Kilimanjaro · Nine Days

Nine days to Uhuru Peak, from the quiet side

A private Lemosho climb — one night in Moshi, seven on the mountain, and two of them on the Shira plateau before the route joins the crowds at Barranco.

Days

Nights

5,895 m

Summit

Lemosho

Route

I · Overview

The route, and why this shape

One mountain, the western way up. Moshi to Moshi in nine days.

Lemosho comes at Kilimanjaro from the west, and for the first three days that is the whole point. Londorossi Gate sees a handful of parties on a morning when Machame Gate sees a car park of them; Mti Mkubwa and Shira 1 are camps the Machame route never touches. You cross the entire Shira plateau over two days rather than climbing straight onto its edge, and you join the main southern traverse only at Barranco on day five.

That approach is also why it works. Two nights at 3,500 and 3,850 metres before the Lava Tower is the gentlest sleeping-altitude profile of the popular routes, and day four — seven easy kilometres, in camp by early afternoon — is the day that most often decides whether day eight ends at Uhuru Peak. Longer routes summit more often than shorter ones; this is the reason.

It is a private climb: your own guide, your own crew, a start date you choose and a pace set for your party alone. The trade is a day more than the Machame route and a long drive to the gate on the morning of day two. If you want the fastest way up, look elsewhere. If you want the most likely way up, this is it.

Length

9 days / 8 nights

Country

Tanzania

Start / end

Moshi → Moshi

Tour type

Private climb, Lemosho route

Group size

Your own party — from 1 climber

Meal plan

Full board, cooked by the crew on the mountain

Best months

January – February, and June – October

Activity level

Strenuous — 12 to 16 hours on summit day

Guides

One guide for every two climbers, plus a lead guide

II · The days

Day by day, all nine

Every day opens. One night in Moshi, seven on the mountain, the summit on day eight. See every lodge and camp we use

Day

Arrival

Moshi, and the kit laid out on the bed

03°21′S 37°20′E

Dinner

Moshi, and the kit laid out on the bed

03°21′S 37°20′E

You are met at Kilimanjaro International and driven the forty-five kilometres east to Moshi, about an hour, with the mountain somewhere on your left behind the afternoon cloud. It is usually clear at dawn and hidden by nine, so the first proper look at Kibo is most often from the hotel garden the next morning with a coffee.

This is a private climb, so the briefing is for your party alone and it runs as long as your questions do. The lead guide walks you through the route on a map — why the first two days go west and across rather than straight up, where the health checks happen, what turning round would look like. Then the kit check, piece by piece, on the bed. Anything missing is hired in Moshi in the morning before the drive.

Duffel bags for the porters are weighed tonight to the park’s 15-kilogram limit. Moshi sits at about 890 metres. Tomorrow’s bed is nearly 2,000 metres higher, and the one after that higher again, so sleep well while it is easy.

Meals

Dinner

Travel

Kilimanjaro International to Moshi · ~45 km · about 1 hr

Highlight

Meet your lead guide; every item of kit checked before the mountain

Private briefing

Kit check

Duffel weighed to 15 kg

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Weruweru River Lodge

★★★★☆

Moshi, garden hotel below the mountain

En-suite rooms, a real bed, a hot shower — the last one until day 9. Breakfast is early; the drive west is long.

LUXURY

Kilimanjaro Coffee Lodge

★★★★★

Moshi, lodge on the coffee slopes above town

Higher and cooler, with Kibo visible from the terrace on a clear morning. Same guide, same briefing, more quiet.

Day

Rainforest

Londorossi Gate to Mti Mkubwa

03°00′S 37°11′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Londorossi Gate to Mti Mkubwa

03°00′S 37°11′E

The day begins with a drive, and it is a long one: west around the mountain’s southern and western flanks, through Boma Ng’ombe and up to Londorossi Gate at 2,100 metres, about three hours. Registration here is unhurried compared with Machame Gate — a handful of parties rather than a car park of them. The porters’ loads are weighed, you sign in, and a vehicle carries everyone the further few kilometres of rough track up to the Lemosho trailhead at about 2,360 metres.

