Lemosho Route - 8 Days

Traveler Reviews

• MC

  Mark5.0•June 2025
  After researching many tour companies and contacting a few, I selected Kalisa. They were responsive to my questions...
  After researching many tour companies and contacting a few, I selected Kalisa. They were responsive to my questions with straight forward answers. I met with Bakari, my guide the day prior and went over my gear and what to expect with the hike. On the mountain the Kalisa team seemed to be a notch above the others. They left camp as a team and hiked together. Everyone from the porters to Amir, the chef to Bakari had one goal and that was to reach the summit. On summit night I don’t normally ascend with poles but as my legs were getting tired Bakari got my poles and told me to pull myself up the mountain. It worked. Also on summit night Eddy, a porter went along to provide any needed support. The food was good and plentiful. More starch than I usually eat but that is what is needed on the mountain. Amir even served up scratch pizza one night. Hussein, my waiter made sure I had everything I needed while in camp. The porters were amazing. Their sure footedness and durability on the mountain was something to see. They made it all happen. I highly recommend Kalisa tours for your experience.Show more
  Traveled in June 2025
• JF

  Julia5.0•October 2023
  Safe, successful & incredibly enjoyable summit of Kilimanjaro For the quick readers: We had an incredible trip...
  Safe, successful & incredibly enjoyable summit of Kilimanjaro For the quick readers: We had an incredible trip up to Mt Kilimanjaro with Kilisa, on the 8-day Lemosho route, resulting in a successful summit. Our guides (Goodluck and Abraham) and a phenomenal team of porters, cook & back office ensured our group (3 hikers, 64, 29 and 30 years) were safe at all times, but also learned a lot about Tanzania. Not booking with Kilisa would be a huge mistake - they are local, are embedded in the community, and will ensure you have the best journey with the highest chance of summiting. For the detail-interested-ones :) Why this route & Kilisa at first: We decided to take a trip to Mt Kilimanjaro in September 2023 - we included my mother, 64, my partner (30) and myself (29). The fact that we had my mother with us, and that we love more varied landscapes made us choose the 8-day-Lemosho Route with varied vegetation zones and highest chance of summiting. We choose Kilisa due to their good reviews, but also, as they are from Kilimanjaro and ensure the money goes back into the community. This choice was verified to be the best we could have made! Organisation: The backoffice (Naik & Julia) ensured that the organisation of the trip was smooth. We had received detailed packing lists and trip plans beforehand to prepare. From the moment we arrived in Tanzania, to the moment we left, we were constantly taken care of and felt very pampered. For example, our guides did not only brief us prior to leaving, but also checked every piece of our equipment before starting the trip. As a result, they provided us with warmer trousers - Thank god, as I saw people climbing in leggings at minus degrees. The route itself: You will find lots of details on the route itself, distances, hiking time per day on here. We took the 8 Day Lemosho Route, as the duration makes it much easier to acclimatise resulting in a much higher chance of summiting (more on this below). The best part of that tour specifically, though, I think is the varied vegetation. Some people were dropped at higher altitudes and missed the rainforest, which I enjoyed almost the most. Right when we started the hike we saw several different monkeys, birds & exotic species’. Then you enter Heather & Moorland, as gorgeous as you can imagine. Finally you arrive at the alpine desert and the peak. This varied vegetation makes you appreciate nature from a different angle, and is truly special! Success & Safety: Our guides made it clear from the start that it’s about the journey and NOT about reaching the top. By taking this to heart, we made sure to enjoy every day on the hike, learning lot’s from our guides, pushing our limits without compromising our health (“pole pole”). Our health was always first - from the equipment check before even starting, to continued check- ins during the hikes all the way to oxygen and pulse checks in the night. For many of you readers this might sound irrelevant - but you’d be surprised of how many do not summit, because of a bad guide-hiker-relationship where a slower “pole pole” approach could have helped, or even worse: die. We submitted successfully and happily - but even if we had not, we would have had an amazing trip! Guides & Team: Our team (4 porters per person so 12, 1 cook, 2 guides) were a dream team! Starting with the guides (Goodluck and Abraham) who became our family. Highly competent - they know the mountain like the back of their hand, but also how to assess a hiker's health. Both throughout shared lot’s about Tanzania, were very friendly and helpful and took great care in particular of my mother. In fact - the entire team did: I remember how one of our porters carried my mothers backpack every now and then, or how others helped her clean the shoes whenever we arrived at camp. They all worked on a common goal: making our journey as memorable as possible. And all of them are kind and helpful! Food & Accommodation: Of course, our camp was all already set by the time we arrived on site - bags in our rooms, warm water to wash our hands, tea ready in our dining tent. Our cook (Amos) ensured that we had plenty of food for every meal with a varied menu - from chicken with fries, to Fried Rice with Vegetables, daily fruit such as Watermelon and more - we were fed well! He even took notice of what we really liked on his menu - on day 3 when resupply arrived we suddenly had an abundance of tea choices on a camping trip. You can tell, I could go on for hours on how amazing I thought this trip was. If you book with Kilisa, I know they will do their best so that you have a trip of a lifetime!Show more
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  Traveled in September 2023
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  JessicaKooker5.0•April 2022
  Based on a friend's recommendation, myself and 3 others planned a trek with Kilisa Tours for February 2022. We truly...
  Based on a friend's recommendation, myself and 3 others planned a trek with Kilisa Tours for February 2022. We truly worked with a dream team! They were wonderful to work with from the start. We had to postpone a few times due to the pandemic in 2020, and Kilisa was more than accommodating in working with us to reschedule for one person in the group's 40th birthday to be the date we summit! In February of 2022 we all flew out to do an 8 day Lemosho route on Kilimanjaro! Kilisa made it super easy by meeting us at the airport and then transporting us to the hotel we were staying at the evening before our trek. We were able to meet our guides for the trip and they were able to review the gear we brought to make sure we had what we needed! The next morning we set off on our trek. Our guides were patient with our group's varied abilities and helped us all to feel energized and excited for each adventure. We were offered many breaks and got to learn a lot about the flora and fauna we passed as well as about Tanzanian culture. We were amazed by just how nice everyone was from Kilisa tours. Our porters were incredibly strong and fast, they would break down camp after we had already started hiking, pass us during the hike, and have camp set up for us before we got there! Our chef and waiter (yes a waiter!) were amazing. At each meal we were fed multi course feasts with a variety of options! One member of our group had dietary restrictions and they were able to accommodate her and make separate portions to meet her needs! We were all full and very happy after each meal. With each meal we also were offered hot water for tea, coffee or coco and they provided all the fixings you could want to go with your meal or drinks. The accommodations on the mountain were wonderful, we had spacious tents that you could easily sit up in for camping with thick warm sleeping pads. For dinning, they provided a full tent with table chairs and even a tablecloth. The guides were wonderful in helping our group acclimate appropriately and monitored everyone's health in a respectful, encouraging way, never making anyone feel discouraged no matter how the altitude or weather was affecting them. We had 2 members of the group that were having some issues with the altitude, and our dream team thought ahead and two porters agreed to assist our group with the summit. The two porters helped carry the gear for the 2 individuals having issues and all the guides and porters helped encourage and lead our team up for the summit push. One member started to feel very lightheaded and the guides were able to help her work through her dizziness, assess if it was wise to continue and then monitored her carefully as we continued up. Thanks to the amazing oversight from the team, all 4 of us made it to the summit! Even more amazing was that at the summit, for the birthday, the guides pulled out a birthday sign and balloons for her and we all got to take a birthday picture with the summit sign! Even more amazing was later that evening after we got to our final camp, the chef surprised the birthday girl with a beautiful and delicious birthday cake! We truly did have a dream team with Bakari leading the way and Omary always ready for a laugh! We could not recommend using Kilisa tours enough, they were wonderful to work with and we all had an amazing time hiking Kilimanjaro with them!Show more
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  Traveled in February 2022
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  EmrahTufekci5.0•October 2019
  Climbing Kilimanjaro is both a physical and mental challenge, we booked the trip to Kilimanjaro 10 months before...
  Climbing Kilimanjaro is both a physical and mental challenge, we booked the trip to Kilimanjaro 10 months before going. Our first and all time inquiries were promptly replied to, and the fact that we were being regularly informed on various tips for our Kilimanjaro preparation through emails made everything so uncomplicated before arrived and for that gladly we came prepared And big thanks to Kilisa Tours & Safaris as they deserve it since we truly enjoyed every bit of the organization, substitution and programs they have for their team The route choice to Kilimanjaro 8 Days Lemosho Route” and that suited our time and budget. And the service provided in the Mountain was Top Notch; the guides were brilliant [Bakari & Bryson], friendly, knowledgeable, humorous when needed. Porters where incredible especially how it felt hard with us at times but they never missed a smile on their face and that was really encouraging, the chef was phenomenal we had the best food on the mountain! Two of my friends were vegetarian and Chef [Kulwa-smiley guy] It was obvious that He gladly made them specific food to answer their requests. I can’t write every detail but to narrate the whole crew was unbelievable!! They pushed us humored us chatted with us most of all they made us feel safe...They were absolutely fantastic and honestly we couldn’t have made it without them The experience of being with the mountain family is just extremely good and the sense of achievement when you reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro [UHURU PEAK TANANIA .5895M/19341Ft] is massive. Really had a great time and the most amazing experience and we definitely recommended it “make sure you book it We are so much very happy to be having this amazing and a life time experience to climb the highest mountain of Africa and world’s highest free standing mountainShow more
  Traveled in August 2019
  

