We had an amazing safari and Kilimanjaro summit all thanks to Kilisa! Their service was top notch and value was fantastic. The service provided by our guides and supporting staff were top notch!

We started with a 6 day safari that was absolutely epic. Our Safari Guide, Chris, was incredible! You should definitely request him. He was super nice and very accommodating. He found us every animal we could ever have wanted to see! Despite some challenging off-road driving conditions, he never got stuck and always got us to see the best animals around. We saw lions and elephants that were so close, we would nearly reach out and touch them from the landcruiser. He found us two leopards, two cheetahs, tons of lions, two rhinos and more zebras, giraffes, cape buffalos, and wildabeasts than we could count, just to name a few. My favorite was seeing a male lion out in a rain storm who was seperated from his pride. He was calling out to them and you could see the worry in his eye as he walked right by our landcruiser in search of them.

We then did a Kilimanjaro hike to the summit via the Lemosho 7 day route. Our guides, Rama and Bakari, were fantastic and the chef, Kurwa, amazed us with the food he was able to make on the mountain. Our waiter, Arold was gracious and attentive in delivering all the food to our dining tent. I highly recommend requesting them. The team of porters (Salim, Frenk, Mohamed, Josephat, Mwingi, Sigi, David, Siriri, Msafiri, Idd, Abdina and Moyo) amazed us with their kindness, helpfulness and always positive attitudes. They were always smiling even when carrying a heavy load at high altitudes in chilling conditions. Their attitudes were truly inspiring.

Naick is the owner and the lead coordinator. He was very helpful over the course of more than a month of coordination via email to set up and schedule the trip. He was always responsive and able to answer all of our questions and take care of all of our needs. It was challenging to execute this trip during COVID because of our flights getting cancelled but Naick helped us adjust as necessary. Going during COVID turned out to be a huge bonus because the national parks are all virtually empty so you get the animals and Kilimanjaro virtually to yourself.

You can't go wrong with Kilisa! Their prices were the best we found and the experience we enjoyed was incredible. Their safari vehicle was a new Toyota landcruiser Safari conversion that I absolutely loved. It got us through mud and water crossings in style and comfort and never broke down despite many miles on some pretty tough roads. Their trek equipment was all in good shape. Our tents were nice and the gear we rented was also in good shape.

I highly recommend Kilisa!

Our experience with Kilisa on Kilimanjaro was fantastic, we highly recommend them. We chose the Lemosho 9 day route and if you are in good shape we recommend going for the 8 day. We chose the 9 day route since it maximizes the acclimatization, but we actually ended up finishing it in 8. Kilisa was accommodating, taking care of the hotel night for that night.



Our porters, our guide Bacari, and assistant guide Tami were all tremendous! The pace of our hikes was great and they were helpful with carrying any extra gear, taking pictures, stopping for breaks, answering questions / having conversation when we wanted, and pointing out interesting plants & animals. The food was really good! You need to eat a ton to keep up your energy and the cook did not disappoint. Food was very important to help keep us full, but also to help lift spirits when we returned to camp. At first, the big trays of food were a little intimidating, but then we started looking forward to them! On the harder days, toward the end of our hike, porters would come out from camp to meet us on the trail to carry our packs the last bit. That was a welcome sight and a big boost!



Some packing tips: Bring a little less snacks than you think you’ll need. Some granola bars or trail mix is fine on the trail, but you won’t eat as much as you think. Focus more on quick sugary energy, like Snickers. A Camelbak and Nalgene are a good combo so you can drink from the bag while walking and do the Nalgene when stopped. Take Diamox and bring pee bottles!

Overall, we had a WONDERFUL experience and very much recommend doing the Lemosho route with Kilisa. The whole trip was great and we had no real issues, which is great especially considering the type of activity we were doing. A+