The walk itself is short and that is the point. Six kilometres and some 400 metres of climbing through montane forest, three to four hours, on a path that is muddy in every month. Colobus and blue monkeys are common; this western forest is also the part of the park where elephant and buffalo still wander, which is why a ranger sometimes walks with parties on the first day.

Mti Mkubwa — Big Tree Camp — sits in the forest at 2,750 metres, quiet and enclosed, with a first night that is deliberately low. The evening health check begins here: oxygen saturation and pulse, taken every evening from now to the summit.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Moshi → Londorossi Gate 2,100 m · ~3 hrs drive; trailhead → Mti Mkubwa 2,750 m · 6 km · 3–4 hrs

Highlight

The long drive round to the quiet side, then a short first walk in the forest

Western approach

Forest zone

First health check

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree Camp)

★★★★☆

Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree Camp), 2,750 m — public campsite

Three-season tent shared by two, a foam mat, a mess tent for meals. Sheltered under the canopy; the warmest night on the mountain.

LUXURY

Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree Camp)

★★★★★

Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree Camp), 2,750 m — public campsite

The same forest clearing with a private toilet tent, a thicker sleeping mat and a camp chair with a back.

Day

Moorland

Out of the trees and onto the Shira plateau

03°01′S 37°14′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Out of the trees and onto the Shira plateau

03°01′S 37°14′E

The forest thins within the first hour and gives way to giant heather and then open moorland, and the path steepens onto a ridge that climbs to the western rim of the Shira plateau. The plateau is what remains of the oldest of Kilimanjaro’s three volcanic cones, which collapsed long before Kibo grew beside it, and stepping onto its edge is the moment the mountain opens up: the whole shallow bowl ahead, and the summit cone across it to the east, twelve kilometres away and two and a half thousand metres higher.

Eight kilometres and 750 metres of gain over five to six hours, which is a full day at this altitude and the biggest single jump in sleeping height on the route. The guide walks it slower than you want to. That is the arrangement all week and it is not negotiable; the body adjusts to altitude at its own pace, and walking fast does not hurry it.

Shira 1 Camp is on the open plateau at 3,500 metres, beside a stream, exposed and cold once the sun goes. Frost on the tent is normal here in any month. It is a camp the Machame route never sees, and on most nights you will share it with only a few parties.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Mti Mkubwa 2,750 m → Shira 1 Camp 3,500 m · 8 km · 5–6 hrs

Highlight

750 metres up through heather to the rim of the collapsed Shira volcano

Shira plateau

First view of Kibo

Camp the Machame route misses

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Shira 1 Camp

★★★★☆

Shira 1 Camp, 3,500 m — public campsite

Open moorland camp with the summit in view at dawn. Hot water in a bowl for washing morning and evening.

LUXURY

Shira 1 Camp

★★★★★

Shira 1 Camp, 3,500 m — public campsite

Private toilet tent, thicker mat, and the mess tent kept warm for the evening briefing when the plateau wind gets up.

Day

Acclimatisation

Across the plateau to Shira 2

03°03′S 37°17′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Across the plateau to Shira 2

03°03′S 37°17′E

This is the day the Lemosho route keeps and the Machame route does not have. The walk is easy — seven kilometres east across the plateau, a gradual 350 metres of gain, three to four hours on open moorland among giant groundsel and lobelia with Kibo growing larger ahead the whole way. You are in camp by early afternoon and you will feel as though you could have gone further. That feeling is the acclimatisation working, and going further would spend it.

For anyone with energy to burn, the guide can take the longer line past the Shira Cathedral, a jagged outcrop on the plateau’s southern rim, which adds a couple of hours and a little height. Either way the afternoon is for sitting still at altitude, and a short walk uphill after tea — a hundred metres of height for the body to notice before sleeping lower.

Shira 2 sits at 3,850 metres, roughly where the Machame route’s Shira Camp is, and from here the two routes share the mountain. The difference is behind you: the Machame climber slept at 3,010 metres last night and has come up 840 metres today. You slept at 3,500 and have come up 350. Tomorrow at the Lava Tower that difference shows.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Shira 1 Camp 3,500 m → Shira 2 Camp 3,850 m · 7 km · 3–4 hrs

Highlight

A short, gentle day whose whole purpose is the second night near 3,800 m

Short day by design

Second night near 3,800 m

Shira Cathedral option

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Shira 2 Camp

★★★★☆

Shira 2 Camp, 3,850 m — public campsite

Higher, colder and windier than Shira 1. The sleeping bag you bring or hire needs to be rated to minus ten at least.

LUXURY

Shira 2 Camp

★★★★★

Shira 2 Camp, 3,850 m — public campsite

Private toilet tent pitched beside yours, the warmer mat, and a pulse-oximeter reading recorded for each climber at the evening check.

Day

High traverse

Lava Tower, then down to Barranco

03°06′S 37°20′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Lava Tower, then down to Barranco

03°06′S 37°20′E

The plateau ends and the alpine desert begins: bare scree and rock, no plants above knee height, and a steady climb east to the Lava Tower, a 90-metre volcanic plug standing at 4,630 metres. Lunch is eaten in its lee. This is the highest most people have ever been, and the first time on this route that many feel it — a headache, no appetite, a pace that has become a shuffle. That is expected, and it is exactly why the day exists.

Then you give almost all of it back. The descent to Barranco drops nearly 700 metres in two hours through a valley of the largest giant groundsels on the mountain, under the south face of Kibo with the Breach Wall and its hanging glaciers above. The net gain for the day is 110 metres; the value is the four hours spent above 4,000 metres and a bed well below it. Most people who felt rough at the Tower feel fine by dinner.

Barranco is where Lemosho meets the Machame route, and the camp is suddenly busy after three quiet nights. It is also the one climbers most often name as the best on the mountain. The Barranco Wall rises straight out of it and you will study it over dinner, because it is first thing tomorrow.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Shira 2 Camp 3,850 m → Lava Tower 4,630 m → Barranco Camp 3,960 m · 10 km · 6–8 hrs

Highlight

Climb high, eat lunch at 4,630 m, sleep low — a net gain of 110 metres

Lava Tower 4,630 m

Net gain 110 m

Routes merge at Barranco

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Barranco Camp

★★★★☆

Barranco Camp, 3,960 m — public campsite

Sheltered under the Breach Wall and warmer than the plateau. Same tents, same crew, pitched before you arrive.

LUXURY

Barranco Camp

★★★★★

Barranco Camp, 3,960 m — public campsite

Private toilet tent, which matters more here than anywhere so far — Barranco is the most crowded camp on the route.

Day

Barranco Wall

The Wall, and a short afternoon to Karanga

03°07′S 37°21′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

The Wall, and a short afternoon to Karanga

03°07′S 37°21′E

The Barranco Wall is the day people worry about beforehand and enjoy most afterwards. It is a scramble rather than a climb — hands on rock, no ropes — up a 257-metre lava face on a path polished smooth by porters carrying twenty kilograms on their heads. On a private climb your guide is beside you at the awkward steps, including the one everyone photographs where the path narrows to a ledge and you hug the rock to pass.

The first ninety minutes are slow because every party at Barranco leaves within the same hour and the Wall takes them single file. A private party can leave a little earlier or a little later to miss the worst of it; your guide will judge that at breakfast. From the top the path rolls across two valleys, down and up, to Karanga.

