Kilimanjaro Overview
You won't find this route in most guidebooks... This is one of the least traveled routes on Kilimanjaro. Add a night at Crater camp for maximum acclimatization.
Which Route to take?
There are six established routes to climb Mount Kilimanjaro - Marangu, Machame, Lemosho, Shira, Rongai and Umbwe. The Marangu, Machame, and Umbwe routes all approach from the south of the mountain (Mweka is used only for descent). The Lemosho and Shira routes approach from the west. The Rongai route approaches from the north. The illustrations below depict a three-dimensional view of Kilimanjaro's climbing routes and a close up of the approaches to the summit.
Almost all nights on Kilimanjaro are clear. A pre-dawn start is very important to avoid the debilitating effects of the sun and uv radiation. To make the night ascents more pleasant and in some cases beautiful, getting up and walking up by moonlight is the optimal situation. As a rough guide a full moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise. This combined with strength of the moonlight provide excellent conditions for walking at night. However as the moon sets about 1 hour later every day. the best conditions are probably about 2 to 3 days after the full moon as then at about 5am the moon is still big and quite high in the sky throughout the critical hours of the ascent. If you plan your ascent before the full moon you might get up by moonlight but it will set before first light.
Climbing Routes:
Lemosho: Long access drive, remote, less frequented, beautiful forests, scenic traverse to Barafu, camping. Excellent for acclimatization. 8 (-1) 56km
Machame: Second most popular route. Beautiful forest, very good for acclimatization, scenic traverse to Barafu. 7 (-1) 49km
Marangu: Very popular. Gentle gradients and long sections up to 4700m. Beautiful forests and moorlands, comfortable but basic huts. The 6 day variant provides good time for acclimatization. 6 (-1) 64km
Rongai: Long access drive, remote, less frequented, some fine, wild, high-altitude mountain scenery, camping. Good for acclimatization. 6 65km
Umbwe: Shortest and steepest route, tough. Beautiful forest, spectacular ridge, bad for acclimatization, scenic traverse to Barafu, camping. Dangerous route.
MountainQUEST has 20 years of climbing and trekking experience. We invite you to come and climb Kilimanjaro with us!
