This small shrew has cinnamon-brown fur above and grayish-brown fur below. It is described as terrestrial, but the 2018 account confirms only the type specimen; the commonly accepted Kilimanjaro locality is uncertain, and the source says it may be the same species as C. cyanea.
The back is cinnamon brown, while the underside is grayish brown. The thin tail is brown above and grayish brown below.
The 2018 HMW account describes the species as terrestrial; it reports no confirmed habitat and mentions montane forest only as a possibility.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.