Starts from the west of the mountain and it’s natural beauty and great scenery attracts many climbers nowadays! It attracts around 17% of all climbers on Kilimanjaro. Lemosho route joins Machame route at Shira Camp and thus, shares some of the Machame route credits. Unlike Rongai, it takes you through Barranco wall that needs some scrambling on the way up! The route can be done in a minimum of 6 days but to reduce risks of acute mountain sickness and exhaustion, 7 days trek is highly recommended on Lemosho route.

8 DAYS ITINERARY

Day 1: Arrive in Tanzania

You will be picked up from the Airport (JRO) and transferred to your hotel in Moshi, where you will meet your mountain guide and office representative for meet & greetings followed by your pre trek briefing and kit check. This day, our team will be answering any question about your upcoming adventure to make sure everyone is ready to go!

Day 2: The Glades – Big Tree / Mti Mkubwa Camp   (2,100m/6,890ft)

You will depart at 08:00 am for our transfer to Londorossi gate, where we complete park formalities, before engaging on another short transfer to The Glades; where our trek will start. We begin our steady ascend through thick and beautiful rainforest with the terrain going up and down which is a great way to get our bodies acclimatized!

Night Camp: Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree) Camp (2,780m/ 9,120 ft).

• Altitude Change: ↑680 m/ 2,230ft
• Trekking Distance/ Time: 7 km/ 4.3 miles (5-6 hr)

Day 3: Big Tree Camp – Shira Camp 1

We leave our Camp in the morning to push on with our ascent. We will walk through the narrow path in a steep terrain heading on to heather and moorland zone. It’s a slow hike with plenty of rests and enough time to acclimatize. We will have short rests and breaks before facing a steep climb on our way to reaching Shira Ridge with a view of our Camp, Shira Camp 1.

Night Camp: Shira Camp 1 (3,500m/ 11,480 ft).

• Altitude Change: ↑ 720m/ 2,362 ft
• Trekking Distance/ Time: 8 km/ 5 miles (4-5 hr)

Day 4: Shira Camp 1 – Shira Camp 2

Our trek will start on the heather and moorland zone; what can be seen around are thousands of black lava rocks and dead roots and tree stumps of Erica treesremains after being destroyed by the year 2000 forest fire! Our today’s trek takes us into a breathtaking Shira Plateau, where we will be rewarded with great views of the mountain and if we look back, we see the magnificent views of Mount Meru rising above the skies.

Night Camp: Shira Camp 2 (3,900m/ 12,795 ft).

• Altitude Change: ↑ 400m/ 1,312 ft
• Trekking Distance/ Time: 8 km/ 5 miles (4-5 hr)

Day 5: Shira Camp – Barranco Camp

Our day starts with trekking over high moorland with the scenery now changing the whole character of our challenge. We trek steadily uphill to the Lava Tower, where we stop for lunch around noon. From the Lava Tower we start our descent for about 2 hours to our camp at Barranco. Today is good for acclimatisation, as we climb up to 4,600m and sleep at 3,950m – the golden altitude rule is, “walk high, sleep low”.

Night Camp: Barranco Camp (3,960m/ 12,992 ft)

• Altitude Change: ↑↓ 1,300 m/ 4,265ft
• Trekking Distance/ Time: 10 km/ 6.2 miles (6-7 hr)

 Day 6: Barranco Camp – Karanga Camp

Following breakfast, we set off to conquer what the locals call ‘breakfast wall’ – the Great Barranco Wall! It is a scramble using our hands and feet, (not technical like rock climbing) but certainly adds to our adventure. Once we take in our achievements at the top, we will be able to witness stunning views across the mountain towards the Barranco Valley and will be able to spot our previous night’s campsite. We continue undulating through the green valley until we reach our camp at Karanga Valley.

