Height and prominence of Kilimanjaro, and altitude gain when climbing it

The tippy top point of Mt Kilimanjaro is on the rim of its tallest crater and is called Uhuru Peak. Uhuru Peak is thought to be 5,895 m above sea level, and this is the elevation you’ll find written on the sign marking the spot. For those whose minds only compute in feet, that’s 19,431 ft above sea level.

Kilimanjaro isn't a neat triangle of a mountain. Rather, it has three, spaced out volcanic cones:

This fabulous shot by David D. Turner shows Kibo Crater (left) and Mawenzi Crater (right)

The official height of Kilimanjaro's Uhuru Peak up until 1952 was actually 5,892 m. That figure had been assigned to the mountain by German cartographers during colonial times.

In 1952, however, British cartographers mapped the mountain and adjusted Kilimanjaro's elevation to 5,895 m. This is the figure most use when thinking and talking about Africa’s tallest mountain. 

That said, we should point out that the United Nations Environment Programme claims the height of Kilimanjaro as 5,893 m. Hardly a big difference, to be sure, but there you have it.

This 1930 photo of Kibo Crater was taken by Swiss aviation pioneer Walter Mittelholzer 

Whatever the exact height of Kilimanjaro, it’s undoubtedly the world’s tallest free-standing mountain (meaning it’s not part of a mountain range). Kilimanjaro, a volcanic mountain, rises up out of the north Tanzanian plain. Not far away is a neighbouring volcanic mountain, Mt Meru 4,566 m (14,980 ft), also popping up out of the plain. You can see Meru when you’re high up on the southern slope of Kilimanjaro.

It's hard to comprehend the enormity of Kilimanjaro, and it's only when actually climbing it that you fully appreciate its immense scale.

View from campsite on Kilimanjaro of Mt Meru

As you can see in the infographic below, Kilimanjaro is the fourth highest of the Seven Summits (the tallest mountains of each continent). Perhaps because it's not part of a large snowy range, many folks don't realise just how tall Kilimanjaro is. But as you can see, it's far taller than any mountain in Europe.

Infographic of the world's Seven Summits

The prominence of Kilimanjaro is about 4,900 m (16,100 ft). What this means is that the base of Kilimanjaro is around 1,000 m above sea level, and Kilimanjaro itself rises about 4,900 m from its plateau base.

As you can see in the map below, Kilimanjaro is far from the Indian Ocean coastline. So it's unsurprising that it's prominence is not its full altitude.

Map of northern Tanzania with Kilimanjaro marked

While Kilimanjaro is 5,895 m above sea level, you don't of course climb all that elevation, since you don't begin your climb at sea level. As mentioned above, the prominence of Kilimanjaro is about 4,900 m. But none of the seven Kilimanjaro routes start at the base of the mountain. Instead, they all start within or just above the forest band of the mountain, which is around 1,800 m to 3,000 m above sea level.

Here are the altitudes of the different Kilimanjaro trailheads:

As you can see, you start at a very high altitude on the Shira route, while the lowest starting altitude belongs to the Machame.

This pic by Lucy shows her group looking fresh-faced at Lemosho Gate

So what is the altitude or elevation gain of each of the routes? Here are the numbers:

The altitude gain in climbing the Shira will therefore be much lower than the altitude gain that comes with climbing the Machame. This might sound at first like a boon (I don't have to climb so far!), but as we discuss in Kilimanjaro altitude sickness, you don't want to ascend to high altitude too quickly.

We've just looked at your elevation gain when you climb Kilimanjaro. Another name for it is altitude difference.

Elevation (or altitude difference) is different from ascent. Ascent is the total vertical distance of every step upwards that you take on a climb. Given that trails up mountains naturally undulate, your ascent on a climb will be more than your elevation gain.

We don't have ascent figures for the various Kilimanjaro routes. But it's worth pointing out that the really good routes – those that allow you to 'climb high, sleep low' – have noticeably higher ascent values than elevation gains. (You can learn more about the 'climb high, sleep low' strategy in The best acclimatisation for climbing Kilimanjaro.)

After a few days of hiking along the Lemosho and Machame routes, for example, you descend over 600 m from Lava Tower to reach Barranco Camp. This means the next day you'll be 'reclimbing' those 600 metres. Most of the dips on the various routes are not, however, as dramatic as this.

This snap by Jasmin shows her climb group descending to Barranco Camp

To end, we thought you might find it interesting to hear how Kilimanjaro's elevation gain compares with that of Everest Base Camp, since we compare the two treks in our popular post Kilimanjaro vs Everest Base Camp: which is harder?

On the Everest Base Camp trek, you start hiking at the town of Lukla, which is 2,860 m (9,383 ft) above sea level. And the highest altitude you reach on that trek is not actually Everest Base Camp itself (5,364 m / 17,598 ft), but Kala Patthar (5,644 m / 18,517 ft), the hill you climb for an unobstructed view of Everest.

So what is the elevation gain on an Everest Base Camp trek? It's 2,784 m (9,134 ft).

That means that on all of the Kilimanjaro routes besides the Shira route, you achieve an elevation gain of at least a thousand metres! So there's a little fact for you that will change your life in no ways whatsoever, but is kinda interesting to know, don't you think? 🤓