Family Adventure This December on Mt. Kilimanjaro

One of the most excit­ing trips we offer here at Moun­tain Mad­ness is our climb to the top of Mt. Kil­i­man­jaro in Tan­za­nia, the high­est moun­tain in Africa and one of the Sev­en Sum­mits. This trip is first class style the entire way! Our sel­dom-trav­eled route requires no tech­ni­cal expe­ri­ence and the only require­ment is that clients be in great phys­i­cal con­di­tion and have an appetite for adventure!

Beau­ti­ful Kil­i­man­jaro. Wes Krause photo

Over time this trip, among oth­ers, has emerged as one of our best options for fam­i­lies want­i­ng to enjoy the expe­ri­ence of reach­ing an amaz­ing mile­stone togeth­er. What bet­ter way to con­nect with the kids, have an amaz­ing adven­ture and see the sights of Africa than this? Join us this Decem­ber 24^th through Jan­u­ary 4^th for our ​‘New Year’s in the Crater’ Kil­i­man­jaro Fam­i­ly Trip. We already have two fam­i­lies con­firmed on this trip includ­ing that of Moun­tain Mad­ness own­er, Mark Gun­log­son, his wife Hei­di and their two daugh­ters. Join­ing them is Per H. and his fam­i­ly, includ­ing daugh­ters aged 13, 15, and 20. Don’t miss this chance to trav­el with fam­i­lies from oth­er parts of the world for a cul­tur­al adven­ture like no other. 

Sum­mit of Kil­i­man­jaro. Wes Krause photo

For a quick look into what this expe­ri­ence might look like for a young per­son, read this let­ter from pre­vi­ous Kil­i­man­jaro client, Olivia. She was only 15 years old when she made the climb up Kil­i­man­jaro and she shares her unique per­spec­tive on a trip that changed her life. 

Tan­zan­ian Sun­set. Clif Simon­son photo

“Reflect­ing back on my trip to Kil­i­man­jaro I can’t help but smile. The trip was, with­out a doubt, one that I will nev­er for­get. Although the expe­ri­ence had its high times and its low times noth­ing can top the peo­ple, the sights or the feel­ing I had on the sum­mit. It’s almost hard to explain how you feel about Kil­i­man­jaro because dur­ing the climb you feel so many dif­fer­ent things at once. You feel wind­ed, but you can’t help but to be curi­ous about what’s around you. You feel sick, but you can’t help but to mar­vel at the glac­i­er tow­er­ing over you. It all feels so sur­re­al. The whole time I could­n’t believe that I was actu­al­ly there. I had antic­i­pat­ed the trip so much that by the time I got there it exceed­ed my hopes and expectations.

Clif Simon­son photo

“The crew we had help­ing us was ter­rif­ic. Every day I felt like I owed my porter my soul for help­ing me with my gaiters and boots when I was feel­ing so tired. The fun we had as a group out­weighed any sore­ness or exhaus­tion that we expe­ri­enced. I feel like if we would have had a dif­fer­ent group of peo­ple the trip would­n’t have been as great as it was. But I must say; my toes are STILL numb from that long down­hill after sum­mit day.

Clif Simon­son photo

“It was a trek, there is no deny­ing that, but the more patient I was about climb­ing, the faster that sum­mit day arrived. On our first day it felt like glo­ry was a mil­lion miles away but, as time passed and the topog­ra­phy changed, our legs brought us up high­er and high­er and it sud­den­ly dawned on me that this was going to hap­pen. And when I did reach the top, I reached the glo­ry that was pack­aged with it. I will nev­er for­get that day; the smiles on everyone’s faces, the cheer­ing, or the beau­ty that sur­round­ed us.

“The only word to describe that moment on the sum­mit is AWE­SOME, or at least that’s the sim­plest way to put it.

Hap­py at the sum­mit. Clif Simon­son photo

“When we left the moun­tain two days lat­er, we stood in camp and our crew sang us the Kil­i­man­jaro song. I could­n’t help but to tear up. Our lead guide Ben had always told us that we were a fam­i­ly but it was­n’t until that moment that I real­ly felt like I was part­ing with my new­found fam­i­ly. That these peo­ple, porters and fel­low climbers alike, who had seen me at my worst and at my best, were about to part ways with me. 

“I think I left Tan­za­nia and Kil­i­man­jaro a changed per­son. It gave me a new per­spec­tive on life, a new idea of what I could achieve and insight into how it feels to con­quer some­thing I had only ever dreamed about. The time I spent on Kili is time that I will nev­er for­get. Ever.

“Thank you to Moun­tain Mad­ness for mak­ing this trip happen.

~ Olivia

Addi­tion­al­ly, here’s what just a cou­ple of our clients had to say:

“The qual­i­ty of the guides made this trip so suc­cess­ful. I felt not only safe, but they gave me the con­fi­dence to keep push­ing and to even­tu­al­ly sum­mit. Their knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence were so valu­able and I learned a lot, not only about alti­tude climb­ing, the moun­tain, plants, ani­mals, etc., but also about the peo­ple, cul­ture, and his­to­ry of Tan­za­nia..” — Melis­sa, Kil­i­man­jaro Client

“The peo­ple were incred­i­bly, kind, knowl­edge­able and help­ful. The food was great. The camps were great. The route was great. We loved our trip!” – Jim, Kil­i­man­jaro Client

“I just want­ed to let you and your team know that our trip was fan­tas­tic. Climb, guides, camps, food, game dri­ves and logis­tics were all won­der­ful and FAR exceed­ed our expec­ta­tions. Your staff in Tan­za­nia is the best.” ‑Car­o­line, Kil­i­man­jaro Client

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If a trip to Kil­i­man­jaro is not some­thing you’re inter­est­ed in, check out these oth­er Decem­ber trips:

Aconcagua Nor­mal Route

Ecuador Moun­taineer­ing School

Cotopaxi Express

Cotopaxi Trek

Anti­sana and Illiniza Sur

Mex­i­co Volcanoes