7 days · Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro — Shira Route, 7 Days
Almost the same mountain as Lemosho, approached from the west, but newer, shorter and with a much harder start: you are driven to 3,600 m and sleep your first night at 3,500 m.
Is this trip for you?
Trip type
Private expedition
Your own guides, cook and porters, on your own dates. We do not merge you into someone else's group, which means the pace is set by your party and nobody else's summit night.
Ages
10 and over
Kilimanjaro National Park sets a minimum age of ten. Beyond that we go on how you answer our health questions rather than on your age, and we may ask for a doctor's note first.
Fitness
Good general fitness
No technical climbing and no ropes on any route we run. What it asks for is five to eight hours of walking a day for a week, and one very long night. Three months of hill walking beforehand is worth more than any gym programme.
Group size: Private party, with guides, a cook and porters sized to it
Day by day.
-
1
Londorossi Gate to Shira 1 Camp
Picked up from your hotel for the drive to Londorossi Gate, about four hours. After registration and while the crew sort the kit, we drive on up a steep track to the trailhead at around 3,600 m. Two hours of walking through shrub and giant heather brings us to Shira 1 Camp at 3,500 m. It is a short day on purpose: you have gained a great deal of height in a vehicle.
- Altitude
- Shira trailhead 3,600 m → Shira 1 Camp 3,500 m
- Distance
- 4.4 km / 2.7 mi
- Walking
- 2 hours, after a 4 hour drive
- Habitat
- Shrub and giant heather
- Meals
- Lunch and dinner
-
2
Shira 1 to Shira 2
An easy day, deliberately slow, to let your body catch up. Through grassy heath and moorland past volcanic rock formations onto the Shira Plateau, where we join the Lemosho route. On the way we reach the Shira Cathedral at 3,750 m, a huge promontory ringed by steep peaks. Shira 2 Camp at 3,900 m is the first place you see Uhuru Peak in full, with Mount Meru standing above the cloud behind you.
- Altitude
- Shira 1 3,500 m → Shira Cathedral 3,750 m → Shira 2 3,900 m
- Distance
- 8 km / 5 mi
- Walking
- 5 hours
- Habitat
- Shira Plateau moorland
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
3
Shira 2 to Barranco, via the Lava Tower
An ascent into upland desert on the lava ridges beneath the glaciers of the Western Breach, up to the Lava Tower at 4,640 m for lunch — the high point of the day — then a steep descent into the Great Barranco valley at 3,960 m.
- Altitude
- Shira 2 3,900 m → Lava Tower 4,640 m → Barranco 3,960 m
- Distance
- 10 km / 6.2 mi
- Walking
- 7 hours
- Habitat
- Upland desert, then giant senecio
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
4
Barranco to Karanga
Down into the Great Barranco and steeply up the Barranco Wall, a long climb over rock that needs no technique but takes it out of you. Under the Heim and Kersten glaciers to the Karanga valley and up to Karanga Camp at 3,963 m, with an optional afternoon walk to about 4,200 m.
- Altitude
- Barranco 3,960 m → Karanga 3,963 m
- Distance
- 5.5 km / 3.4 mi
- Walking
- 5 hours
- Habitat
- Barranco Wall and alpine desert
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
5
Karanga to Barafu
Three hours across bare scree to Barafu Camp at 4,640 m. Rest, an early dinner, and up again between 23:00 and midnight.
- Altitude
- Karanga 3,963 m → Barafu 4,640 m
- Distance
- 3 km / 1.9 mi
- Walking
- 3 hours
- Habitat
- Scree
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
6
Summit day, then Mweka Camp
Away around midnight, four to five hours of scree to Stella Point at 5,739 m as the first light arrives, then an hour along the rim to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 m. Back to Barafu for breakfast, then down to Mweka Camp at 3,100 m.
- Altitude
- Barafu 4,640 m → Uhuru Peak 5,895 m → Mweka Camp 3,100 m
- Distance
- 18 km / 11.2 mi
- Walking
- 13 to 15 hours
- Habitat
- Arctic summit zone, then moorland
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
7
Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate
A gentle walk down through the rainforest to Mweka Gate at 1,630 m, park formalities and certificates, then the drive back to Moshi.
- Altitude
- Mweka Camp 3,100 m → Mweka Gate 1,630 m
- Distance
- 9.1 km / 5.7 mi
- Walking
- 3 hours
- Habitat
- Rainforest
- Meals
- Breakfast
Where you sleep.
On the mountain
Three-season mountain tents, sleeping mats, and a mess tent with a table and chairs. Three meals a day cooked on the mountain, and filtered water throughout. Marangu is the exception: it uses the park's huts throughout.
Before and after
Bed and breakfast in Moshi the night before the climb and the night you come down, with hot water, laundry and somewhere to leave the luggage you are not carrying up.
Upgrades
A portable flush toilet with its own tent is US$70 per toilet and tent for the climb, and is the upgrade most parties are glad they took. Single tents and a walk-in tent with a camp bed are available on request, as is an extra night in Moshi at either end, which most climbers who fly in the same day end up wishing they had booked. We also hire out clothing, mountain kit and sleeping bags - though we would rather you brought your own boots.
We book against availability for your dates rather than naming a property we may not be able to get you into. Your written quotation names every lodge and camp before you pay anything.
What is included
- Park fees and camping fees
- 18% VAT on tour fees and services
- Three-season mountain tents
- Transport to and from the mountain gate
- Professional mountain guides, a cook and porters
- Three meals a day on the mountain
- Filtered water throughout the trek
- Accommodation before and after the trek
- Fair wages for the mountain crew, at the rates set by Kilimanjaro National Park (KINAPA) and the Kilimanjaro Association of Tour Operators (KIATO)
- Private airport transfers both ways
Not included
- Flights
- Visa fees
- Travel insurance
- Sleeping bag
- Tips for the mountain crew
- Items of a personal nature
- Alcoholic and soft drinks
- Laundry services
- A doctor travelling with the group
- A portable flush toilet with its own tent, which is US$70 per toilet and tent
When to go.
January to mid-March — warm and clear
The warmest climbing window, with clear mornings and a good chance of snow on the summit cone. Busy, but less so than the northern-hemisphere summer.
June to October — cold, dry and busy
The most reliable weather of the year and the highest traffic on the mountain. Nights are the coldest, which is what a proper sleeping bag is for.
Late March to May, and November
The rainy months. We do run climbs then, on the northern and western routes that sit in the mountain's rain shadow, but you should expect wet forest days and we will say so plainly before you book.
Questions about this trip.
How is Shira different from Lemosho?
They are almost the same mountain. Lemosho walks up from the forest at 2,385 m; Shira drives you to about 3,600 m and starts you there. Shira is shorter — 58 km against 70 — and newer, and once you are past the first night the acclimatisation is excellent.
Is the high start a problem?
It can be. Sleeping your first night at 3,500 m, having been at Moshi's 800 m that morning, is a real jump. We will steer you to Lemosho unless you have been to altitude before and know how you react.
How busy is it?
Quiet until the Shira Plateau, where it joins Lemosho, and then busy from Barranco onward where everything converges on the southern circuit.
On this route
Where you will be.
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Make this itinerary yours.
Add days, drop a park, change the pace. This is a starting point, not a fixed departure.