If you have already found a group of people to climb with, you will want to make sure to get the best climbing package for your group. Here’s the good news: As your tour operator will be able to spread fixed costs across your group, you should be eligible for group discounts. The more people are in your group, the more affordable it becomes for every climber. However, it really depends on the size of your group. Don’t expect massive discounts for a group of three! If you are up to five climbers and hunting for a bargain, make sure to also check pre-scheduled open group climbs. As a small group, you are still likely to get cheaper prices by joining an open group tour rather than organizing your own private climb.
When organizing a private climb, you will soon find that there are thousands (literally!) of companies promoting Kilimanjaro climbs. To make it even more confusing, each of those companies can offer you different packages, so tour offers available become a dime a dozen and finding your best offer—a nightmare! But it doesn’t have to be that difficult.
To prevent unnecessary work and frustration at your end, it’s best to first find out about your preferences:
- Which hiking route is most suitable for your group? Find out here.
- How many days do you wish to climb? Read more here.
- What quality standards are you looking for? See package inclusion ratings.
Once you know your preferences, it’s time to find your best offer according to your preferences. Here’s the traditional way of doing it: Find best tour operators amongst thousands of companies, spend hours of research, solicit some offers, try to compare offers, realize that you don’t have all the info, go back and forth to answer open questions, get frustrated, start all over again, find more offers, reiterate,… —you get the idea, it’s bloody complicated! So be warned: Scouting for the best offer takes a colossal amount of time and effort. Even if you’re prepared to go that extra mile, you are unlikely to get your very best offer when looking on your own.
That’s why we have created an easier way for you to get your best offer: Simply let us know your preference, and we find & customize your best offer for you—for free! To do so, we work directly with all responsible local Kilimanjaro outfitters. Thereby, we can source the best offers for your unique requirements. We will always promote those offers to you at best local prices. Read why we are able to guarantee best prices. Compared to other platforms, we are Kilimanjaro experts. We’ve already invested over a year of thorough curation and on-site meetings to compare offers and packages, and we continuously keep updating our database with latest best offers. Furthermore, we only promote verified ethical climbs. Read our screening criteria.
To get an initial idea of what’s available, see some of our top picks for high-quality group tour packages and search Kilimanjaro tour offers directly online. However, please note that prices online do not always reflect available group discounts, and many more offers are available. We’d be happy to customize your best offer according to your group’s preferences. Our service will always be 100% free for you, getting an offer is totally non-binding, and we keep your personal details confidential (no spam!). So make sure to take advantage of this unique service that we have create for you and request your best offer now:
Get best Kilimanjaro group offer
You may also want to meet our team and read why Kilimanjaro climbers love to book with us. Also make sure to read about fair porter treatment and why booking with an ethical climb is in the interest of your own health & safety.
Find the best group to join
If you’d like to join a group to climb Kilimanjaro, finding the best pre-scheduled tour can be a challenging task. There are hundreds (if not thousands!) of companies promoting scheduled group climbs, as well as quite a few booking platforms. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make comparing and finding your best group any easier.
6 criteria to watch out for in a Kilimanjaro group tour
When comparing Kilimanjaro group tour offers, be aware that prices vary not only with climb duration, but primarily due to the quality of your tour operator and climbing package. While you deserve to get the best-priced package depending on your preferences, be mindful of the following 6 criteria:
- Your preferred itinerary: Find your best route and read how many days are recommended.
- Your preferred quality standards: To make it easy for you to compare offers, we have rated packages according to what’s included. Learn more about our inclusion ratings.
- Group size: It’s best to climb in a small group of no more than 10 or 12 pax, as is the case for all group climbs promoted by Fair Voyage. This will make it much easier for your lead guide to give you his necessary attention and watch out for the safety of every climber.
- Climbing buddies: Don’t be afraid of sharing your climb with strangers of completely different age, professional background, nationality, etc. The diversity of your group and meeting people from completely different walks of life may actually be one of the most rewarding aspects of your climb! However, you may want to stick to a budget category that makes it most likely for you to share your climb with like-minded individuals. As a conscious and discerning traveller, you are most likely to find your tribe when joining an ethical climb that meets minimum quality standards.
- Tour operators & guide experience:Â Check traveller ratings and reviews for your preferred operator, but be mindful that not all reviews may be legitimate. It’s not yet possible to obtain reliable ratings for individual tour guides. To make sure they have adequate training and experience, the best qualification to look out for is Wilderness First Responder (WFR). Most responsible tour operators promoted by Fair Voyage are also 5-star rated on other leading platforms, and many of them employ WFR-certified guides.
- Fair porter treatment: Exploitation of porters continues to be a big problem on Kilimanjaro. Make sure to only join an ethical climb by a responsible tour company. Learn more about fair porter treatment and why booking with an ethical climb is in the interest of your own health & safety. All operators promoted by Fair Voyage are independently monitored by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP). This is the only way to ensure that you are booking an ethical climb.
See our group tour schedule with of over 300 confirmed ethical group climb departures by local KPAP Partner companies to browse for options, or chat with us to get our recommendation.
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