Everything you need to plan a climb, in the order you’ll need it: routes, timing, fitness, kit and costs.
Read the guide
Our own routes, groups of eight at most, and a 97.6% summit success rate, explained with evidence rather than adjectives.
See why
Every climb we run, with prices from, and the scheduled departures you can join.
See the climbs
Seven support series from Superlite to VIP, and what each one includes.
View prices
Up and down in a day or two if you are already acclimatised, or acclimatise first: permits, plans, maps and a price calculator.
Plan a speed climb
Training, health requirements, visas, vaccinations, insurance and flights: what to sort out, and when.
Start preparing
Height, peaks, temperatures, route lengths, wildlife and records, all checked against our own data.
Read the facts
Every route on one map, from our own GPS tracks, with distances, crowding and acclimatisation compared side by side.
See the map
Steep and direct from the south, leaving little time to acclimatise. 46.3 km round trip.
More about Umbwe
The busiest camping route, climbing from the southern rainforest onto the Shira Plateau before traversing beneath the Southern Icefields. 56.7 km round trip.
More about Machame
The quietest start, from the western forest onto the Shira Plateau. The standard route joins Machame beyond Shira 2; TK Lemosho, our own variation, takes the quiet northern circuit and summits from School Hut. 64.7 or 66.4 km round trip.
More about Lemosho
Starts high on the Shira Plateau, reached by vehicle: only for climbers already acclimatised, for example after Mount Meru. Seven or eight days, or joined to TK Lemosho.
More about Shira
The hut route, and the only one that comes down the way it goes up. It has the lowest success rate of the main routes. 66.9 km round trip.
More about Marangu
From the north, near the Kenyan border. The Rongai most companies run crosses the Saddle to Kibo Hut; TK Rongai, our own, climbs over the Mawenzi ridge and summits from School Hut. 68.0 or 72.2 km round trip.
More about Rongai
4,566 m, above Arusha: the best acclimatisation before Kilimanjaro. Three or four days, sleeping in huts.
More about Mount Meru
Our answer, from more than twenty years of guiding: choose one of our own routes. For most climbers that means TK Lemosho, or TK Rongai for gentler gradients from the drier north.
The best route is the one that gives you the safest acclimatisation, the most authentic wilderness and the best chance of the summit. This page sets out how we judge that, where the popular routes fall short, and why we designed four routes of our own.
Each was designed to gain the acclimatisation the mountain demands without spending the reserve that summit night needs. All four finish on the quiet northern circuit and summit from School Hut.
For most climbers, and the best route in the busy season.
The western rainforest and the Shira Plateau, then north to Moir Hut and the quiet northern circuit, summiting from School Hut. A climb-high, sleep-low day of about 400 m on gentle northern ground, and nothing lost and climbed again before high camp.
For quiet paths and gentle gradients, from the drier north.
Our own Rongai, first climbed in February 2007. Over the Mawenzi ridge to sleep 365 m lower at Third Cave, then a steady rise to School Hut and a summit from the quiet north-east.
For Machame’s convenient start without its crowded later days.
Machame’s forest and the Shira Plateau, then north from near the Lava Tower to Moir Hut, joining TK Lemosho for the rest of the climb. Priced as Machame for the same number of days.
For strong climbers, ideally already acclimatised.
Umbwe’s steep forest ridge to Barranco, then up to the Lava Tower and round the north to School Hut, in seven days with one long day across the northern circuit, or eight with a night at Pofu. After Barranco you will hardly meet another group.
We run 16 routes in all, and plan any of them gladly. Compare every route
We deal with our climbers from their first planning to their debrief at home. What they value most is clear, and it is not what drives most route advice.
