Overview
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Marangu Route
Advantages:
- Cheap – lower costs for porterage, access, camping equipment, and huts.
- Easy to arrange – Hut space permitting.
- Gentle ascent – The longest approach to the mountain and the slightest inclines make it attractive to those with little walking experience.
- Well-known – Until recently there was more info on Marangu Route than any others.
Machame Route
Advantages:
- Camping – Machame enjoys the exclusivity of camping with your team of porters and staff with whom you become very familiar.
- Reputation – Machame enjoys a positive reputation amongst trusted sources as the finest and
most scenic wilderness route. - Accessibility – The trailhead is on the Western side of the mountain, close to a good tarmac road, making it convenient for Arusha or Moshi and transfers from the Parks.
- Natural beauty – Widely considered the most scenic route, it is without any doubt breathtakingly beautiful with a wider range of ecosystems and views along the trail.
- Wilderness Route – The “Whisky” route is more demanding and less subscribed, with a longer ascent, appealing to more serious trekkers.
- Descent Route – Mweka descent rather than the same ascent allows trekkers to see a little bit more of the mountain and not meet other climbers en route.
Rongai Route
Advantages:
- Camping – Rongai enjoys the exclusivity of camping with your own team of porters and staff with whom you become very familiar.
- Wilderness Route – The last remaining one, the trailhead is remote meaning fewer climbers use it allowing for exclusivity.
- Unique landscapes – Drier open grassland that attracts elephants with views out over Amboseli and Tsavo.
- Very gentle ascent – The gentlest of the available ascents, each day is a long walk on a gentle gradient, easing acclimatization and levels of difficulty
Umbwe Route
Advantages:
- Convenience. It is very close to Moshi town and the main road and does not require 4WD to reach the trailhead.
- Unexploited. It is undoubtedly the least used of the ascent routes and tacked onto the Western Breach could be a good climb for very fit, acclimatized trekkers.
- Marketing potential – As it is so rarely used, it could offer the chance to claim a little-used route without having to worry about remote access.
Shira Route
Advantages:
- Camping – Shira enjoys the exclusivity of camping with your own team of porters and staff with whom you become very familiar.
- Reputation – Shira enjoys a positive reputation amongst trusted sources as the finest and most scenic wilderness route.
- Natural beauty – Widely considered the most scenic route, it is without any doubt breathtakingly beautiful with a wider range of ecosystems and views along the trail.
- Descent Route – Mweka descent rather than the same ascent allows trekkers to see a little bit more of the mountain and not meet other climbers en route.
Lemosho Route
Advantages:
- Scenic – Great views, unique landscapes, and the possibility of seeing the game.
- Approach – An exclusive approach to Lemosho would allow for acclimatization through the rainforest. By Day 3, clients will be acclimatized and surprised to see anyone else when the trail meets up with Machame.
- Exclusivity – A lesser-used Route, the Lemosho approach with the Western Breach summit is used only by luxury operators and those with a discerning clientele.
- Acclimatization – This route offers maximum opportunities for acclimatization. The last camp is at 18,500ft and clients arrive there for lunch, leaving the afternoon free for exploratory walks to the Ash Crater, etc, and taking them higher than the point at which they sleep the most important aid to acclimatization.
- The Summit – Spending the last night so close to the crater means a less strenuous summit walk than usual, taking three hours instead of seven and not requiring midnight starts and fifteen-hour days.
