Group of trekkers hiking in moorland zone of Mt Kilmanjaro with Kibo Peak in distance

Which is the easiest Kilimanjaro route?

Nov 8, 2024
Reading time: 4 minutes

The Northern Circuit is arguably the 'easiest' Kilimanjaro route for one simple reason: you acclimatise better on it than on any other route. And for this reason alone, those who trek the Northern Circuit tend to reach the summit more often!

Mount Kilimanjaro climb
Which is the easiest Kilimanjaro route?

Please note that there is NO easy Kilimanjaro route. Every single route up Kilimanjaro is super challenging and so you need to be properly fit to manage the task!

That said, we understand that many want to know which is the easiest Kilimanjaro route per se because they're approaching this mighty trekking challenge with a healthy amount of humility and respect. And that's the way to do it! Sadly, far too many trekkers don't make it to the summit of Kilimanjaro because Africa's tallest mountain is forever being underestimated.

Right. Moving on ...

The Northern Circuit lets you acclimatise the best

The Northern Circuit offers the very best acclimatisation of all of the trails, which means its ascent trail is the best at letting your body adapt well to the high altitude. And so Northern Circuit trekkers are often able to keep trekking and reach the summit while those on the other routes can't. And for this reason we can call it the 'easiest' Kilimanjaro route.

So our primary reason for saying that the Northern Circuit is the easiest of the seven Kilimanjaro routes is that it has the highest summit success rate. 'Summit success rate' refers to the percentage of people using a particular route who actually manage to reach Uhuru Peak, the highest point on Kilimanjaro.

The Northern Circuit has a summit success rate of over 90%. All of the Kilimanjaro routes combined have a summit success rate of just about 50%. Fifty percent! That's a big difference.

The primary reason for the low overall summit success rate on Kilimanjaro is the negative side effects of high altitude; many, many trekkers develop some degree of altitude sickness and so feel too ill to keep climbing.

Uhuru Peak sign, summit of Kilimnjaro, snowy peak

Uhuru Peak is the highest point on Kilimanjaro

The 2 ways it lets you acclimatise so well

There are two ways that the Northern Circuit lets its trekkers acclimatise better than the other Kilimanjaro routes do:

  1. It allows more days for the ascent to base camp, so your body has more (invaluable) time to adjust to the high altitude before it must deal with the even more rarified air that accompanies your summit push. Remember the adage: slowly is the fastest way to get there!
  2. After night five, you actually descend a little in elevation. And on nights six and seven, just before you head to base camp, you sleep lower than you did on night five. (Look at the profile of the route below.) Descending temporarily during a high-altitude trek is a well-known acclimatisation strategy that works wonders in helping the body to adjust to the demanding new elevation. No other Kilimanjaro route employs this strategy to nearly the same degree.
Graph showing 9-day Northern Circuit trek route elevations in metres

It's for the two reasons explained above that we argue that the Northern Circuit is the 'easiest' Kilimanjaro route on offer. We say this even in spite of the fact that it's by far the longest route! And by hiking down over two days, you must then climb back up to the elevation you achieved on night five for a second time! But in the case of Kilimanjaro, what's really hard is trekking when you feel awful from the high altitude. Think trekking in spite of feeling nauseous, headachy or dizzy, among other things.

So any route that minimises your chances of developing (bad) altitude sickness and so allows you to feel healthy and strong enough to keep trekking ... we feel that that route wins the 'easiest Kilimanjaro route' button that it can wear with pride.

Even if, as stressed before, there is no actual easy way up Africa's tallest mountain. 😉

Kilimanjaro tent Pofu Camp

Night 6's Pofu Camp is nearly 200 m lower than the previous night's campsite

In addition, the Northern Circuit has no scrambling

Finally, we want to point out that the Northern Circuit is one of just three ascent routes that excludes the Barranco Wall, a short but pretty steep section on the southern slope of the mountain that involves some scrambling. Barranco Wall can be a little daunting for anyone nervous of heights.

On the Northern Circuit you do, as the name suggests, avoid the southern slope (and thus skip Barranco Wall). Instead, the route follows a path that wraps around the northern slope of the mountain.

This is another noteworthy aspect of the Northern Circuit that makes it easier than some of the other Kilimanjaro routes. And it's why we recommend the route to anyone who has a fear of heights.

If you'd like to know more about the second 'easiest' Kilimanjaro route, and how it compares with the Northern Circuit, please read Lemosho vs Northern Circuit.