Mt. Kilimanjaro is located in Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania. At 5985 meters, it is world’s tallest free-standing mountain. I hiked to the Uhuru peak (tallest point on the mountain) on Aug 7th, 2022. This post is about the routes and company I used as trekking guide.
National park manages the routes as “ascend only” & “descend only” (exception of rescue and re-supply). There are 7 routes you could take to the top of mountain …
- Lemosho
- Machame
- Marangu
- Lemosho – Norther Circuit
- Rongai (starts in Kenya & approaches mountain from North)
- Shira
- Umbwe
These names correspond to villages/places where the starting gate in national park is located. I climbed the mountain via Norther Circuit route. Which route to chose is really a matter of personal preference and your readiness, some routes (Rongai e.g.) lets you get to top in 4-5. days (maybe even shorter) while others allow you to get there in 7-9 days. In general, you should consider longer duration routes to allow your body to acclimatize to higher elevations with lower O2 in the air. Other factor to consider, again based on your preference, is how busy the routes are. On our descend we passed through Barafu Camp and saw over 50-60 tents – thats busy! I chose the Lemosho-Northern circuit route for these 2 reasons (a) its the longest route allowing gradual height gain and excellent acclimatization hikes (b) its least crowded & you get to see the mountain from all 4 directions. Other important reasons to chose this route was the company I worked with – Team Kilimanjaro invented this route. A caution about this route is – starting Day 4 (really 3) – you are on north side of the mountain – a totally different perspective and landscape – northern side is “dry”, the mountain looks totally different, you traverse baron terrain – it is beautiful in its own way & you get to enjoy it all pretty much all by yourself. Advantage of this route is the base camp used (School Hut camp) is not used by a lot of other companies – making your pre-summit evening quiet and reflective – the views are spectacular and as bonus when you climb – you get to see all the main points on top – Gilman’s point, Stella point and Uhuru peak – some other routes skip Gilman’s point.
While there are many companies that offer services to help you get to the top of mountain, selecting a good partner company will save you stress & trouble on the mountain. I highly recommend Team Kilimanjaro, John Rees-Evans, the founder is a veteran mountaineer, having climbed around the world and holding a few records to his name, John is just wonderful to deal with. We had nothing but positive experiences dealing with John & the TK staff. John pioneered the northern circuit route & established the trails and camps used by TK & now many other followers.
In general, whichever company you chose – will have about 2 guides for your party and a number of support staff/porters. Tanzania government limits weight carried by each porter to the mountain to 20 KGs, so how many porters are part of your team depends on the company, equipment and your personal load. The porters the unsung heroes of the mountain, they each carry 20 KGs on their backs, start just after you & reach before you at next camp site and have the setup ready by the time you arrive – all with a smile on their face and “Jambo” (‘hi’, ‘hello’ in Kiswahili) & “Hakuna Matata” along the way. Typically a chef/cook and a butler will be part of the support staff. You’ll be provided 3 meals a day – a breakfast (porridge, eggs, toast, fruits), lunch and dinner (a soup, main course, fruits). TK provided us with snacks (popcorn, roasted peanuts) upon arriving at campsite. Victor, our chef and Errasto out butler were fantastic – the recipes Victor used were inspiring & knowing they had access to most basic of tools on mountain the food tasted even more delicious. A personal caring touch was – in the middle of morning hike on Day 2, Victor waited for us with ginger tea & biscuits – that fueled our climb for the morning. The guides are very well trained, Julius and Edwin, for me, are my ‘friends in Tanzania’. In many ways, you are trusting your well-being with the guides – so chose a company of good reputation, the dollars you may save with cheaper operators may not be worth the headaches (literal and figurative) later on.
Becoming guide on the mountain is akin to getting the ‘top post’ in a company. Guides are required to join a “college” and learn all about customer service, mountain safety, weather, first-aid and a whole lot of other things. Most guides start their job as a porters, climbing up the ladder to becomes senior porters, butlers, assistant guides and then guides. During my climb, Julius our guide while carrying his own load, helped another porter who was not able to keep up the steep incline and the weight he was carrying – so guides are expected to have mastered all aspects of mountain climbing & Julius (& Edwin) both clearly showed us they were.