The park’s 2015–16 figures show how 44,403 climbers divided between the routes. Our own climbers choose very differently.
| Route | Climbers | Share of all climbers |
|---|---|---|
| Machame | 18,609 | 41.9% |
| Marangu | 11,594 | 26.1% |
| Lemosho and Shira | 8,865 | 20.0% |
| Rongai | 4,112 | 9.3% |
| Umbwe | 1,223 | 2.8% |
It is good to see climbers move from Marangu, the dominant route in 2006–07, to Machame, which has far better features for acclimatisation. We believe two things drove it:
After Marangu, Machame is the easiest route to operate and the most accessible by road, so it can be run at very competitive cost. It became the obvious route to promote.
Our own climbers overwhelmingly choose TK Lemosho or TK Rongai. Only a handful each year choose Machame, Lemosho, Shira, Umbwe or Marangu.
The standard Lemosho route is, in effect, a variation of Machame. Its first two days are different, through more pristine rainforest where wildlife encounters are far more likely, but once it reaches the eastern edge of the Shira Plateau it merges with Machame all the way to the summit and down to Mweka Gate.
The same is true of Shira, and of Umbwe, which is unique for only two days. From Barranco, “Umbwe” is simply the Machame route. Everything below about Machame applies to all four, except Umbwe climbers who divert to Arrow Glacier Camp for the Western Breach.
Because all four converge at Barranco, a bottleneck forms just before the trail reaches its narrowest point. At the peak of the high season more than 1,200 people can pass over the same 80 cm stretch of trail within about two and a half hours. Climbers who came to Africa for a raw wilderness challenge can understandably be very disappointed.
At quieter times of year, such as April, May and November, crowding is not really a concern on any route.
There is a far more serious problem with Machame, Lemosho, Shira and Umbwe, and it affects the summit prospects of every climber on them.
From the Lava Tower, 4,645 m, down to Barranco, 3,975 m: some 34% beyond the 500 m we treat as the limit, and more than three times the optimum. The operating bands
Three steep spurs and re-entrants east of the Barranco Wall drop into the Karanga Valley, and all that height must be regained on the way to Barafu, the day before what for many people is the hardest night of their lives.
Having organised record attempts that push the limits of what can be done at altitude, and having seen around 14,000 of our climbers to the summit, one thing is very clear to us: success at altitude means balancing two opposing variables.
Climbers need to put in the extra effort to acclimatise, usually by climbing higher in the day than they sleep at night, which costs a little extra energy. But not at the expense of…
Prolonged exposure to altitude is itself harmful. After several days above 3,000 m the body no longer fully recovers from its efforts, and fatigue accumulates that only a descent to much lower altitude can relieve.
On the standard Shira, Lemosho and Machame routes, the day to Barranco climbs to the Lava Tower, 4,645 m, and drops about 670 m to sleep, far beyond the 500 m limit. Some groups turn right off the trail about 1.3 km before the Lava Tower and take the bypass. The differential is then definitely better, about 540 m, but still well beyond the acceptable maximum, and bearing in mind the further loss of stamina in the Karanga Valley the next day, the overall advantage is small.
Some operators camp at the Lava Tower to get round this. That is an even poorer strategy. Sleeping at 4,645 m after three days of rising without having climbed higher in the day raises the risk of mild altitude sickness turning severe, and HAPE and HACE have killed climbers at surprisingly low elevations along that south-western corridor. If severe sickness strikes that early, it usually cannot be eased without a full descent and the end of the climb.
Lava Tower or bypass670 m or 540 m: both beyond the limit, and the next day takes more.
For a few years we were reluctant to use the Rongai route at all. Here is why, and what we built instead.
It is a straight line from the gate to the summit, with almost no terrain for acclimatisation. Variations via Mawenzi Tarn help a little, but not enough; its success is commonly reported to seldom exceed 50%, only slightly better than Marangu.
It also starts summit night from Kibo Hut. The loose scree above Kibo Hut, unless frozen together, drains reserves badly: three steps up, one sliding back. Then, at Gilman’s Point, climbers who thought they had almost summited see how far Uhuru Peak still is, across the undulating crater rim. It is easy to see why so many give up there.