Karanga is 35 metres higher than Barranco and the day is short on purpose. A shorter Lemosho would push on to Barafu this afternoon and summit tonight on legs that scrambled the Wall this morning. Stopping here buys a rest, a fourth night close to 4,000 metres, and a party that arrives at base camp tomorrow with something left for the night after.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Barranco Camp 3,960 m → Karanga Camp 3,995 m · 5 km · 4–5 hrs

Highlight

257 metres of hands-on scrambling, then the extra night that matters

Scramble, not a climb

Karanga valley

The rest before Barafu

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Karanga Camp

★★★★☆

Karanga Camp, 3,995 m — public campsite

The last camp with water carried up from the stream below. An afternoon off, and the final full night’s sleep before the summit.

LUXURY

Karanga Camp

★★★★★

Karanga Camp, 3,995 m — public campsite

Private toilet tent and the warmer mat, worth its weight tonight; Karanga is exposed and the wind gets up after dark.

Day

Base camp

Karanga to Barafu, and to bed by seven

03°06′S 37°23′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Karanga to Barafu, and to bed by seven

03°06′S 37°23′E

A short, steep, bare morning up a ridge of scree and broken rock to Barafu at 4,673 metres, the summit camp shared by the Lemosho, Machame and Umbwe routes. Nothing grows here. Water is carried up from Karanga by the porters, the wind does not stop, and the tents are pitched on whatever flat rock the crew can find. You are in by early afternoon; the rest of the day is preparation.

The summit briefing follows an early dinner: layers laid out in the order you will put them on, water bottles filled warm and stowed inside jackets so they do not freeze, headtorch batteries checked, snacks in an outside pocket where gloved hands can reach them. On a private climb the departure time is set for your party — usually around eleven at night, earlier or later depending on how you have walked this week and what the guide has seen at the evening checks.

Sleep at 4,673 metres is poor and you will get three or four hours at best. That is enough. Wake-up is around half past ten with tea and biscuits, and you leave camp before midnight.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Karanga Camp 3,995 m → Barafu Camp 4,673 m · 4 km · 3–5 hrs

Highlight

A bare ridge to base camp, then an early dinner and a summit briefing

Barafu 4,673 m

Summit briefing

Leave before midnight

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Barafu Camp

★★★★☆

Barafu Camp, 4,673 m — public campsite

A few hours in the tent rather than a night. The crew wake you with hot drinks and the tents stay standing for your return.

LUXURY

Barafu Camp

★★★★★

Barafu Camp, 4,673 m — public campsite

Private toilet tent, which at this altitude at this hour is the upgrade climbers say they were most glad of.

Day

Summit

Uhuru Peak, and the long way down to Mweka

03°05′S 37°21′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Uhuru Peak, and the long way down to Mweka

03°05′S 37°21′E

You leave Barafu around midnight in a line of headtorches. The route zigzags up scree between the Rebmann and Ratzel glaciers for six hours or more, and the guide sets a pace that feels absurdly slow at the bottom and exactly right at the top. Stops are short because stopping means getting cold. On a private climb the pace is yours: if you are strong the guide can let you move; if you are struggling nobody else’s timetable is pulling you on.

Stella Point at 5,756 metres is on the crater rim and it is where the sun usually comes up. From there the path runs a further hour along the rim past the Southern Icefield to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres, the highest point in Africa. Nobody can promise you the summit. The guides carry oxygen and a pulse oximeter and will turn a climber round if the readings or the signs say so; a climber who turns at Stella Point has still stood on the crater rim of Kilimanjaro.

Ten minutes on top, then down. The scree that took seven hours to climb takes three to descend, back to Barafu for a rest and a hot meal, and then a further four hours through the moorland to Mweka Camp at 3,100 metres, where the air feels thick and the tents feel like a hotel.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Barafu 4,673 m → Uhuru Peak 5,895 m → Mweka Camp 3,100 m · 5 km up, 12 km down · 12–16 hrs

Highlight

1,222 metres up in the dark; 2,800 metres down by daylight

Stella Point 5,756 m

Uhuru Peak 5,895 m

Down to Mweka 3,100 m

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Mweka Camp

★★★★☆

Mweka Camp, 3,100 m — public campsite

Back among the heather and the first trees. The crew have carried camp down ahead of you; dinner is early and long.

