KILIMANJARO
Machame | Rongai | Lemosho| Marangu | Umbwe
GunduaTanzania has redefined the Kilimanjaro market by bringing the operational standards and procedures of a dedicated team of world class mountaineers, athletes and adventure specialists to Africa’s highest mountain.
At the widely acclaimed forefront of high altitude performance GunduaTanzania has pioneered unique ascent strategies carefully conceived to maximise your personal safety and summit chances on the world’s largest non-massif mountain.
Probably the fastest growing expedition organisers in Africa GunduaTanzania are unique in that their Tanzania leadership trains and assesses their mountain staff on a weekly basis to ensure unequalled team cohesion and unwaning performance.
Reputed locally and internationally as amongst the foremost authorities on Kilimanjaro GunduaTanzania has pioneered completely new routes on the mountain and continues to serve the National Park in their mountain safety and route selection roles.
According to local accounts, the Italian Balletto discovered the Machame Route with the help of his dog. When trying to surpass complicated obstacles through the rain forest Balletto is said to have thrown a piece of meat for his dog who found the most efficient route to it. Balletto then forged his route by watching where his dog walked.
Probably just a myth, but a nice story anyway. We do know that the Park named a large glacier just to the east of the Diamond Glacier after Balletto as a gesture of thanks for making this very successful route. And it is a very successful route.
The Machame Route begins in the south west of the mountain and proceeds steeply north over two days until attaining the edge of the Shira Plateau at 3900m. From here it drops 50 metres to Shira Camp where it joins the Lemosho and Shira Routes onwards to the summit. From Shira Camp the view west over the jagged peaks forming the southern edge of the Shira Plateau is phenomenal at sunset. We usually take acclimatisation excursions from here a couple of hundred metres upwards to ensure a better night’s sleep and improved acclimatisation.
Access to the Machame Route is relatively straightforward and this is reflected in its costing slightly less to climb than all the other routes. There are imminent plans to tar the road all the way to the gate. We expect this to happen within the next year, if the government is able to meet its funding targets.
Machame is said to have two significant drawbacks. Firstly there is the issue of the two obstacles on the route. Guidebooks make a point of telling readers how difficult the scrambling is on two particular features: just before reaching the Shira Plateau, and just after beginning the ascent of the steep Breach Wall after Barranco. These are not as frightening or difficult as is often claimed however. These two features are pictured at right and above at right. The picture at right looks precarious but there is just one stride that must be taken around this outcropping rock and if the climber is nervous of this move we send a member of staff to stand on the ledge underneath this rock and guide the climber’s feet if necessary. Thousands of people pass this way every year and we have never heard of any accidents here.
The second issue is the high numbers. It is true that in the peak of the northern hemisphere summer the Machame Route has many climbers on it. Team Kilimanjaro however has a means of minimizing the impact of this by leaving camp each morning much earlier than other groups, thereby also ensuring better weather. During bad weather the clouds typically roll in around lunch time. Though that said, it is actually possible to enjoy rain all day long!
The principal advantage of the Machame Route over the standard Rongai, Umbwe and Marangu Routes is that day 3 ascends from 3847m to only 3984m, yet via 4642m at the base of a volcanic rocky outcrop known as the Lava Tower. The 600m height differential ensures that Machame exploits the ‘climb high, sleep low’ principle to maximum effect. This and the fact that the summit assault on the Machame Route is via a ridge rather than a loose scree slope and is therefore considerably less difficult than the assault on Marangu and the standard Rongai Route, is responsible for the fact that Machame boasts the best summit success rates of all the routes after the GunduaTanzania Rongai Route.
Most climbers opt for the 7 day route in order to err on the side of caution with respect to being well rested and adequately acclimatised prior to their assault, however timings on the 6 day route are still safe and most people with active lifestyles and who are younger than around 45 years of age, and not carrying significant excess body mass, will usually manage very well on the 6 day Machame Route
The Rongai Route’s premier advantage is that it is the quietest route on the mountain, however one of the reasons that it is so quiet is that the likelihood of summitting on this route on the six day schedule is the second worst of all the six official routes because there is are no topographical features that allow the ‘climb high sleep low’ principle to be exploited, even if one incorporates a rest day.
We have found a solution to this problem however by creating a brand new seven day Rongai Route that switches across the south summit circuit to summit via the firm ridge of Barafu rather than the loose scree slopes above Kibo Hut.
