Climbing Kilimanjaro is an expensive project. You will it usually costs thousands of dollars at best and may seem out of reach for you if you don’t have a lot of money. So, is it possible to climb Kilimanjaro on a budget and what do you need to do to climb this tall peak on the cheap? I am personally planning my climb up Kilimanjaro and have been doing lots of research.
Although it is possible to climb Kilimanjaro on a budget, you should avoid it for two main reasons. Climbing with a company that does not charge enough means that they will compromise on training and equipment, both of which are critical for keeping you safe during your climb. Secondly, paying too little to climb Kilimanjaro means that the staff will be underpaid and exploited. Let’s take a deeper look at the dangers of climbing Kilimanjaro on a budget then talk about ethical and safe ways of climbing Kilimanjaro on a tight budget.
How much would you expect to spend on a Kilimanjaro climb?
I have been planning to climb Kilimanjaro for a while and have done a lot of research on how much companies companies charge to guide you up the mountain.
The costs of climbing Kilimanjaro vary vary from $1,200 to $6,000 with the average cost of a good climbing company ranging around $3,000.
As I explained in my article of why climbing Kilimanjaro is so expensive, the cost of just entering the Kilimanjaro National Park to start climbing costs more than $700 per climber.
Adding the cost of staff, equipment and food, it means that charging anything less than $2,000 is literally impossible without cutting corners. To make a profit, companies charging less than $2,000 must be cutting corners and compromising on key aspects of the clomb to allow them to stay afloat.
Every place where these companies cuts a corner reduce your chances of making it to the summit and introduces serious risks to you as a climber.
Places where climbing companies compromise due to low prices include:
Climbing too fast:
when climbing Kilimanjaro, climbing slowly allows your body to acclimatize to higher altitude and this drastically increases your chances of being able to make it to the summit.
Budget climb companies are incentivized to get you up the mountain as fast as possible without considering what this does to your body and how much it reduces your chances of getting to the summit.
Poor camping gear
Camping gear when your climbing Kilimanjaro is necessary to keep you not only comfortable but safe, warm and motivated to get to the top.
Something as small as not having a working toilet and really look who are you motivation and reduce joy of achievement of getting to the summit.
Poorly trained and inexperienced staff
If you’re paying the very lowest prices to climb Kilimanjaro, you will not expect to find the very best climbing crew. They are likely to be poorly trained (if they have had any training at all) and may not have the needed experience to safely guide you to the Summit.
The challenge with this is that, if something goes wrong, your inexperienced guide may not know how to help you.
Poor meals
While meals are not the most expensive part of your climb, going cheap with the climbing fees means that the guide company will carry the cheapest ingredients up and will not have hired a good Chef to cook your meals when on Kilimanjaro.
Underpaying porters and guides
The biggest cost savings that a budget climbing company has will ultimately be the salaries paid to the porters and guides.
They also fail to sufficiently equip the staff and they may be climbing up the mountain underdressed and without proper accommodation.
Inadequate emergency equipment and procedures
In addition to having improper camping equipment for the climb, a budget Kilimanjaro climbing company does not have the proper emergency equipment and protocols to being a climber quickly down the mountain in the case of an emergency.
Ethical Kilimanjaro budget options
When booking your climb, you will feel better knowing that they treat their employees right.
The best way of knowing if a climbing company is ethical, is checking if they are part of The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP). This project was started to protect the rights of the porters to ensure that they don’t get exploited.
The two main ways that porters get exploited are
- Overloading the porters.
- Underpaying them or delaying their salaries
Even if you don’t really mind the personal risks you might expose yourself to of you climb with a budget Kilimanjaro company, you need to think about the personal suffering you will expose your porters to by paying a really low fee for your climb.
Don’t overpay for your climb
On the other hand, you don’t have to spend more than you have to in order for you to have a safe and comfortable climb up Kilimanjaro.
High quality Kilimanjaro companies like Ultimate Kilimanjaro charge around $3,000 for a climb up a route like Lemosho. While this is not a small amount, it is much lower than the $6,000 charged by some international companies.
Extensive research will reveal that the local companies that offers mid range prices offer a very similar basic offering as the high end companies.
I think the thing that makes these mid range companies attractive compared to more expensive providers is the fact that they have clearly documented track record of very satisfied clients that praise them for their attention to safety and reasonable prices.
As I mentioned earlier, I have not used any of these companies yet since I am in the process of planning my climb just like you are so take this advice with a pinch of salt and make sure that you do your own research to confirm my claims. However, I have done a few weeks of research and that is my basis for the advice.
Don’t climb for few days
One way or saving money that I thought about when planning my climb was spending fewer days on the climb since the more the days I spend on the mountain, the more expensive it is.
After doing a lot more research, I found that climbing too fast may ironically reduce my chances of getting to the top.
The reason for this is due to the fact that your body needs time to adjust to the change in altitude. As you climb higher, the amount of air available to your body reduces and the body needs to adjust to the New levels.
Climbing too fast means that your body will not have enough time to readjust to the reduced oxygen and you are likely to get mountain sickness.
I have gone into more detail on acclimatizing on Kilimanjaro on my article on whether you need oxygen to climb Kilimanjaro. I have also added links to scientific research that has been done on the topic to help you prepare adequately.
Don’t compromise on gear
One of the things I have constantly read about during my research on climbing Kilimanjaro is the fact that the quality of your gear will determine whether you make it to the top and how comfortable you will be when doing so.
Don’t cheap out on your boots.
The main items you should not cheap out on when climbing Kilimanjaro are your shoes.
A poor choice of shoes introduce a myriad of possible challenges that reduce your chances of making it to the top. The biggest of these is blisters on your feet.
If you develop blisters on your feet too early, you are likely to find t too difficult to complete your climb.
I did a bit of research and found the following boots to be most recommended when climbing Kilimanjaro. we had really awesome reviews on Amazon and have been recommended on several mountaineering communities
One of the other things you will need to take care of when getting boots for Kilimanjaro is ensuring that they are well broken in before your trip. This means that you will need to wear them for a while and use them in real world hiking before taking them to Kilimanjaro. You don’t want to develop blisters early in your climb and force you to abandon the climb or have a miserable time going up.
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