Umbwe Route: 6 days to Uhuru Peak
The steepest and quietest line on the mountain
Umbwe is the shortest and most direct way to the southern glaciers, and the hardest. It gains height immediately, 1,300m on the first day up a narrow forest ridge, and reaches Barranco on day two, where routes that started days earlier arrive.
That directness is the problem as well as the appeal. There is very little built-in acclimatisation, and Umbwe has the lowest summit success rate of any route on Kilimanjaro. We recommend it only for climbers who have been at altitude before and know how their body responds. What you get in return is solitude: for the first two days you will likely have the mountain to yourself.
- 6 days climb
- Uhuru Peak
- Very hard
From $2,095 per person, based on a group of 2
- Umbwe Gate to Umbwe Cave Camp
- Umbwe Cave Camp to Barranco Camp
- Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp
- Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp
- Summit day, Barafu to Uhuru Peak to Mweka Camp
- Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate