Mount Kilimanjaro Routes
There is no electricity up the mountain, carrying a power bank would be your best bet. A for cameras, bring more spare batteries and charge your gadgets (camera and mobile phone) before climbing.
More about what to pack for Kilimanjaro
Always choose the longer route variation for a higher summit success rate. Longer routes give you ample time for acclimatization which helps in avoiding/reducing altitude sickness and its symptoms.
- Lemosho Route – 95%
- Marangu Route – 90%
- Rongai Route – 96%
- Machame 8-day -92%
- Machame 9-day – 95%
Most routes use camping and tents as a major way of accommodation apart from the Marangu route which uses huts and dormitory-like bunk beds for sleeping. Machame, Rongai, Lemosho, Northern Circuit, Shira, and Umbwe rely on camping. Sleeping is in the tents and you will be provided with tables, chairs and a mess tent for having your meals on the mountain. Read more about Mount Kilimanjaro accommodation and campsites on the mountain.
Find out more about Mount Kilimanjaro Accommodation here
The Rongai route takes 7 days to climb, while the Machame route has two variations, a 6-day climb which has a lower summit success rate and a 7-day climb that has an extra acclimatization day offering a higher summit success rate.
The Lemosho route, on the other hand, takes 8 days to complete. It is one of the routes that we strongly recommend.
The Marangu Route is the shortest route by comparison as it takes 5 days to complete climbing the mountain. The five-day Marangu route is not recommended as it does not give you enough time to acclimatize.
Compare all the Mount Kilimanjaro Routes here.
Mount Kilimanjaro routes differ in so many ways. They offer so much variety in terms of days spent, cost, length of the route, traffic even scenery and sometimes style of accommodation used on the mountain.
- The shorter routes have low summit success rates, for example, the Marangu route and Umbwe route which take about 5 days to complete.
- The popular Machame and Rongai routes take about 6-7 days for each route, the offer longer variations too and the report a better summit success rate.
- The longer routes which also happen to be more scenic are the Lemosho route and newly introduced Northern Circuit routes which take a considerably long duration of 8 or 9 days respectively.
Where the route begins from is also not the same for each route, Marangu and Umbwe Routes begin from the south heading directly to the summit Rongai begins form the north proceeding to the northern slopes of Kilimanjaro to the summit. The rest of the routes have their starting point setting from the western side of the mountain, this side offers amazing vistas and stunning scenery.
For more information and comparison of all the Mount Kilimanjaro routes, read more.
Stella Point, along with Gilman’s Point and Uhuru Peak, is one of Mount Kilimanjaro’s three summit points. Climbers who reach Stella Point, located on the crater rim at an elevation of 5,756 meters (18,885 feet), will obtain an official Kilimanjaro climbing certificate and may proudly declare that they have reached the summit of Africa’s greatest mountain.