General Information

Our walking and trekking trips typically include 5 - 8 hours walking per day over unmade, occasionally rough paths.  On our Mt Meru, Mt Kenya and Kilimanjaro trips there are typically ascents of between 500 - 900 metres per day, but on the walking trips, less.  This may sound a lot but realistically is no more than the average ascent to climb one of the UK's bigger hills of around 900 - 1000 metres - you do not have to be super fit to take part in any of our trips!

Trekking at altitude requires you to gain height gradually, so we do not walk fast at all with the guides ensuring we walk 'pole pole' ('slowly slowly' in swahili) - if you did get out of breath, it would probably be due to the thinner air!

To enjoy your trip and have the best chance of success it is best to have a reasonable level of fitness, but you do not have to do as much as you think.

However, to use the trip as an excuse and goal to get fit is brilliant, and if you are really keen and wish to specifically train to a high level of fitness, then great! Cycling is an excellent way of training without the risk of impact damage and will tone up and strengthen leg muscles ready for the trip, as too will running if you are used to this 'impact' exercise.  If you wish to target certain things, there are specific leg strengthening exercises you can do in gyms, on stairs and local hills!  All the muscles in your legs are important but the main area people find to benefit from a little specific training is the thigh (quadriceps) muscles.  These are used greatly in descent; coming off the summits of the big mountains usually has a short distance that is slightly steeper so puts more strain on them.

You do not have to do serious amounts of training to enjoy our trips and reach the summits of East African mountains, people successfully climb them having done little or no training - there is no climbing, and gradients are rarely steep on the routes.  The pace is very slow so it is not particularly taxing, and just going for a few walks of 2-3 hours length can be enough for some people, and if for nothing else but to ensure your equipment and clothing is up to it.

If you wish to train a little for the trip but do not wish to go to such an extreme, there is really nothing better than actually going out for a few hill walks beforehand.  This is exactly what the trip involves so is the best training one can do for it.  Ascending and descending throughout the walks will work your legs perfectly and aerobic fitness levels will be fine - often hill walking in the UK will actually be more demanding than an average day on trek or on one of our walking trips.

The use of walking poles is a personal choice and mentioned in the equipment section, but if they are used properly can make the walking easier as they take some of the weight off your legs and feet as you walk.  They are also good if you suffer from any knee problems for example, because you can transmit some of the pressure through the poles instead of your legs.  If you have a history or concerns about your legs you are more than welcome to bring any supports you think you may require, and to get in touch with us in the Contact Us section to talk through your concerns.

The summit days of Kilimanjaro, Mt Meru and Mt Kenya are hard days - typically lasting between 12 and 16 hours, they are by far the most demanding days of the trips.  Starting around midnight to 2 am they usually involve 5 - 8 hours (roughly 1000m) climbing to reach the top around sunrise, then a long descent that is sometimes a little steep, to reach camp mid afternoon/ early evening.  A long and tiring day that is not as bad as it all sounds - there is great motivation to get up and start trekking because you are so close to the summit, then a period of free wheeling due to the happiness of reaching the summit and tiredness starts to set in for the last few hours as you come into camp. 

Again reasonable fitness or determination is enough to complete this day, but there are some things you can do to make it easier.  The walking at altitude is slower so bearing this in mind doing a couple of long hill walks of 8 - 10 hours is great preparation, and if you are not used to walking in the dark with a head torch, it can be interesting to do this a couple of times before the trip!  Just an hour's walk is enough to experience this and be more used to it for the summit night but if you do this, stay in areas you know well!