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Mountain boots are unnecessary unless you’re taking an unusual route that demands them. If you’re not, a decent pair of trekking boots will be fine. The important thing about boots is comfort, with enough toe room, remembering that on the ascent up Kibo you might be wearing an extra pair or two of socks, and that on the descent the toes will be shoved into the front of the boots with every step. Remember these points when trying on trekking boots in the shop. Make sure they are also sturdy, waterproof, durable, and high enough to provide support for your ankles. Finally, ensure you break them in before you come to Tanzania, so that if they do give you blisters, you can recover before you set foot on any mountains.

A couple of thick thermal pairs and some regular ones should be fine; you may stink but you’ll be comfortable too, which is far more important. Some people walk in one thick and one thin pair of socks changing the thin pair regularly, rinsing them out in the evening and tying them to their pack to dry during the day.

Not necessary if you have enough fleeces, but nevertheless wonderfully warm, light and compact - and very expensive. Make sure it is large enough to go over all your clothes.

Fleeces are light, pack down small, dry quickly and can be very, very warm. Take at least two: one thick ‘polar’ one and one of medium thickness and warmth. Make sure that you can wear the thinner one over all of the T-shirts and shirts you’ll be taking, and that you can wear your thick one over all of these - you’ll need to on the night-walk up Kibo.

The value of thermal underwear lies in the way it draws moisture (ie sweat) away from your body. A thermal vest and long Johns are sufficient.

Don’t take jeans, which are heavy and difficult to dry. Instead, take a couple of pairs of trekking trousers, such as those made by Rohan, preferably one light and one heavy.

Essential: it can be hot and dazzling on the mountain …

… but it can also be very cold. Brightly-coloured bobble hats can be bought very cheaply in Moshi; or, better still, invest in one of those knitted balaclavas on sale in Moshi, which look a bit like a furnace with the door open, but which will protect your face from the biting summit wind.

Preferably fleecy; some people wear a thin thermal under-glove too.

While you are more likely to be rained on during the walk in the forest, where it’s still warm, once you’ve got your clothes wet there will be lit­tle opportunity to dry them on the trek - and you will not want to attempt to climb freezing Kibo in wet clothes. A waterproof jacket - preferably made from gore-tex or similar breathable material, hopefully with a warm or fleecy lining too, and big enough to go over all your clothes so you can wear it for the night- walk on Kibo - is ideal; waterproof trousers are perhaps a luxury rather than a necessity, but if you have a pair bring them with you.

T-shirts and shorts are the most comfortable things to wear under the humid forest canopy. You are strongly recommended to take a shirt with a collar too, to stop the sun from burning the back of your neck.

The warmest you’ve got. A three-season bag is probably the most practical, offering a compromise between warmth and cost. A two-season plus thermal fleecy liner is another solution.

Essential in camping, but unnecessary if you’re following the standard Marangu Route, when you’ll be sleeping in huts.

You’ll need to carry two litres of water up Kibo at the very least. Make sure they are thermally protected, otherwise they will freeze on the summit. The Platypus Hoser system (a kind of soft, plastic bladder with a long tube from which you can drink as you walk along) has a number of advantages over a regular bottle: it saves you fiddling about with bottle tops and you can keep your hands in your pockets while you drink - great on the freezing night-time walk to the summit; it means you don’t have to stop to drink but can carry on walking; and it encourages you to drink more, which could help keep AMS at bay.

While you can get your cooking crew to boil you some water at the end of every mealtime, you’ll still find purifiers and/or a filter essential if you’re going to drink the recommended four-five litres every day, for which you’ll have to collect water from the mountain streams. Of the two, purifying tablets, such as iodine, are more effective, as they kill everything in the water, though they taste awful. A cordial will help to mask this taste. Filters are less effective and more expensive, though the water they produce tastes much better.

A head-torch, if you have one and don’t find it uncomfortable, is far, far more practical than a handheld one, allowing you to keep both hands free; on the last night this advantage is pretty much essential, enabling you to keep your hands in your pockets for warmth.

High factor essential.

Only useful if you plan to take the Arrow Glacier Route to the summit. Otherwise leave it, your snow boots, rope, karabiners and all that other mountaineering gear at home.