  Reply from: Kilisa Tours & Safaris

  Hello Emra We were so happy reading your kind review which is we are still are and even grateful for the time you take just to narrate the experience you had with us here at Kilisa we are a local tour company that strive to do better and whenever a customer is satisfied with our provided services to me their goal [we're always thrilled to that] and we're more than that you had the most amazing experience with us and thank you for recommendation Many thanks Regards Juliana [Kilisa Tours & Safaris]

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  Julian5.0•July 2019
  WHEN THE COMPANY CARES THE VALUE OF YOUR MONEY Thanks to Kilisa tours & safaris who did great job of organizing...
  WHEN THE COMPANY CARES THE VALUE OF YOUR MONEY Thanks to Kilisa tours & safaris who did great job of organizing everything for us, the price was good and they actually organized our transport from JRO to the hotel located in Moshi town [Park view Inn] where we had a very good resting ready for trekking on the next day The company served us with an amazing and professional guides [Bryson &Bakari] who were a greater help for us and as time went by we felt like we were a family + communication was fast and clear!!Can't say it was easy on that last push to the summit but the good help from our guides made everything possible and finally get to say I am proud I did this “Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and glad I chose Kilisa tours” because I loved everything about our trip and I will always cherish the Moment I can’t recommend you enough although I wish everyone knew how determined and good you are!! Asante [means thank you] Kilisa tours and you Might want to know that Swahili word cause at the end of the day you’re going to thank them for fulfilling your dream beyond your expectationsShow more
  Traveled in December 2018
  

  Reply from: Kilisa Tours & Safaris

  Hello Julian On behalf us all of us at Kilisa Tours, I would like to thank you for sharing this great review about our service! We are thrilled that you enjoyed your experience with us. We will be sharing your feedback amongst our team "guides, porters and cook". And please come visit us again when the chance arises Sincerely Juliana [Kilisa Tours & Safaris]

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