LUXURY

Mweka Camp

★★★★★

Mweka Camp, 3,100 m — public campsite

Last night on the mountain, private toilet tent, and the evening the crew sing — tradition, not a show.

Day

Departure

Mweka Gate, certificates, and Moshi

03°13′S 37°20′E

Breakfast · Lunch

Mweka Gate, certificates, and Moshi

03°13′S 37°20′E

Breakfast at Mweka, then the tipping ceremony, held on the mountain rather than at the gate because the porters go straight from the gate to their next climb. You hand the pooled tips to the lead guide in front of the whole crew, who reads out what each person receives. The per-crew-member figures are under Other costs; read them before you climb, not after.

The path to Mweka Gate is 10 kilometres of forest trail, muddy and slippery, and hard on knees that came down 2,800 metres yesterday. Trekking poles matter more today than on any other. At the gate you sign out of the park and summit certificates are issued — green for Stella Point, gold for Uhuru Peak.

A vehicle takes you the hour back to Moshi for lunch and, at last, a shower. Those flying out tonight are driven to Kilimanjaro International in the evening; those going on safari or to Zanzibar stay in Moshi and leave rested in the morning.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch

Travel

Mweka Camp 3,100 m → Mweka Gate 1,640 m · 10 km · 3–4 hrs, then ~1 hr drive to Moshi

Highlight

Out through the forest, tips to the crew, and a shower

Tipping ceremony

Summit certificate

Onward to safari or Zanzibar

Where you sleep

Departure day — no overnight

III · Rates

What it costs, by group size

Per-person pricing that falls as the party grows — choose a tier to see the table.

Standard rates by group size, per person and group total
Group size	Rooms	Per person	Group total
1 climber	own tent	$3,490	$3,490
2 climbers	1 tent	$2,920	$5,840
3 climbers	2 tents	$2,840	$8,520
4 climbers	2 tents	$2,720	$10,880
5 climbers	3 tents	$2,710	$13,550
6+ climbers	3 tents	$2,650	$15,900

Single tent supplement

$50

Added when a climber does not share a tent

Sleeping bag hire

USD 45 per climb

Minus-ten-rated bag, hired in Moshi for the climb

Peak-date uplift

None

Full-moon summit nights, and the festive weeks

Premium rates by group size, per person and group total
Group size	Rooms	Per person	Group total
1 climber	own tent	$3,660	$3,660
2 climbers	1 tent	$3,030	$6,060
3 climbers	2 tents	$2,970	$8,910
4 climbers	2 tents	$2,830	$11,320
5 climbers	3 tents	$2,840	$14,200
6+ climbers	3 tents	$2,770	$16,620

Single tent supplement

$100

Added when a climber does not share a tent

Sleeping bag hire

USD 45 per climb

Minus-ten-rated bag, hired in Moshi for the climb

Peak-date uplift

None

Full-moon summit nights, and the festive weeks

All figures in US dollars, per person sharing unless stated. Valid for travel until 30 June 2027. Park fees, guiding, vehicle, accommodation and full board are included — see what is and is not covered below.

IV · Included

What is in the price, and what is not

Stated in full, both ways. Park, camping and rescue fees are in; crew tips are not.

What is included

Kilimanjaro National Park entry, camping and rescue fees for all eight days
One night in Moshi before the climb, bed and breakfast
Transfers Moshi → Londorossi Gate and Mweka Gate → Moshi
A lead guide and assistant guides — one guide for every two climbers
Porters, a cook, and all camp crew
All meals on the mountain, cooked fresh, with boiled drinking water
Sleeping tents, mess tent, sleeping mats, and camp furniture as listed
Pulse oximeter checks every evening, and emergency oxygen carried by the guides
Emergency evacuation plan with the Kilimanjaro National Park rescue team and, when needed, helicopter evacuation for insured climbers

What is not

International flights to and from Tanzania
Tanzania visa — USD 50, or USD 100 for United States passports
Travel insurance covering trekking to 6,000 metres, which every climber must hold
Tips for the mountain crew — see Other costs
Sleeping bag, trekking poles and clothing hire
Airport transfers to and from Kilimanjaro International
Lunch and dinner in Moshi on days 1 and 9, and any extra hotel nights
Personal spending, and anything listed under optional extras below

V · Add-ons

Worth adding, if you have the days

Priced separately and arranged on request.