We highly recommend our own 7 day Rongai Route as affording the best acclimatisation opportunities on the mountain, however we do not advise the traditional Rongai Route because of its poor acclimatisation features and unnecessarily taxing assault route.
The Lemosho Route is a very beautiful and unspoilt route that still enjoys sighting of wild game along the forest section. For those seeking a quiet route away from the crowds it clearly a superior option for the first two days of movement. Thereafter however, the route is precisely the same as theMachameRoute.
The start point of the Lemosho Route is particularly inaccessible during the wet season and climbers should be prepared to walk the final 2-5 kilometres of the road following heavy rains.
The journey time to reach the start point is quite long and joined to the possibility of not reaching the end of the road by vehicle head torches may well be needed to reach Forest Camp on day 1.
On day two the route ascends towards the eastern side of the Shira Ridge, the third summit of Kilimanjaro, before bending left to round the north side of the Shira Ridge and attain the Shira Plateau, pictured at the bottom of this page.
Having crossed the Shira Plateau and reaching Shira 2 or Shira Cave Camp, the conventional Lemosho Route is precisely the same as Machame, however, Team Kilimanjaro has pioneered its own Lemosho Route that moves north round Kilimanjaro’s summit cone, avoiding all the crowds and enjoying a very quiet assault from School Hut.
The descent is along the Mweka Route, a descent-only route.
If Machame is crowded the conventional Lemosho Route loses its advantage by day 3 so it’s necessary to decide whether the additional costs involved with the Lemosho Route are worthwhile, or whether the GT 7 day Rongai Route or 8 day GT Lemosho Route might instead be better options.
Another method of avoiding crowding is to combine Lemosho with the Western Breach assault, which we are very happy to arrange, providing the climber making the booking makes it clear to us in writing that he or she is aware, as is the rest of the group being represented, that it is understood that there is an ongoing potentially fatal risk of rockfall on the Western Breach and that the group is willing to expose itself to such risks on the basis of informed consent.
Budget operators attempt to encourage people to climb the Marangu Route by claiming that it is the easiest route. The reality is that the Marangu Route is only the easiest route for the operator as very little equipment is needed because accommodation is in huts, the entry gate is close to Moshi (where most of the low-budget operators are based), and the access road is paved all the way to the park gate.
While it is true that the approach to high camp is certainly the easiest on this route Marangu nonetheless suffers the worst summit success rates on the mountain with only 42% of all climbers reaching the summit, according to KINAPA’s official figures.
The trail is maintained in impeccable condition by the park authorities and affords vast and beautiful views of Kibo’s eastern aspect in good weather once the saddle is attained. The principal reason we however do not recommend the route is that minimal scope for acclimatisation is afforded with only some 200m being gainable from Horombo Huts, even if one opts for the 6 day route which includes a day’s supposed ‘acclimatisation’.
An obvious solution to this problem would seem to be to ascend the lower slopes of Mawenzi on day 3 but this is not safe because of rockfall and is also prohibited by KINAPA.
The Umbwe Route often draws fit young people who are attracted by the route’s designation as the hardest route on the mountain. The route is certainly raw and unkempt and very steep until it reaches Barranco at 3,984m, from which point it intersects the Machame Route. Only two days are spent reaching the same point that is reached after three days on the Machame Route and for this reason headaches and mild nausea are relatively commonly on the Umbwe Route, even below 4,000m.
The route can switch left from Barranco to summit via the Western Breach but nowadays more usually switches right, over the Breach Wall, to summit via Barafu.
Please think carefully before deciding on this route. While challenging and exciting your summit chances are considerably lower than on our own Rongair Route or the Machame and Lemosho routes
Unless specifically requested by climbers who are already acclimatised to 4000m from the ascent of Meru or another mountain, and wanting vehicle support to the Shira Plateau, we only use the Shira Route for mountain safety work as a fast way of reaching the summit or Western Breach when short on time. It is possible for an acclimatised member of our staff to leave Arusha early in the morning and be on the summit the same day by driving up to around 3,760m.
The route functions as a rescue track. If a sick climber is evacuated west of the Breach Wall he will usually walk or be carried on a stretcher to an ambulance that will have ascended to a point only 15 minutes below Shira Hut. From here it is only 1 hour and 15 minutes by vehicle to Londorossi Gate where a reasonably good main dirt road (except in wet weather when conditions can be treacherous) takes us to Arusha in around 2.5 hours.
