How long do you stay at the summit of Kilimanjaro?

First and foremost, we don’t hang around at the summit of Kilimanjaro for long because it’s ridiculously cold. We generally find that after 15 minutes of high fives, photographs, and soaking in the view, many folks actually feel the need to start hiking again to warm back up.

The summit is a place of high-fives and celebratory group photos!

Even though you're hopefully getting some sun at the summit, it's always well below freezing at Uhuru Peak, as we discuss in How cold is the summit of Kilimanjaro?

As we discuss in Why summit Kilimanjaro at night?, you have a looong distance to cover on summit day.

Remember too that there’s a long way to still descend, and so we get on with that after taking in the scenery.

The final reason we don't linger at Uhuru Peak is that sometimes you simply need to make way for others waiting their turn to stand by the famous sign for a group photo.

Sometimes there's a bit of a line near the summit

Of course this isn't always the case; some days there are many groups converging on the summit at a similar time, while on others there are relatively few groups and they're all spread out. But when others are waiting and you've had your turn basking in the glory spot ... well, that's when you usually feel that it's time to get stuck into the descent.

If you'd like to know more about the different routes you can climb and down the mountain, please check out our exciting Kilimanjaro itineraries.