Northern Circuit Route — 9-Day Kilimanjaro Trek

The Northern Circuit and Lemosho share their first three days, and this is the first of them. The drive round to Londorossi Gate on the western side takes three to four hours from Moshi. Far fewer groups start here than on the southern routes, so the gate is quiet and the paperwork is slow. From the trailhead it is about six kilometres of gentle climbing through rainforest to Forest Camp at around 2,800 metres. Three to four hours, and an easy start on purpose. The western forest is the wildest on Kilimanjaro. An armed ranger walks this section because buffalo and elephant use it. Sightings are uncommon, and the possibility is real.

A steeper day out of the forest and onto the western edge of the Shira Plateau. The canopy thins to heather and then opens into moorland, and the change happens over a couple of hours. Shira 1 sits at about 3,500 metres in open country, with Kibo standing at the far end of the plateau. It is five to six hours with a real height gain, and the first night that is properly cold. The ground underneath you is the collapsed floor of Kilimanjaro's oldest cone. You spend the next two days crossing it.

A gentle crossing east over the plateau, about seven kilometres in four to five hours, from 3,500 metres to Shira 2 at around 3,850. This is close to ideal acclimatisation walking. High, sustained and easy underfoot, with the summit ahead of you the whole way and nothing steep to tire you out. Most afternoons there is time to walk up towards Shira Cathedral, a rock outcrop on the southern rim of the plateau. Climbing a few hundred metres and coming back down to sleep is exactly what your body needs at this stage. Go if you can.

The day the route earns its reputation. You climb east off the plateau to Lava Tower at about 4,630 metres, eat lunch at a height where nobody has an appetite, then drop north to Moir Hut at around 4,200 to sleep. About fourteen kilometres and six to seven hours. Climbing high and sleeping low is how the body adapts, and this is the most useful day on the itinerary. Headaches are common that afternoon and usually clear overnight. Tell your guide how you feel, and do not keep it to yourself. Moir Hut sits in a quiet valley below the Lent Hills, well off the southern circuit. This is where the two routes part. Everyone else turns south towards Barranco. You turn north.

The circuit proper. The path climbs over a shoulder of Kibo and swings round onto the northern slopes, then drops to Buffalo Camp at about 4,020 metres. Twelve kilometres and five to seven hours across open, empty ground. Most itineraries take in the Lent Hills on the way, which gains height and gives it back before you sleep. From Buffalo Camp the land falls away north to the plains, and on a clear afternoon you can see a long way into Kenya. This is the quietest side of the mountain. On a southern route you would be sharing tonight's camp with several hundred people.

East across the northern slopes, about eight kilometres in five to six hours, over Buffalo Ridge and down past the Porfu campsite to Third Cave at around 3,800 metres. Nothing about the day is hard. It is a steady traverse at a height your body has got used to, and the value of it is the time it buys you. Very few climbers walk this ground. The circuit is the only route that crosses it, and there are stretches today where you will not see another group at all.

A climb south-west onto the saddle to School Hut at about 4,750 metres, roughly five kilometres in four to five hours. The ground is bare gravel and exposed to the wind, and the day is short by design. You arrive early, eat, and sleep before midnight. School Hut is the summit camp on this side of the mountain, and it is far quieter than Barafu across the ridge. Your guide runs through summit night before you sleep. Lay out everything you need in the dark, and put your water bottle inside your bag so it does not freeze.

You are woken before midnight and start walking in the cold. The path climbs scree and rock in switchbacks towards Gilman's Point on the crater rim at 5,681 metres, five to seven hours above camp. From Gilman's the route follows the rim, gaining another 214 metres over about ninety minutes, past the crater and the glaciers to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres. Seven days of walking are behind you, and this is where they pay. Then you go down. Back to School Hut for a rest and something to eat, then a long descent south to Millennium Camp at around 3,820 metres. It is a twelve to sixteen hour day, and the descent is harder on the legs than the climb. Use poles.

The last morning. About twelve kilometres down through moorland and then rainforest to Mweka Gate at around 1,640 metres, four to six hours. The forest at the bottom is warm and wet and loud with birds, and going from the crater rim to that in under a day is one of the stranger pleasures of this mountain. At the gate you sign out and collect your certificate. Gold for Uhuru Peak, green for Gilman's Point. Then the drive back to Moshi, a shower and a bed. The tipping ceremony with the crew usually happens at the last camp or at the gate, so have the cash ready in small notes before then.