We devised a route that stays within the park’s management plan but diverts well away from the old Rongai, across terrain that gives:
The first climbers were told it was experimental. It was not until our thirteenth expedition on the new route that a TK climber failed to reach the summit. Download the TK Rongai GPX
TK Rongai divides the gain in height into two phases. The first night high is only mildly uncomfortable, not high enough to risk severe altitude sickness as at the Lava Tower, and it is followed by a higher climb and a real reprieve. We expect, and to an extent engineer, some mild sickness: about 15% of our climbers feel a little nausea, a tight head or even vomit on the evening of day 3. That is normal. If it became persistent and severe, in perhaps one or two climbers in a hundred, we would descend them to about 3,700 m to rest with crew while the group continues. This is rare.
A few climbers have pointed out a taxing section just before School Hut. We agree. But anyone who has reached high camp both ways would agree that the four height-wasting undulations between Barranco and Barafu make that short rise insignificant by comparison.
In July 2008 we developed a route that would avoid the bottleneck at Barranco, replace the severe spurs and re-entrants on the way to Barafu with something far gentler, and avoid the crowds on summit night. It begins at Lemosho, through the richest section of rainforest, and turns north towards Moir Hut before it can merge with the other routes. Instead of the Lava Tower, it climbs high on the remote northern side of Kibo, by the Lent Group, a part of the mountain very few people ever see.
The result was so isolated that our director spoke to only one other climber on the whole ascent: a German lady in her seventies, climbing Kilimanjaro for the fifth time.
Past Kibo to the north, the route curves to Third Cave and up a very quiet path to School Hut, joining the Marangu summit path at Hans Meyer Cave, above the worst of the loose scree, where climbers are already well strung out rather than bunched as they are for the first hours above Kibo Hut.
Starting summit night from Barafu is far better than from Kibo Hut, but in the busiest months, July to September and around New Year, the summit can be very crowded. Besides choosing a route that summits from School Hut, there are two ways round it.
Standard for young climbers, particularly ten to sixteen, who find it hard to stay awake at night. Instead of leaving between 23:00 and 01:00, you set off at about 05:00. You will almost certainly avoid the crowds, and climbing when you can see is easier on the mind.
On an Excel Series climb, with a night in the crater, summiting in daylight has almost no drawbacks. We never let a group sleep in the crater unless it has just summited, so every Excel climb offers a double summit, and on a traverse such as TK Rongai or TK Lemosho it is arguably the most complete achievement on Kilimanjaro short of a speed record.
Why only after summiting. Crater Camp, 5,725 m, is 170 m below Uhuru Peak. We would ideally like another 50 m of climb-high, sleep-low, but 170 m is just about adequate. Sleeping in the crater on the way up, to shorten summit day, breaks the principle every mountaineer knows: above about 3,500 to 4,000 m, until acclimatised to where you will sleep, always go higher in the day than you sleep at night.
It is often claimed online, and some climbers worry that choosing TK Rongai for its better summit prospects means missing Machame’s beauty. Beauty is subjective, but we can break it into parts and rank five routes on each, with 1st the best.
| Route | Acclimatisation | Preserving summit reserves | Dramatic landscapes | Atmospheric foregrounds | Fauna | Flora | Total | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TK LemoshoTK route | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 1st | 9 | 1st |
| TK RongaiTK route | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 4th | 2nd | 5th | 16 | 2nd |
| Umbwe | 4th | 5th | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 18 | 3rd |
| Machame | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 2nd | 4th | 3rd | 21 | 4th |
| Marangu | 5th | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 26 | 5th |
Swipe sideways to see every column.
We find this comparison of limited use. A climber might choose TK Lemosho for its first place and come home disappointed by the long, bleak stretch between the Lent Group and Third Cave, or by mist hiding the view to Amboseli, despite the dik-dik in the forest, the unbroken view of Kibo from the Shira ridge, more angles on the mountain than any other route, and two days without seeing another person. Someone else may prize the bright green bamboo on Umbwe’s narrow ridge, or Mawenzi’s broken head.
