Our  Opinion of the Lemosho Route

At KIAfrika Adventure we love the Lemosho route. It’s our personal favourite because you get to experience a bit of everything. We really enjoy the first couple of days in the forest, and also the opportunities to take beautiful photographs of the amazing views and scenery along the way. In fact, the Lemosho route stops over at locations that offer some of the best sunrises and sunsets on Kilimanjaro.

All of this beauty goes hand in hand with the fact that the chances of summiting Kilimanjaro are high among trekkers using the Lemosho route – always a plus!

The Lemosho route therefore ticks all of the boxes when it comes to choosing a Kilimanjaro climb. If you’re especially concerned about acclimatising, you can also opt for an eight-day Lemosho route over the seven-day option, as this gives you

Lemosho route overview

The Lemosho route can be done in seven or eight days. The extra day on the eight-day route allows for an extra day of acclimatisation, which is always a good thing.

It is also possible for this route in six days to do, then you climb on day four of Barranco Camp to Barafu Camp Site, this trip takes approximately seven hours. 

Most of our customers climb this route in eight days.

• The Lemosho is a beautiful route that departs from the West side of Mount Kilimanjaro
• Due to its route profile the Lemosho can be completed on a seven or eight day itinerary and offers lots of opportunities to properly acclimatize. Because of it’s versatile route profile it is a highly recommended Kilimanjaro route that has relatively high summit success rates
• It is also recommended as the starting point is relatively remote and hence provides trekkers with a rather untouched and wild start to their Kilimanjaro adventure. Spotting large wildlife, like antelope, buffalo and even elephant is unusual but not impossible
• The route also provides unparalleled and spectacular views of the dramatic gorges that characterize the western side of Mount Kilimanjaro
• The Lemosho offers trekkers the experience of hiking across the Shira Plateau – one of the largest high altitude plateaus in the world
• Trekkers on the Lemosho typically converge with Machame route on day 3 at Barranco camp and use the Barafu camp route to the summit; however, it is now quite common for Lemosho trekkers to veer north before Lava Tower to join the Northern Circuit which circles the north side of Mount Kilimanjaro and follows an assault passage via Gilman’s Point. The Lemosho route can also be used by trekkers planning to climb the Western Breach to the summit
• Like the Machame Route, the Lemosho route is fully catered camping only