The Easiest Route Up Kilimanjaro.
Which is the Easiest Route Up Mt Kilimanjaro? Mt. Kilimanjaro mounting Routes – that is that the Best for You?
The six mountain peak mounting routes vary not solely long, price and scenery.
They even have totally {different|completely different} issue levels and different success rates.
Selecting a Kilimanjaro climb route is one among the foremost necessary choices you have got to create.
(The alternative one is choosing a Kilimanjaro tour operator/trekking agency).
There is no single best Mt. Kilimanjaro climb route.
Which route up Kilimanjaro is that the best for you depends on many factors:
The time and cash you have got accessible, previous expertise and fitness, the time of the year, personal preference…
Let’s explore the individual Kilimanjaro mounting routes and World Health Organization they’re appropriate for:
The Marangu Route: the only Kilimanjaro climb route that offers hut accommodation.
The Machame Route: the foremost standard mounting route up Kilimanjaro.
The Rongai Route: the easiest route on Kilimanjaro.
The Shira Route: this one catapults you to some serious altitude on the primary day.
The Lemosho Route: handily the foremost stunning Kilimanjaro climb route, however dear.
The Umbwe Route: the foremost tough and tight route on Kilimanjaro, and the most spectacular.
The Marangu Route
Kilimanjaro Climbing Route: Marangu
The Horombo Huts on the Marangu Route.
The Marangu Route is jokingly mentioned because the “Tourist Route” or “Coca-Cola Route.”
It’s called “Tourist Route” for two reasons.
One reason is solely its popularity: it makes this climb route somewhat tourist.
The Marangu route is additionally the sole mounting route that uses an equivalent path up AND down, that contributes thereto being the foremost packed climb route on Kilimanjaro.
The Marangu route could be a snug walking path with a really steady, gradual slope (at least until you reach the last camp).
This gave the Marangu route a name as Associate in Nursing “easy” climb route.
And that’s the opposite reason for the name “Tourist Route”: as a result of it’s speculated to be “easy”, the Marangu route is used by many shockingly unprepared “tourists”, rather than trekkers.
The name “Coca Cola Route” stems from the sleeping huts on the route.
They sell the stuff (as well as bottled water and candy bars).
The Marangu route is that the solely Kilimanjaro mounting route that provides hut accommodation.
Camping is not allowed.
A move the Marangu route is relatively low cost.
You need no bivouacking instrumentation (no price for additional porters to hold the equipment) and you’ll do the climb in 5 days/four nights.
Also, many cut throat budget operators run treks on this route.
But build no mistake: the Marangu route isn’t straightforward and it’s NOT for tourists!
It is a significant climb with terribly low success rates.
Only 1 / 4 to a 3rd of the climbers on this route reach the summit of Kilimanjaro.
The reason?
The “tourists” on this route are shockingly unprepared.
A five day climb does not allow for sufficient acclimatization, many climbers have to turn around because of altitude sickness. (You can add an optional acclimatization day.)
Budget operators have much lower client success rates.
Equipment, food, expertise level of guides, all that produces a giant distinction and every one that prices cash.
The day of reckoning before the summit try could be a long one and covers a thousand m of altitude distinction.
There is not abundant time to recover or adapt before starting off once more at the hours of darkness to climb another 1200 m.
Not good.
Add to that the dearth of scenic selection compared to the opposite routes, and you wonder why anyone would want to climb Kili on the Marangu route.
Well, although not as scenic as alternative routes, it is still a spectacular experience with great views all along.
There are two reasons why you may want to climb Kilimanajaro on the Marangu route:
- You absolutely can not, under no circumstances, imagine sleeping in a tent for five nights or more. (But don’t think those huts offer luxury accommodation or that there are any amenities. There aren’t. You get a mattress and pillow – no linen – on a bunk bed, and you get to eat in a crowded dining hall. No less and no more.)
- the opposite reason to pick out Marangu is that if cash is your main thought, before everything else.
I you do not care regarding scenery, aren’t worried by big crowds, and are willing to accept a reduced chance of success, Marangu is the cheapest option you have.