What the table leaves out are the things we, and most of our climbers, put first: the going on summit night, the acclimatisation each route’s terrain and camps allow, and freedom from crowds, on the route and above all on summit night. On those, TK Lemosho and TK Rongai far outrank the rest.
Chagga folkloreKibo broke Mawenzi’s head with an ugali paddle, after Mawenzi kept pestering to borrow it.
We are often asked why Marangu has its reputation. The answer is context, not criticism of the many honest, cheerful operators who run it.
Before the park’s electronic fee system ended unlicensed operations, many budget operators owned almost no equipment, because Marangu had huts, mattresses and even communal cooking pots. The park is headquartered at Marangu, with a tarred road to the gate, so no 4×4 is needed, and porters can be hired at the gate with no staff transport. Put together, Marangu is by far the simplest and cheapest route to run, and it is natural for operators without a mountaineering background, who honestly see no reason to make the climb more complicated, to recommend it.
But reaching the summit safely is more complicated than taking the most accessible start and the easiest path. Marangu is the only route that begins and ends at the same gate, so the park’s registrar can compare the register at the gate with the certificates issued, and its figures, across all operators, are the only reliable ones on the mountain.
Why so many stop at Gilman’s Point: the route is mostly sold by operators with little mountaineering background, for whom the experience matters more than the summit, and when climbers and guide are tired at Gilman’s, as everyone is, there is little to urge them on.
At home, the idea of giving up at Stella Point, just 139 vertical metres short of the summit, sounds absurd. Up there, with only about half the oxygen you are used to, nauseous and exhausted, it is surprisingly easy to lose sight of why the summit mattered, give up, and regret it at home.
Every year dozens of climbers write to say that without their guide’s constant encouragement they would not have reached Uhuru Peak. We do not pay our staff bonuses for summits. In all our years, only one climber who turned back has ever complained that his guide put too much weight on reaching the top.
We place this emphasis on the summit because nearly all our climbers have put in so much time, effort and money, and expect us to give them the best possible chance. Climbers who have turned back, usually somewhere between 5,200 and 5,700 m with nothing left, often because work and family left too little time to train, have come back to try again, and so far every one has summited at the second attempt.
If a climber has clearly reached their limit well short of the summit and convinces us they are genuinely content to stop, we accept it gladly. We push back only because we believe the wish to stop is usually temporary, and will be regretted.
Unless you must keep costs as low as possible and accept the risk of turning back, want a crowded route and don’t mind stepping aside for other groups on summit night, or deliberately want the hardest route on which to acclimatise, there is no question:
Choose one of our own routes: TK Lemosho, not Lemosho; TK Rongai, not Rongai; or, for the right climber, TK Machame or TK Umbwe.
For most climbers, TK Lemosho; for gentler gradients from the drier north, TK Rongai.
Both balance acclimatisation against stamina better than the standard routes: they climb high on the gentle northern side, sleep lower within safe limits, and rise steadily to School Hut with no height lost and climbed again before summit night. TK Machame suits climbers who want to start at Machame Gate, and TK Umbwe suits strong climbers who are already acclimatised.
The routes that preserve your reserve for summit night.
The park publishes reliable figures only for Marangu, where 42% of climbers reach the summit. Across all our routes, 97.6% of our climbers reach the summit. What decides it most, after support, hydration, food and rest, is the route and how it is run. Why success rates can mislead
It is popular and beautiful, but it spends reserve close to the summit bid.
Machame climbs to the Lava Tower and drops about 670 m to Barranco, well beyond the 500 m we treat as the limit, and the next day loses about 340 m in the Karanga Valley that must be climbed again before Barafu. TK Machame keeps Machame’s start and first two days, then heads north to avoid both.
Our four TK routes, which summit from School Hut.
Machame, Lemosho, Shira and Umbwe converge at Barranco and summit from Barafu; Marangu and Rongai share Kibo Hut. Our own routes spend their last days on the quiet northern circuit and summit from School Hut, away from both.