LEMOSHO ROUTE

This is an unspoilt, remote, less-used, and beautiful way up to the Shira Plateau. Trekkers sometimes use it to ascend the Western Breach route or follow it with the Kibo South Circuit to ascend by the easier Barafu Route. The first day of the route hardly ever has any game animals, and armed rangers never accompany a group.

Like the Shira route, the Lemosho route approaches Kilimanjaro from the west and then joins the Machame route. Hence everything that has been said about the Machame climb route also applies to the Lemosho route. We travel through forest and moorland from the west, crossing the caldera of Shira volcano and exploring the rock formations of the plateau.

The first two days on the Lemosho route take you through beautiful and very remote rainforest, with good chances of seeing wildlife. The start of the trail is also known as the Lemosho Glades.

Lemosho is usually a longer trek, The standard route takes seven or eight days on the mountain, and is sometimes extended to 9 days with a stay at Karanga Valley, and there are many variations of it. Which one you take depends on the operator. (A really good operator will also time their departure and stagger their camps in a way that avoids the heaviest traffic on the Machame trail.)

The length, the remoteness and the added transport cost make Lemosho a rather expensive option.

However, the longer itinerary and the fact that there are no budget operators (you can’t do this route on a budget) lead to excellent success rates on this route and it has become quite a popular one.

It is a route for people who are confident in their ability to hike in difficult terrain and camp out for extended periods, who want a superb wilderness experience and for whom cost is not the main consideration.