Mount Kilimanjaro; an expert guide to the Marangu Route

The Marangu Route is the most popular route, and also considerably easier than any of the other trips to the summit.

Click on the Map section to see a detailed map of the Marangu Route

Marangu - Route and Accommodation

Climbers usually cover the 34km each way over a period of at least four or five nights on the mountain, making use of the three stages of wooden huts for overnight accommodation on route. These three stages provide shared accommodation for a number of climbers in rather close wooden quarters, but they are at least dry and sometimes warm, and standards of accommodation and privacy are not reasons for being here!

The first two of these huts are manned by permanent staff, and the easy climb and sales of soft drinks along the way have given this path a reputation as the Coca Cola route. This climb is the least strenuous, (although it's by no means a merry dance!), and follows excellent gravel pathways recently laid out through the Forest Reserve to Mandara Huts at 2700m at the end of the first leg. The second day continues through the heather to the edge of the short cropped moorland plains to Horombo Hut at 3,760m, from where Moshi township and the Pare ranges can be seen on a clear night.

From Moorland to Alpine Desert

On day three walkers press on across a clear and fresh expanse of moorland for around a three-hour stretch, and then the landscape changes again beyond the last water point at 4200m, from where the walk continues across the barren stretch of alpine desert to Kibo Huts.

Ascent to Summit

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5