Umbwe

This route over 6 or 7 days is steeper than all other routes, requires good physical condition but no climbing equipment. It starts with a sometimes slippery path through the rain forest with many fallen trees. Then the route goes over a scenic ridge with a striking view on the Great Baranco Valley. In the middle section the route joins the Machame route up to the Barranco Hut. The way to the summit goes strait up over the Western Breach to the Arrow Glacier and the crater. You can spend an additional night in the crater before the ascent to Uhuru Peak. The way back is the traditional to Mweka.

Close to Heaven - the Camp in the Crater
 
We have now included the ascent with overnight stay in the crater in our program. We will not be following the Western Breach route, which is still closed following the death of three hikers from a rock fall in January. We start the ascent via the Machame or Umbwe route. The Umbwe route runs through the rain forest parallel to the Machame route. The trail has not been developed like the Machame route in recent years and often involves a far from easy scramble over tree roots. As a result, the Umbewe route is used by few hikers. At the end of the second day you meet up at the Barranco camp with hikers arriving via the Machame route. In the following two days you slowly gain height. Stations are the Karanga valley and the Barafu camp. Normally, you would start the ascent from the Barufu camp to the summit at midnight or 01.00 hours and descend to the Mweka camp the same day. The overnight stay in the crater makes it possible to start the ascent to the crater the next morning. The reward is a completely new view of the Mawenzi and the surrounding lowland and inside the crater. The glaciers, which are unfortunately melting, can be intensively explored. After a night at an altitude of over 5,700 metres we climb the last remaining elevation, the Uhuru Peak, also in the morning and then make a relaxed descent via the Mweka route to the Mweka camp. On the last day we arrive at the Mweka Gate at about 14.00 hours. The trip lasts 7 days. If the Machame route is chosen for the ascent the Shira camp is used as additional camp en route to the Barranco camp instead of the camp in Karanga valley. A detailed tour report from Jutta Deters here.
 

It does not always have to be the top (Summit Circuit)
 
Who does not want to climb the Uhuru Peak for various reasons can still get close to it. There is a trail at an altitude of between 3,000 and 4,700 m around Kilimanjaro (Southern Circuit; Northern Circuit). The hike, with overnight camping, transverses all landscapes, except the glaciers, is demanding and meditative as it is used by few hikers. We hike 8 days through a grandiose landscape, in a clockwork direction and lastly, who decides to ascend has the opportunity to do so on the last day. The summit go-getters are accompanied by part of the team, while the remaining group descends to the last camp in the morning.
 
The round trip begins and ends in the rain forest, proceeds across the moor, through valleys, on past glaciers glowing in the sun above us, and from the northern side of the Kibo offers a good view of the Amboseli National Park in Kenya and as far as Mt. Kenya in clear weather. We especially recommend the tour to nature lovers and photographers and offer two levels of difficulty, which vary in steepness and length of the daily stages. The mountain hike can be rounded-off lastly with a safari or a bathing holiday in Zanzibar.
 
Variant 1:
Day 1: Arrival
Day 2: Preparation and briefing
Day 3: Machame Gate (1800m) – Machame Camp (3000m); 5 hours
Day 4: Machame Camp – Shira Camp (3900m); 4 – 5 hours; site step to Shira Cathedral
Day 5: Shira Camp – Amboseli View Camp (4100); 7 –9 hours
Day 6: Amboseli View Camp – Third Cave (3800m); 5 – 6 hours
Day 7: Third Cave – Kibo Hut Camp (4700m); 5 – 6 hours
Day 8: Kibo Hut Camp – Barafu (4550m); 3 hours
Day 9: Barafu – Mweka Camp (2800m); 7 hours)
Alternative Day 9: Barafu – Uhuru Peak – Mweka Camp; 16-18 hours
Day 10: Mweka Camp – Mweka Gate (1700m); 5 hours
Day 11: Reserve or rest
Day 12: Departure
 
Variant 2 (More challenging, because steeper and longer daily walk)
Tag 3: Umbwe Gate – Umbwe Camp (2900m); 6 – 7 hours
Tag 4: Umbwe Camp – Barranco Camp (3900m); 5 – 6 hours
Tag 5: Barranco Camp – Shira Camp (3800m); 6 – 7 hours
Tag 6: Shira Camp – Amboseli View Camp (4100m); 7 – 9 hours
Tag 7: Amboseli View Camp – School Hut Camp (4800m); 9 – 11 hours
Tag 8: School Hut – Barafu (4550m); 4 – 5 hours
 

Lemosho

The Lemosho route is the route with the most probability to reach the Uhuru Peak because the route takes 7 to 8 days. On the end of day three the Machame route is joined up to Shira Plateau. In the days before, you walk through rain forest rich in game, like elephants or white and black colubus, which are a kind of monkey.

For ambitious climbers who want to decrease the rate of failing to reach the top we recommend the Lemosho Route. You should take into account, that climbers at the Mount Everest get accustomed with the height many weeks before they try to reach the top. The Lemosho route is not taken as often as the Marangu or Machame route by climbers, since it requires more time and therefore also higher fees (paying the crew etc. additional days). Ambitious climbers, who are keen on taking home a picture from the top of Kilimanjaro, should consider the Lemosho route.

The ascension to the volcano Mt. Meru is a perfect preparation for the conquest of Kilimanjaro. You can get used to the heights (around 15.000 feet) and it is possible to test out the equipment, so that you will be able to correct and improve it at the rest day that lies between the climbing of Kilimanjaro. But the most important thing is to practice ascending at night, since it is not very pleasant to do this in the almost dark, when it is quite cold.
We recommend a three day tour. You will spend the nights in so called “Swiss” huts, which nobody would expect to find in Africa. Even to the top of the volcano animals roam, especially buffalo. At the foot of Mt. Meru you often meet with giraffes, elephants, wild hogs, antelopes, baboons and a great variety of birds. To ensure your safety the group is accompanied by an armed ranger. On the tour you will cross many different vegetation zones, as there is open grassland, mountain forest, moor, giant heather and penurious rocks, therefore you have the chance to experience a combination of a walking safari with the conquest of a mountain.

Hike:

If any delays occur while ascending to the top or if you should find, that you need more time downhill (having for example problems with your knees) we recommend you to spend an additional night at the Saddle Hut.

About 20.000 people are trying to climb the Uhuru Peak every year. 20% of them don’t succeed and about 100% of the population of Tanzania has never been on the highest mountain on their territory, the reason not being laziness or weakness but because the entrance to the National Park would use up the average income of three month of a Tanzanian citizen.

Once a year we want to help change this, when we lead a group of 10 women to climb Kilimanjaro, one of them being a member of the non-government organization Kiwakukki (Women against Aids at Kilimanjaro) which fights against aids in Tanzania. The other nine women and Chagga Tours make it possible for this one Tanzanian women to take part in the tour.
We would like to ask every reader of this web site to support the non-government organization Kiwakkuki by donating a small amount. This is possible over:

Account: Chagga Tours GbR
Account-Number: 3000390820
Sparkasse Märkisch-Oderland
BLZ: 170 540 40

We hope, that women, who are concerned about HIV and its unrestrained spread will take part in this project and the climbing of the peak. After the return from the tour we will visit the Kiwakkuki center in Moshi.