After day 9

A rest night in Moshi after the climb

The descent day finishes early afternoon and most flights leave in the evening. A night in Moshi means a full sleep in a bed before the aircraft, and a margin if you come off the mountain later than planned.

USD 170 per person, for 2 guests

Day 1

Kit hire in Moshi

A minus-ten sleeping bag, poles, a down jacket, gaiters — anything you would rather not buy for one climb. Hired the evening you arrive so the kit check happens with the real kit.

USD 130 per person

After day 9 · 2–3 nights

Three days on safari afterwards

Tarangire and the Ngorongoro Crater are a morning’s drive from Moshi. After eight days on foot, a vehicle with a roof hatch and lunch at a table is what your legs are asking for.

USD 1,670 per person, for 2 guests

After day 9 · 3–5 nights

Zanzibar, afterwards

Flights from Kilimanjaro International take about an hour and a quarter. Three or four nights on the east coast is the usual way to recover from the mountain.

From USD 1,340 per person, 3 nights

VI · The mountain

Where this itinerary takes you

One park, one route, one plateau, and the town at the bottom of it.

Kilimanjaro National Park

1,688 square kilometres around a free-standing volcano that rises from 1,000-metre farmland to 5,895 metres at Uhuru Peak. Five climate zones stack up the mountain — cultivated slopes, rainforest, heath and moorland, alpine desert, and the summit ice — and the Lemosho route walks through every one of them, with the forest zone wild enough on the western side that elephant still use it.

The Lemosho route

The western ascent, roughly 70 kilometres gate to gate. It climbs the forest from Londorossi, crosses the full width of the Shira plateau over two days, joins the Machame route at Barranco, traverses under Kibo’s southern glaciers to Barafu, summits via Stella Point and descends the separate Mweka trail. Camping only; there are no huts on this side of the mountain.

The Shira plateau

The collapsed caldera of the oldest of Kilimanjaro’s three cones, a 13-kilometre-wide shelf of moorland at 3,500 to 3,900 metres west of Kibo. Lemosho’s two nights here are what set it apart: giant groundsel, frost at dawn, the summit cone across the bowl, and very few other tents.

Moshi

The town at the foot of the mountain, at about 890 metres on the southern slopes, an hour east of Kilimanjaro International. Kit hire, the gear check and the first and last nights all happen here, and the drive to Londorossi Gate leaves from here before seven on the morning of day two.

The question every climber asks

Will I reach the summit?

7 nights

On the mountain — two of them on the Shira plateau

No honest operator will give you a number for your own chances, because the thing that decides them is how your body handles altitude, and nobody knows that before you go up. What is known across the mountain is that longer routes summit more often than shorter ones, and that the night spent sleeping at Shira 2 after a short day is worth more than any amount of training.

Lemosho’s profile is the gentlest of the popular routes: 2,750, then 3,500, then 3,850, then a day to 4,630 and back to 3,960. Every night’s sleeping altitude rises by less than the body’s safe margin, and there is a rest day where it matters most. Summit night is still seven hours of walking in the cold and the dark, and the place where people stop is almost always in the head rather than the legs. If you are turned round, it will be because the guides read the signs — oxygen saturation, coordination, speech — and made the call, and on this mountain that call is the one that matters.

VII · Season

The best time to travel

Two dry windows. The western road and the western forest both suffer in the rains.