(But do yourself a favor and take that optional additional acclimatization day.)
Read an in depth description of a Kilimanjaro move the Marangu route
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The Machame Route
Climbing the Barranco Wall on the Machame Route
Climbing the Barranco Wall on the Machame Route. © Uta Philipp.
The Machame route is additionally known as the “Whiskey Route”, a relation to the “Coca Cola Route” Marangu (see above).
Machame is “tougher” than that.
Machame is so a harder climb in some respects, however it will have a lot of higher success rates than Marangu, particularly if you select the seven day version.
(According to estimates regarding hr of the climbers on Machame build it to the summit, and over three quarters reach the crater rim.)
The seven day version provides you a awfully short day before your summit try, which leaves plenty of time to recover, acclimatise and get ready.
The six day version has constant downside because the Marangu route therein respect.
See above.
The Machame route is not technically difficult. It is more strenuous. The trail is often steeper and it involves many ups and downs, crossing a succession of valleys and ridges.
But that is why it’s additionally in the future longer than Marangu.
Still, for people who have never done any longer hikes in their life and are not well prepared it can be demanding and tiring.
There is additionally the Barranco Wall to cross, a very steep, one and a half hour climb that will require you to occasionally use your hands for balance.
(It sounds and looks a lot more difficult than it actually is!)
Well, and you have got to camp all the approach.
If you accompany a budget operator that alone is demanding , especially if the weather turns bad.
As for scenery, the Machame route is absolutely spectacular: the Shira Plateau, the Lava Tower, the Barranco Wall… You start from the west, circle Kibo on the southern side, and
then descend on the Mweka route within the south east.
The variety is hard to beat.
Machame is taken into account the foremost scenic Mount Kilimanjaro mounting route.
For that reason the Machame route has become the foremost common climb route on Mount Kilimanjaro.
The advantage of that’s that costs have born and you’ll be able to realize several budget operators on that.
The disadvantage is that the Machame route is incredibly jammed.
If you are confident in you ability to hike in difficult terrain for days in a row, if you like camping and nature, but money is very tight, then Machame
may be the Mount Kilimanjaro climb route of selection for you.
You will have to put up with the crowds.
Read an in depth description of a Mount Kilimanjaro bestride the Machame route
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The Rongai Route
Kilimanjaro Climb Route: Rongai
Breakfast underneath Mawenzi Peak on the Rongai Route.
The six day version of the Rongai route (via Mawenzi Tarn) is that the route of selection for those trying to find a simple climb with wonderful success rates, but away from
the crowds, with great scenery and a wilderness feel to it. It is slightly more expensive.
The Rongai route is that the solely climb route that approaches Mount Kilimanjaro from the north.
The descent is in the south-east via the Marangu route, so you get to see both sides of the mountain.
The extra transport price makes a Rongai route climb dearer.
It is additionally dearer as a result of there’s less demand and fewer budget operators.
The Rongai route includes a name of being less scenic, however albeit there’s roughly the maximum amount selection as on Machame, it is still a spectacular route, especially
on the later days.
The camp to a lower place Mawenzi Peak is one in every of the foremost scenic on the mountain.
Rongai is additionally one in every of the routes wherever seeing life on Mount Kilimanjaro remains potential.
The Rongai climb has constant straightforward, gradual climb profile as the Marangu route.
It rises terribly steady, there aren’t any steep climbs involved, no major ups and downs.
However, the camps are staggered plenty higher than on Marangu.
On your day before the summit try you merely ascend a number of hundred metres, and you have all afternoon to rest and acclimatize.
With a decent operator you have got associate eighty – ninetieth probability to form it to the crater rim, and 70 – 80% will make it to Uhuru Peak.
(If you have got some trekking expertise your probabilities to form it to the summit might be pretty much as good as ninetieth.
(The remaining 100% come back right down to weather, individual preparation, individual altitude tolerance and unforeseen mishaps.)
The Rongai route has another necessary advantage: the northern aspect of Mount Kilimanjaro may be a ton drier than the opposite aspect.
