The Umbwe route on Kilimanjaro – a detailed day-by-day description

The Umbwe route is 53 km (33 miles) in total and can be trekked over five to seven days. It offers the shortest route up the mountain.

The route starts its approach towards the summit from the south. The entire route is a short, steep and direct climb. After reaching Barranco Camp, the trail turns east and takes trekkers below Kilimanjaro's Southern Ice Field on a path known as the Southern Circuit. It leads to Barafu Camp, which is the starting point for summit day. The trail descends the mountain via the Mweka route.

The Umbwe route passes through rainforest, moorland, alpine desert and then the arctic summit. It's a beautiful route that offers a variety of incredible scenery. Camping is the only available accommodation option on this route.

It's important to note that the Umbwe route has a reputation for being the most challenging route up Kilimanjaro. And rightly so. It's the shortest and steepest of the seven Kilimanjaro ascent routes, and accordingly gives you little time to acclimatise. This means many trekkers using this route develop altitude sickness or grow too tired, and thus don't manage to reach the summit of Uhuru Peak.

If you're keen to do the Umbwe route, we highly recommend doing a pre-acclimatisation trek like climbing Mt Meru to improve your chances of reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro.

The Umbwe trek starts at Umbwe Gate, as you can see in the route overview below. After hopefully reaching Uhuru Peak, you don't retrace your steps, but rather hike down along the descent-only Mweka route to exit the park at Mweka Gate.

The graph below shows the elevation of the Umbwe in profile. This clearly shows how steep the trail is!

We describe the six-day version of the Umbwe route here, as shown in the map below.

Map showing the six-day Umbwe route

You enter Kilimanjaro National Park at Machame Gate, where you're recorded in the park registry. From here you start your trek by making your way through warm and humid mountain rainforest to Umbwe Camp, where you stay overnight.

On the second day of the trek you make your way from Umbwe Camp to Barranco Camp. The journey is rocky and takes you through the Senecio Forest. Giant groundsels (ragworts) can be seen here, which is a highlight for nature lovers. You soon arrive at Barranco Camp and stay here for the night.

A misty view from Barranco Camp

Today's hike of four to five hours is important to your acclimatisation. After an early breakfast, it’s time for you to conquer the great Barranco Wall. Although it may look intimidating, trekkers usually report that it turned out to be less taxing than they anticipated. At the top of the wall, you're above the clouds and have superb views of the Southern Ice Fields and the summit. The trail then winds up and down until you arrive at Karanga Camp, where you spend the night.

Each campsite has a sign with some facts and figures on it

It’s getting real – you’re now very close to the summit! Today you have a climb of about three hours to reach Barafu Camp. The views throughout the day's hike are epic. Tonight you all head to bed early as your summit trek begins around midnight!

Our lovely client Scott at Barafu Camp

Today is the day you climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro! Your goal is Uhuru Peak on the crater rim of Kibo. It will take all of your determination to reach the top, but dig deep, because it's 100% worth the effort!

Today's summit attempt starts at around midnight! The route heads northwest into the dark night, taking you on a path that's made mostly of scree. After about six to eight hours of trekking you reach Uhuru Peak, which sits at 5,895 m (19,341 ft) above sea level. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by your achievement!

Beautiful scenery from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro

After some time at the summit, you start your long descent to Mweka Camp at 3,110 m (10,204 ft). Mweka Camp is in the forest zone, and you'll love how easy it is to breathe again! This is where you spend your final night on the mountain.

Group shot at Mweka Camp

Today you trek through rainforest to reach the foot of the mountain, where your driver fetches you. What an adventure to have climbed Kilimanjaro!

Snap by our client Eva of an enormous tree trunk seen along the Mweka route

The Umbwe route is one of our least favourite of the Kilimanjaro ascent routes. Given its steep and short ascent, it doesn't offer much time to acclimatise and so has a low summit success rate.

In our view, other routes such as the Lemosho are much better choices. We recommend the Umbwe route only be attempted by strong hikers who are confident in their ability to acclimatise quickly to high altitude.

The Umbwe route is less scenic than the other Kilimanjaro routes simply because it's so short and so logically can't offer as many varied viewpoints. That said, the scenery it does have is very beautiful, and includes the gorgeous rainforest and moorland zones.

A giant groundsel surrounded by mist

The Umbwe route is one of the toughest Kilimanjaro routes and shouldn't be undertaken by anyone who isn't very fit and accustomed to steep trekking. It also has some steep drops, like when you're scaling Barranco Wall, so it should be avoided by those afraid of heights.

A steep section through the rainforest that encircles Kilimanjaro

The Umbwe route is one of the shortest, most direct Kilimanjaro route, which means your chances of acclimatisation properly are poor. Its summit success rate is therefore low (in other words, few of the trekkers on this trail actually manage to reach Uhuru Peak).

Whilst there are no official statistics, the average summit success rate across all Kilimanjaro operators for the Umbwe route is around 50%.

The Umbwe route is the least popular of the seven Kilimanjaro routes because it's the most difficult route up the mountain. It's therefore not very busy.

The Umbwe route can be completed in five to seven days. If you were to choose this route, we would recommend choosing the six- or seven-day itinerary because the extra time is helpful to your acclimatisation. Remember that climbing Kilimanjaro isn't a race – take your time and enjoy the views and experience!

Tented accommodation on Mount Kilimanjaro

If you want to add a little adventure onto the end of your Kilimanjaro climb, we recommend going on a Tanzania safari – you won’t find a better African safari! Or hop over the border into Uganda to trek with mountain gorillas. Alternatively, if you’ve limited time and budget, why not do one or two extra activities in the Kilimanjaro region like visit a Maasai village or a coffee farm?

Some Kilimanjaro trekkers first climb neighbouring Meru as a pre-acclimatisation trek