Lemosho route

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Lemosho Route

The Lemosho Route is often regarded as the best trail to take you to the summit of Kilimanjaro. It’s a new route designed to reduce crowds for a more enjoyable experience. Furthermore, by integrating longer lengths, longer time on the mountain, and fewer height rises, the Lemosho Route was more intelligently built to aid acclimatization for the climber.

Lemosho’s Scenic Beauty

Because of its beauty, remoteness, and high success rate, we highly recommend Lemosho. In other words, it increases the likelihood of a climber reaching the peak and having a good time.

On the mountain, the Lemosho route may be completed in as short as six days (five nights). However, for a better altitude acclimation plan, it is best done over eight days (seven nights). With eight days (seven nights) on the mountain, your odds of reaching the summit are over 90%.

Lemosho Route Profile

Minimum Days: 7
Recommended Days: 8 or more
Difficulty (1-10): Mount Kilimanjaro Routes ranks the Lemosho route at 7. Lemosho is easier than Shira due to the lower altitude of its starting point. Other than that they are equal in difficulty because they utilize the same route for the majority of the climb.
Scenery: The Lemosho route is considered the most scenic route on Kilimanjaro.
Success Rate: Lemosho route has one of the highest success rates due to better acclimatization, especially if you do 8 days or more.
Traffic: Traffic is low on the Lemosho route, although both of the Western routes are growing in popularity.
Comfort: You will sleep in tents on the Lemosho route. Your comfort is really determined by your level of tolerance for camping.

Kilimanjaro Lemosho Route Highlights

An excellent route to climb Kilimanjaro with a high success rate
Allows climbers to “walk high, sleep low” enabling better acclimatisation
Remote and spectacular approach with dramatic views of west Kilimanjaro
Ascent and descent via different routes. Joins up with the Machame route on day 3

The Lemosho route to climb Kilimanjaro offers a high summit success rate due to its long walk in which helps to improve acclimatisation. The first couple of days are generally quieter due to lower traffic, however, it then joins up at Shira camp with the popular Machame route to the summit.

The Lemosho route starts as 2360m on the far west of Kilimanjaro. It traverses south round Kilimanjaro and it then joins the Machame route at Shira camp on day 3. KINAPA only recently introduced the Lemosho route as an improved version of the original Shira route. The Lemosho route offers better acclimatisation as it starts lower than the original Shira route which started at 3600m. The high altitude start on the Shira route is not recommended as climbers may experience symptoms of altitude sickness on their first day. The Lemosho and Shira routes merge after day 1.

Starting from Londorossi Gate, the trail traverses through the rainforest, where the wild game may be seen, continuing up to Shira Ridge, Kilimanjaro’s third summit. From here you will ascend and cross the expansive Shira Plateau with fantastic views of Shira Cathedral.

The descent on both Lemosho and Shira routes is by a different route, the Mweka trail, making a more interesting climb. Most climbers who are fit and well-acclimatised take 7 days to climb Kilimanjaro by the Lemosho route. However, for those who have not trekked at altitude before it is wise to add an additional day to make it an 8-day trek. This then allows the pre-summit day to be split into two shorter days trekking prior to the summit ascent to improve the chances of summiting.

Open group climbs are available on this route.

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Lemosho Route Map

As the Lemosho Route map outlines here, the trek starts with a long journey from Moshi to Londorossi Gate, the route approaches Mount Kilimanjaro from the west. The first two days of walking to Shira Ridge are spent in the rain forest. In a nice, a rather easy climb, the Lemosho trail spans the Shira Plateau from west to east. Until the path connects with the Machame trail near Lava Tower, there are few people on the route. Before summiting from Barafu, the route passes through Kilimanjaro’s Southern Ice Field on the Southern Circuit. The Mweka path is used to descend.

8 Days Lemosho Route or 7 Days Itinerary?

We recommend the 8 days Lemosho route itinerary which will give you a higher chance of reaching the summit, Uhuru park because it has an extra day for acclimatization. For the record, there is also a 6-day Lemosho route variation which we only recommend to highly fit and experienced hikers.