Your probabilities to not get soaked on the primary days are wonderful.
Especially if you climb Mount Kilimanjaro throughout one in every of the wetter periods of the year, using Rongai makes a lot of sense.
Read an in depth description of a Mount Kilimanjaro bestride the Rongai route
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The Shira Route
Kibo seen from Shira Plateau
Kibo seen from Shira Plateau, photo by blhphotography.
The Shira route approaches Mount Kilimanjaro from the west so joins the Machame route.
Hence everything that has been said about the Machame climb route also applies to the Shira route.
There are several variations to the Shira route.
It may be drained six days however most operators additionally provide a extended version of it.
(A dedicated operator will time their departure and stagger their camps during a approach that avoids the heaviest traffic on the Machame path.)
That and also the accessorize transport price will create Shira a costlier choice.
The first day on the Shira route is completely different to alternative climb routes:
It follows a four wheel drive route.
So you either walk on the road for many of the day (not terribly attractive) otherwise you prefer to drive as so much as potential.
The latter not solely means that you skip the primary stage of the climb, the rain-forest zone.
It additionally means you catapult your body to a height of over 3500 m/11500 linear unit while not time for correct acclimatization.
If you reside close to water level and you merely flew into Tanzania the day before, this may hurt.
Overall, Shira has wonderful success rates if the schedule involves an evening at Karanga depression (making for a brief and straightforward day before the summit day).
However, the nice success rate is partially because of the operators on this route being higher level than on the additional jammed routes.
Like the Machame route, the Shira route is for people who are confident in their ability to hike in difficult terrain and camp out for extended periods.
It has less traffic however it’s a costlier choice.
You should even be assured concerning the approach you may react to the altitude on the primary day.
Read a close description of a Mount Kilimanjaro jump on the Shira route
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The Lemosho Route
Moorland on the Lemosho Route
Views over plain on the second day on the Lemosho Route, exposure by Armstrks.
Like the Shira route, the Lemosho route approaches Mount Kilimanjaro from the west so joins the Machame route.
Hence everything that has been said about the Machame climb route also applies to the Lemosho route.
The first 2 days on the Lemosho route take you thru stunning and really remote woodland, with sensible probabilities of seeing life.
The start of the path is additionally called the Lemosho Glades.
Lemosho is typically a extended trek, seven or eight days, and there are many variations of it.
Which one you take depends on the operator.
(A really good operator will also time their departure and stagger their camps in a way that avoids the heaviest traffic on the Machame trail.)
The length, the remoteness and also the accessorial transport price create Lemosho a rather dear choice.
However, the longer itinerary and also the undeniable fact that there aren’t any budget operators (you cannot try this route on a budget) cause wonderful success rates on this route.
And it has become quite a popular one.
It is a route for folks that area unit assured in their ability to hike in tough tract and tent for extended periods, United Nations agency need a excellent geographical region expertise and
for whom cost is not the main consideration.
Read a close description of a Mount Kilimanjaro jump on the Lemosho route
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The Umbwe Route
Start of Umbwe Route
The sign at the beginning of the Umbwe route, photo by Red Betty Black.
The Umbwe route isn’t a technical route, but it is a very direct, very steep, very tough, and in parts very exposed route.
The Umbwe route joins the Machame route close to the Barranco Camp on the second night.
On the opposite routes Barranco Camp is reached on the third or fourth night.
Goes to show how much steeper Umbwe is…
Parts of the path on the primary day area unit thus steep, they’ll solely be negotiated as a result of the tree roots give one thing like steps.
The tree roots also serve as handle bars to haul yourself up where needed…
The second day is additionally steep and uphill all the approach.
The exposed ridge isn’t for folks uncomfortable at heights… And have a guess why the “Rope Rock” (Jiwe Kamba) is called “Rope Rock”…
This is the foremost tough and hard to please of all Mount Kilimanjaro climb routes.
Don’t even admit it unless you have got expertise climb mountains.
Having said that, it is a spectacular route! Visit our Facebook page