Night Camp: Karanga Camp (4,035m/ 13,944 ft)

• Altitude Change: ↑ ↓500 m/ 1,640 ft
• Trekking Distance/ Time: 6km/ 3.7 miles (4-5 hr)

Day 7: Karanga Camp – Barafu Camp

We push on with our challenge and start with a short, but steep ascent across the barren landscape but will be rewarded with breathtaking views of the Decken Glaciers. We will be keeping our pace to a slow rhythm as we need to conserve as much energy as we can for the summit attempt later this evening. We reach our camp then it’s an early dinner before getting our heads down, as we will be woken at 11pm for our summit attempt!

Night Camp: Barafu camp (4,640m/ 15,223 ft)

• Altitude Change: ↑605 m/ 1,985 ft
• Trekking Distance/ Time: 4km/2.5 miles (3-4 hr)

Day 8: Barafu Camp – Uhuru Peak & Then Back to Mweka Camp

We aim to leave camp at 12am using our head torches to light the way. The next 4 hours are spent trekking to Stella Point (5,750m) over scree and rock, where we will be rewarded with magnificent and spectacular views of the ice cliffs which surround us, and the majestic views to the Mawenzi Peaks – trekking just does not get any better than this! We now make regular rest stops every 15 minutes or so, to aid our chances of reaching Uhuru Peak at 5,895 m/ 19,341 ft. We push on to the summit with the sun rising over the stunning Mawenzi Peaks and aim to reach the summit by about 6 or 7 am. We start our long descent via Stella Point and back to Barafu Camp, where we will enjoy some lunch and a good rest. Our descent then continues down to Millennium or Mweka Camp (3,730m) – today is a very long, emotional day, but at the same time, so memorable and exhilarating.

Night Camp:  *Mweka Camp (3,080m/ 10,105ft).

• Altitude Change: ↑1,255 m & Then, ↓ 2,815 m
• Trekking Distance/ Time: 19 km/ 12 miles (12-14 hr)

Day 9: Mweka Camp – Mweka Gate – Moshi

Our final descent start with a nice breakfast followed by tipping ceremony; then we continue trekking for about 4 hours to make the 1,880 meters descent back to Mweka gate (1,680m/ 5,512 ft). Lunch will be served either at Mweka gate or at your hotel in Moshi. We take the vehicle transfer back to our Lodge in Moshi for a well-deserved hot shower or cool soak in the pool! This evening, we meet as a group to contemplate our achievements with a Great Dinner at your Lodge.

• Altitude Change: ↓1,400m/ 4,593 ft
• Trekking Distance/ Time: 10 km/ 6.2 miles (3-4 hr)

 Day 10: Depart Tanzania

After breakfast there may be some free time to relax at the lodge or go shopping in Moshi and then leave your hotel for your transfer to the airport to catch your departure flight

8 Days Lemosho Route Price

• Group of 2-4 pax: $2,240 per person/ trip
• Group of 5-7 pax: $2,200 per person/ trip

Includes

• Conservation Fees, Camping/ Hut fees & Rescue fees
• Camping equipment
  • Tent, Mattress and Sleeping Bag
• Airport transfers – JRO to Moshi, 2 ways
• Transport to and from the Kilimanjaro National Park
• Guide, assistant guides, porters
• Meals + mountain chef while on the mountain
• Water throughout the trek
• Pre & Post climb hotel accommodation in Moshi

Excludes

• Sleeping bag
• Snacks, personal hygiene kit and personal medication
• Extra acclimatization day – An extra day can be added while on the mountain and each extra day costs extra US$ 220 per person and this amount will be paid at our main office after the climb.
• Water purification tabs
• Portable manual flush toilet (except for the Marangu route) – available for hire for extra $150 per toilet tent
• Personal mountain clothing & trekking gear – some of the kit is available for hire in Moshi
• Flights and Tanzania entry visa
• Health requirements (Yellow Fever vaccination is recommended depending on your flight route on entering Tanzania; vaccination for Meningitis & Hepatitis A optional)
• Optional Travel and medical insurance is but highly recommended
• Tips for Kilimanjaro mountain crew is mandatory nowadays (average tip is anything from US$180 to US$ 250 per climber depending on the number of days spent on the mountain, group size and route chosen)
• Hiking helmet & crampons
• Doctor for the group
• Items of a personal nature