8-Days Lemosho Route

A member of Ihana safaris hospitality team greets you upon your arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport. He will drive you to Panama Garden Resort, where you will have all the essentials for a comfortable stay after a long flight, such as: pleasant rooms with hot showers, a restaurant with delicious choices, genial service team and access to the Internet. Your briefing, in the course of which your guides will provide all the details of the forthcoming trek, takes place at the appointed time. They will answer your questions and make sure you are properly equipped for the trek, providing rental gear when necessary.

Accommodation: Panama Garden Resort

Journey time and Distance: 1 hour’s drive, 40 km from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Moshi

After an early breakfast (07.00hrs), you leave the hotel one hour later to arrive at the Londorosi Gate to complete formalities around 11.00hrs, and in time to have your picnic lunch. After Londorosi, you have a short drive to the start-point of today’s walk. Today your walk is a distance of 7 km/4 miles, with an expected 3.5 to 4 hours of walking time.

Your starting altitude is some 2,100 metres and you finish at 2,650 metres. Your approach to the mountain using the Lemosho Route is from the west and some people say this provides the best views of Kilimanjaro. At the start of your walk, you may be lucky enough to spy some colobus or blue monkeys, though an encounter with buffalo, elephant or leopard – while possible – would be rare nowadays. Your walk, steadily upwards, is a wonderful experience, with fantastic forest and some really colourful flowers. Mti Mkubwa Camp (‘Big Tree Camp’) is normally reached by 18.00hrs and dinner is served at 19.30hrs.

Accommodation: In Tents At Mti Mkubwa Camp

Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Starting Point (2,100 m) to Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m)

You will soon become used to the early (07.00hrs) breakfast, and your departure time today is at 08.00hrs. Although your walking distance is only slightly longer than yesterday, today you will be ascending from 2,650 metres to 3,610 metres, and you expect a longer walking time of between 4.5 and 5 hours. Indeed, you start climbing straightaway, to the top of a ridge as you head eastwards and upwards. Today, the trees of your first day thin out. You eventually leave the forest environment behind as you move onto the moorland. From here, you are able to get your first view of both the Shira Plateau and the mighty Kibo itself.
As ever, you should concentrate on walking pole to pole (slowly) to reduce the chances of feeling unwell. Your direction is largely eastwards. Picnic lunch is taken around 13.00 hrs. Walking is steep at first after lunch, but then flattens and, with the snow-topped Kibo ahead of you, you descend slightly to the Shira 1 Camp. After arriving at around 16.00hrs, there will be some welcome resting time before dinner, which will be served at 18.30hrs.
Accommodation: In tents at Shira 1 Camp
Hiking time and elevation: 4.5–5 hours from Mti Mkubwa at 2,650 meters to Shira 1 Camp at 3,610 meters.

Because you may have less climbing to do today than you did yesterday, you celebrate (!) with a later breakfast, at the leisurely hour of 08.00, and an hour later departure. We say potentially because your guide will explain that, depending on how you are feeling today, you have the option of trekking via the Shira Cathedral (see below).

Today’s walking distance will be approximately 7 kilometers (4 miles). It’s a steady uphill climb that will take you about 3.5 to 4 hours to complete. You set out first in a south-eastern direction across the Shira Plateau’s moor and heathland. Buffalo, dik-dik, and klipspringer graze nearby and can be seen on occasion. By following this standard route, you should arrive at Shira 2 Camp (also known as Shira Huts) by 13.00 hrs, in time for a cooked lunch. Dinner will be served at 18.00 hrs. tonight.

(As previously stated, you will be given the option of diverting via the Shira Cathedral today) (3,872 metres, or 12703 feet). This will require more walking, but you will be rewarded with breathtaking panoramic views of the plateau and beyond. This option will be thoroughly discussed with you by your guide).

Accommodation: In tents at Shira 2 Camp

Hiking time and elevation: 3.5–4 hours’ walking, from Shira 1 Camp at 3,610 m to Shira 2 Camp at 3,850 m.

Today you’ll wake up at 7:00 a.m. for breakfast, in preparation for an 08.30 a.m. departure. You have about 10 km/6 miles to cover, but even though you’ll end the day only 50 meters higher than you started, you’ll have to climb to the foot of the Lava Tower (4,600 meters) before descending to Baranco Camp (3,900 meters) for the night.

You can expect to walk for about 6.5 to 7 hours total, after which you will leave the Shira Ridge. The Lemosho Route connects to the more popular Machame Trail, making it even busier! The landscape today is predominantly Alpine desert. Your picnic lunch will be served at 13.00 hours, followed by your arrival at Baranco around 16.00 hours and dinner around 19.00 hours.