January and February are the warmest and clearest months on the mountain: dry, settled, with the summit visible most mornings and fewer climbers than the northern summer. On the western approach that quiet is doubled. It is the best time to climb Lemosho, and the first weeks of the year are booked earliest.

June to October is the long dry season. Cold — minus ten to minus twenty on summit night is normal — but reliably dry. The Barranco Wall queue on an August morning is the price of that reliability, though for three days before it you will have the plateau nearly to yourselves. Full-moon summit nights are the most sought after.

March to May is the long rains and we do not recommend the climb then. The western forest is a river of mud, the road to Londorossi can be difficult for vehicles, the summit cone is often in fresh snow and the odds of a clear sunrise from Stella Point are poor. It can be done; we will tell you what to expect first.

November is the short rains — brief afternoon storms, usually, with the mountain clearing by evening. It is quieter and cheaper and can be very good, but it is a gamble on the weather rather than a bet on it. October and December sit either side and are safer choices.

VIII · Flights

Getting there and back

Fly into Kilimanjaro International. Arrive a day early if you can; fly home a day late.

Fly into Kilimanjaro International (JRO). It is the airport the mountain is named for, forty-five kilometres from Moshi, and any other airport adds a day. Most European routings connect through Doha, Istanbul, Amsterdam or Addis Ababa and land in the evening.

Arrive a day before the climb starts if you can. Day two begins with a three-hour drive to the far side of the mountain and leaves Moshi early; a delayed bag with your boots in it is far easier to chase with a day in hand than with none.

Coming home, the climb ends in Moshi on the afternoon of day 9. An evening flight out of JRO the same day is workable but tight — if you come off the mountain late there is no margin. A night in Moshi and a flight on day 10 is the shape we recommend.

Tanzania requires a visa for most passports — USD 50, or USD 100 for United States citizens, valid up to 90 days. Apply online in advance rather than at the airport after an overnight flight.

IX · Other costs

What else you will spend

Visa, insurance, crew tips and kit hire — set out so there is no surprise at the gate.

Visa and entry

USD 50 — USD 100 for US passports

Tanzania issues a tourist visa online (eVisa) or on arrival at Kilimanjaro International. Applying in advance is faster and avoids the queue at immigration after an evening arrival.

A yellow fever certificate is required only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is endemic. Coming directly from Europe or North America, it is not.

Travel insurance

Typically USD 80 – 200 per trip

Every climber must hold insurance that explicitly covers trekking to 6,000 metres. Many standard policies stop at 3,000 or 4,000, and the difference only becomes visible when a claim is refused. Read the altitude clause, not the summary.

Medical evacuation cover is the part that matters. Rescue off the mountain begins with the park’s rescue team, which the fees cover, and continues to a hospital in Moshi, which they do not.

Tips for the crew

Budgeted per crew member, per climb

Kilimanjaro tips are given per crew member rather than per guest per day, and they are a real part of the crew’s income. The party pools its tips at Mweka Camp on the last morning and the lead guide distributes them in front of the whole crew.

The figures below are the amounts per crew member for the whole climb, shared across your party. A private climb for two carries a crew of around a dozen; a party of six carries roughly twice that, so each climber’s share is similar either way. Bring it in cash, in US dollars, before you leave Moshi.

Kit hire and drinks

USD 5 – 60 per item for the climb

Boiled drinking water is provided on the mountain and nothing is sold above the gate, so there is nothing to spend up there. In Moshi, hire what you do not own rather than buying it — a sleeping bag rated to minus ten, poles, a down jacket.

Personal spending

Entirely up to you

Meals in Moshi on the first and last evenings, a beer at Mweka Gate, laundry at the hotel, and the coffee everyone buys on the way home. Cash in small US dollar notes is more useful than a card; the crew are paid and tipped in cash.

Notes dated before 2009 are refused across Tanzania. Bring newer ones.

X · Why us

Why book this with us

Moshi-based, and Tanzanian-owned

The guides, the crew and the office are ours. When a party needs to come down early, or the weather on the plateau turns, the decision is made by the people on the path, not by a booking agent in another time zone.