The controversy here is over which sort of towel to bring. Many just bring one enormous beach towel, because they plan to visit Zanzibar after the trek and don’t see the point of packing two towels. At the other extreme there are the tiny so-called ‘travel towels’, a sort of chamois-cloth affair sold in camping shops and airport lounges the world over. Some people swear by these things, but others usually end up swearing at them, finding that they have all the absorbency of your average block of obsidian stone. Nevertheless, I grudgingly admit that they do have their uses on Kilimanjaro, where opportunities to wash anything other than face and hands are minimal. You can dry your towel by attaching it to the outside of your rucksack with clothes-pegs.

Very, very necessary for the morning after you’ve reached the summit, when the early morning light on Kibo can be really painful and damaging. If you’re climbing via the glacier route or are going to spend some time on the summit, they could be essential for preventing snow-blindness.

For the occasional chocolate bar, coke or beer which you can buy at the ranger’s huts on the way.
You can carry the money for tipping with you or you can pay the tip when you are back in your hotel. For a rough guide as to how much you should take, see Tipping.

Ensure your dental checks are up-to-date; if there is one thing more painful than climbing to the summit of Kili, it’s climbing to the summit of Kili with toothache.

If you’ve done some trekking before you’ll know if you need ski-noles or not; if you haven’t, assume you will. While people often use them the whole way, poles really come into their own on the descent, to minimize the strain on your knees as you trudge downhill. Telescopic poles can be brought from trekking/camping outfitters in the West, or you can invest in a more prim­itive version, a stick freshly chopped from the nearby forest, at Machame or Marangu Gate - and anywhere else where enterprising local children gather.

For winning friends and influencing people. Good for energy levels too. And morale.

The wind on the summit will rip your sun burnt lips to shreds. Save yourself the agony by investing in a chapstick, avail able in strawberry and mint flavour from pharmacists in Moshi and Arusha.

For sundry items on sale at huts en route.

Make sure you have spare batteries

Some porters have stereos and even mobile phones, and they love advertising this fact by playing the former and speaking into the latter extremely loudly at campsites. A set of earplugs will reduce this disturbance.

Useful on the dusty Saddle.

Though you won’t get through much of it on the mountain.

Useful in the evenings at camp, but make sure they are big enough to fit round a thick pair of socks.

Very useful for attaching wet clothes to the back of your ruck sack to allow them to dry in the sun while you walk.

Always useful, if only for opening beer bottles at the post-trek party.

For repairs on the trail.

If you envisage needing to defecate along the trail at places other than the designated toilet huts, this will help to bury the evidence and keep the mountain looking pristine.

Also for repairs - of shoes, rucksacks, tents etc, and as a last resort for mending holes in clothes if you have forgotten your sewing kit, or are incapable of using it.

Preferably cheap and luminous for night-time walking.

Not essential, but useful when combined with …

Again not essential, but will, in combination with a compass, help you to determine where you are on the mountain, and where you’re going.

For celebrating, though don’t try to take it up and open it at the summit - the combination of champagne and altitude sickness could lead to tragedy, and besides, the glass could well crack with the cold.

It’s difficult to get lost on Kilimanjaro but if you’re taking an unusual route - on the northern side of the mountain, for example, or around Mawenzi ­ a whistle may be useful to help people locate which ravine you’ve fallen into.

For small cuts and grazes.

For small cuts and grazes.

Useful for twists and sprains as well as for larger flesh wounds.

For blisters.

For steeper gradients, particularly if you have knee problems.

Though you’re highly unlikely to catch malaria on the mountain (you’ll be above the anopheles mosquito’s maximum altitude for nearly all the trek), if you’re on a course of anti-malarials you should continue taking them.

Or other painkillers, though do read the discussion on AMS and the medical indications in the packet before scoffing these.

Diamox is the brand name for Acetazolamide, the drug that fights AMS and which many people use prophylactically on Kilimanjaro. My advise: don’t take them, only bring them with you in case of an emergency.

Stops you going when you don’t want to go. which could come in useful.

Useful on the first and last day, though above the tree-line the climate is too cold for most insects to survive.

Such as Diarolyte. Usually prescribed to people suffering from diarrhoea but useful after a hot day’s trekking as well.

The wind on the summit will rip your sunburnt lips to shreds. Save yourself the agony by investing in a chapstick, available in strawberry and mint flavour from pharmacists in Moshi and Arusha.

Useful, as the dry, dusty air causes many a sore throat.

Bring with you all your needles, pills, lotions, potions and pungent unguents.

If you are having an injection in Tanzania, insist that the doctor uses your new needles.