Accommodation: In tents at Baranco Camp
Hiking time and elevation: 6.5–7 hours’ walking, from Shira 2 Camp at 3,850 m to Baranco Camp at 3,900 m.

Breakfast will be served slightly later (07.30 hrs), and you will depart camp at 08.30 hrs. Despite the fact that today’s walk is only 4 km/2 miles long, it will take between 3.5 and 4 hours to complete. When you reach Karanga, at 3,995 meters, you’ll stop for a cooked lunch around 13.00 hours and have the afternoon to enjoy the views before dinner at 18.00 hours.

The hardest part of today’s stage is scrambling up the near-vertical face of the Baranco Wall (also known as the ‘Breakfast Wall’ because you tackle it right after breakfast!). You will be rewarded with views of the Heim Glacier at the summit of this climb. The rest of today’s walk becomes a little easier after that, as you descend to the gully below and then into the cold but beautiful Karanga Valley. After that, you continue up a steep series of zig-zags until you reach the Karanga Camp at 3,995 meters. Today’s total altitude gain is only 95 meters.

Accommodation: in tents at Karanga Camp
Hiking time and elevation: 3.5–4 hours’ walking, from Baranco Camp at 3,900 m to Karanga Camp at 3,995 m.

Another short-distance day begins with breakfast at the camp at 07.30 a.m. and a departure at 08.30 a.m. Today you’ll gain about 670 meters over a distance of about 5 kilometers (3 miles), with a walking time of between 3.5 and 4 hours.

By 13.00 hrs, you should be at the Barafu Camp at 4,673 meters, where you will be rewarded with a cooked lunch. (With tomorrow’s summit day approaching, it will be critical to unwind and prepare for the arduous task ahead.) Dinner will be served at 17.30 hrs tonight, giving you plenty of time to get ready for bed. The stage climbs steadily after leaving Karanga, passing through a barren, rocky landscape with the Decken and Kersten glaciers visible to your left. As you descend into a valley at the top of the climb, the landscape remains desolate until you see Rebmann, another glacier. The Barafu Camp, which you reach after a short, steep scramble and a walk, is at the end of this valley.

Accommodation is provided in tents at Barafu Camp.
Hiking time and elevation: 3.5–4 hours’ walking, from Karanga Camp at 3,995 m to Barafu Camp at 4,673 m.

Today is the most challenging day, but hopefully with the great sense of achievement of reaching your goal – the summit of Kilimanjaro! Your schedule for your “Summit Day” is necessarily very different from your other days on the mountain. At 23.00hrs, you take your tea and biscuits (23.30hrs) before a midnight departure.

The day starts with the long, tough climb from Barafu at 4,673 metres to Stella Point at 5,756 metres; for some of this you will be walking on scree, making your trek more difficult. From Stella Point, there is still another 139 metres of ascent and 45 minutes’ walk to the summit. Your goal is to reach the summit by around 07.00 hrs. Then celebrate reaching the top, take your precious photos, and enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience. After the summit (5,895 metres), you return to Barafu (4,673 metres), where you rest for a couple of hours, take a brunch and then leave again at 13.30hrs to continue to descend to Mweka Camp (3,100 metres), where you spend the night. You would expect to arrive there at 17.00 hrs and have your dinner at 19.00 hrs. (In total, you cover around 17 km (10 miles) today with about 11–14 hours of walking—tough going, but with your objective hopefully achieved!)

Accommodation: In tents at Mweka Camp
Hiking time and elevation: 11–14 hours’ walking, from 4,673 m at Barafu Camp to the summit at 5,895 m, then down to 3,100 m at Mweka Camp.

Breakfast will be served at 7:00 a.m., and you will have the opportunity to reward your trekking team at the ‘Tipping Celebration’ at 8:00 a.m.

Despite the fact that you still have 10 kilometers/miles to walk, you start at a leisurely 09.00 hrs and descend to the Mweka Gate, which is located at an altitude of 1,640 meters. At midday, you will be served a cooked lunch and presented with your well-deserved certificate. Your transportation will be waiting to transport you back to your hotel in Moshi, where you can choose to relax or celebrate if you still have energy!

Accommodation: Panama Garden Resort
Hiking time and elevation: 3 hours’ walking, from Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate, descending from 3,100 m to 1,640 m, then returning by vehicle from Mweka Gate to your hotel, 0.8 hours’ drive. 

After a good night’s sleep in your hotel, you’ll have breakfast ready for your 11 a.m. check-out. (If you want to stay in the hotel during the day, let us know when you book your trip and we’ll give you a quote for a ‘day room,’ which allows you to stay until 18:00 hrs., and then make the reservation for you.)

Because this package includes an airport transfer, you will be picked up from your hotel and dropped off at the airport. Our Ihana safaris guide will meet you in the late afternoon to provide you with a briefing for those who have booked to go on safari.