Seven nights, not six

We sell Lemosho with the Karanga night in it. The shorter version puts summit night on legs that scrambled the Barranco Wall the same morning, and the whole point of choosing Lemosho is to arrive at Barafu with something left.

A pace set for you alone

A private climb means the guide walks at the speed your party needs, leaves Barranco when it suits you rather than the queue, and sets summit departure on what the evening checks have shown, not on a timetable.

We will turn you round

The guides carry oxygen and check every climber every evening, and if the readings say down, you go down. A climb that ends at Stella Point on a guide’s call is a good outcome. We say so before you book, not after.

XI · Questions

Frequently asked

What climbers ask before booking the Lemosho route.

How much does the Lemosho route climb cost?

A private climb is priced per person and falls as the party grows, because the guide, cook and mess tent are shared. The table above sets out the Standard and Premium tiers by party size, plus the single tent supplement. Our rates for this climb are set out in the table above — tell us your dates and how many are climbing and we will quote them plainly.

Why Lemosho rather than Machame?

Two reasons. The approach is quieter — three days on the western side before the routes merge at Barranco. And the acclimatisation is better: you sleep at 2,750, 3,500 and 3,850 metres before the Lava Tower, where the Machame climber has slept at 3,010 and 3,840. That gentler climb in sleeping altitude is the single biggest thing a route can do for your chances. The cost is one more day and a three-hour drive to the gate. For a group Machame climb at a lower price, see the joining Kilimanjaro climb.

What is a private climb, and is it worth it?

Your own guide, your own crew and your own start date, whatever size the party — from one climber upwards. The pace is set for you, the Barranco Wall is timed to miss the queue if the guide can manage it, and summit departure is set on what the evening checks show rather than on a fixed time. For how that compares with a scheduled group departure, see joining or private.

How fit do I need to be?

Fit enough to walk four to seven hours a day for seven days with a daypack, and then twelve to sixteen hours on summit day. That is hill-walking fitness, not athletic fitness. Altitude, not strength, is what stops people, and fitness does not protect against it — see how altitude works on Kilimanjaro.

What is the summit success rate on Lemosho?

We do not publish one, and we would be wary of an operator who quotes a precise figure, because it depends on who climbed that week. What is known is that longer routes summit more often than shorter ones, and that Lemosho’s two nights on the Shira plateau give it the gentlest profile of the popular routes. Nobody can promise you the top.

What happens if I cannot go on?

An assistant guide takes you down, and the rest of your party continues with the lead guide. That is what the assistant guides are for, and why the ratio matters. Descending is the treatment for altitude sickness; people who turn round at Lava Tower or on summit night usually feel well again within hours.

What is the minimum age?

The park sets a minimum of 10 years for climbing above 3,000 metres. On a private climb we will take younger teenagers with their family at 12, and the pace is set for them. The whole party climbs at the speed of its youngest member, which on Lemosho is usually the right speed anyway.

What are the tents and toilets like?

Standard tier is a three-season two-person tent with a foam mat, a mess tent with table and stools, and the park’s long-drop toilets at each camp. Premium adds a private toilet tent carried and pitched for your party, a thicker mat and a chair with a back. Neither is comfortable in a hotel sense; Premium is noticeably less uncomfortable at Barafu, and at Barranco, where the public toilets are the busiest on the mountain.

What do the porters carry, and how are they treated?

Each porter carries up to 20 kilograms of group kit, weighed at Londorossi Gate by the park, plus their own gear. Your duffel is limited to 15 kilograms for that reason. Our porter wage and welfare terms are set by KPAP guidelines, and every porter is paid, fed and equipped before the climb, and the tipping ceremony on day 9 is held in the open so every porter sees what every porter gets. See what a porter carries.

XII · Your trip

Request your personalised safari proposal

Tell us how you like to travel and we will put together a personalised proposal for this route — dates, camps and a firm price per person. No payment is required at this stage.

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