Kilimanjaro Shira Route climb
Highlights
Arusha | Shira Plateau | Shira Cathedral | Northern Ice fields | Lent Hills | Western Breach | Great Barranco valley | Karanga valley | Stella Point | Uhuru PeakDescription of Kilimanjaro Shira Route climb
This climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro uses the Shira Route. A remote and beautiful path where you won’t come across many other climbers, it’s well suited to those with previous trekking experience and a high level of fitness, who are relaxed in a variety of mountain conditions.After acclimatising around the forest, grassy moorland and volcanic rock formations of the Shira Plateau, you’ll explore the Northern Ice fields, an area little visited by tourists and with unusual views of Kibo. Then you’ll climb steadily away from the plateau towards the broad upland desert underneath the Lent Hills – a peaceful and remote area that few visitors to Kilimanjaro get to experience. Next, you’ll join to main route to the top of 5895m high Uhuru Peak, a steep and challenging trek passing close to the dramatic glaciers that still occupy much of the summit area.
After taking in the mind-blowing views of the landscape below, you’ll descend through tropical forests, coffee and banana farms to Mweka village, where you’ll be transferred to your lodge for a well-earned rest.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.com
Check dates, prices & availability
The leaders are not guides – they’re not there to shepherd you around. Instead, they’ll let you know which local restaurant serves great value food – without running the risk of travellers’ tummy. They’ll allow you to avoid hour-long queues at train stations and attractions.
We like to think of small group travel as the Goldilocks option. It is independent travel without the fuss, worry and bunk beds – and organised travel without the coaches. And it’s cheaper than a tailor made tour. It’s sits somewhere in the middle – and we think it’s just about right.
Have big, life-enriching experiences that would be impossible to organise without lots of time and insider knowledge.
Simplicity
Make the most of your holiday time by letting someone else do the hard work and boring logistics!
Peace of mind
Small group tours take care of the security aspects – and provide a safety net should anything unexpected happen.
If you don’t have three months to spend exploring, small groups trips let you cover more ground in less time. Your days are not spent queuing for tickets or finding hotels – so you can squeeze more into your holiday.
Solo travellers who’d like company
Likeminded travel companions plus peace of mind for those travelling alone. Single supplements are usually available – providing privacy if you want it.
Less confident travellers
Stray from the tourist trail without worrying about getting lost, and meet local people without dealing with the language barrier.
Couples and friends have private rooms, and you can choose to eat alone or not. Single supplements give solo travellers their own room.
“There won’t be any free time”
Free mornings or afternoons let you explore on your own, or just relax.
“The accommodation will be basic”
Trips are as high or low end as you like. Though off the beaten track destinations won’t have luxury hotels, this is all part of the adventure.
“I won’t like the other travellers!”
Tour operators try to create groups with a similar demographic – age, families, activity levels... Chances are, you’ll even make new friends.
“Will we be following an umbrella?”
No.
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
Of the 30,000 trekkers on Kilimanjaro each year, only 5% use the wonderfully remote Shira route. By choosing this route not only will you avoid the crowds on the busy Machame and Marangu routes but also help to limit the over exhaustion of the mountain's natural resources.On Kilimanjaro, like any other mountain, we do not believe in taking shortcuts. On our Kilimanjaro Shira Route climb you will find an extra day trekking which is 2 days more than a standard climb so your ability to maximise your acclimatisation and increase your enjoyment of the wild scenery on this remote path to the summit.
Without compromise, all cooking is on kerosene stoves rather than wood fires and all rubbish is carried off the mountain. Unfortunately it is possible to cut corners on Kilimanjaro by rushing the time spent on the ascent to save on expensive park fees and porter fees. It is our careful attention to the treatment of our local staff that makes us stand out from other tour operators. We pay one of the highest salaries in full immediately on exit from the National Park and ensure that they are well supplied with food, fuel and tents.
The natural landscapes we explore are some of the richest, often most challenging, yet at the same time some of the most fragile environments on earth. With education, experienced leadership and appropriate equipment and techniques, it is possible to travel responsibly through these regions. For us, it is critically important that such wilderness travel experiences do not diminish the natural values of the environment.
Our environmental sustainable principles: True sustainability is a guiding aspect in all aspects of our business planning and operations. Specifically our tour operations should be managed in a way where the natural and cultural values of the host region are undiminished in the long-term.
Where possible, we engage in partnerships with local environmental groups and/or land managers to actively campaign for conservation or promote environmental protection and/or rehabilitation.
Our Responsible Travel Guidebook: Our philosophy since 1975 has been to leave only footprints and take only photographs. To reiterate this, every customer who travels with us receives a copy of our award-winning Responsible Travel guidebook. This detailed book outlines our environmentally sustainable principles, and outlines how each customer can minimize their impact while traveling.
Global Warming and Carbon Balancing: The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely!
The Impacts of this Trip
Our responsible travel principles: Our company aims to maximise the positive benefits of tourism for host communities. This includes training and employment of local staff, using local suppliers and assisting in the development of sustainable local businesses.
We actively minimise the negative effects that tourism can have by ensuring that tourism does not divert resources away from local communities or drive up prices on local resources.
We provide opportunities for real cultural exchange, where locals and visitors alike can share and learn from each other in an environment of mutual respect.
We contribute to the welfare of the host community. This is epitomised in our Community Project Travel program where we organise for our travelers to spend time in disadvantaged villages upgrading basic facilities such as health, education and water access.
We strive to educate our travelers about the destination and its local cultures as well as providing guidelines on appropriate behaviour to minimise impact.
No local payments policy: Local cash payments are becoming increasingly popular with many operators in the adventure travel industry. This policy seems to benefit the tour operators more than the local economies or the travelers, as it avoids local taxes and transfers the costs and risks of cash handling onto the travelers. In accordance with our Responsible Travel practices, we have chosen a policy of not asking for such payments.
Of the 30,000 trekkers on Kilimanjaro each year, only 5% use the wonderfully remote Shira route. By choosing this route not only will you avoid the crowds on the busy Machame and Marangu routes but also help to limit the over exhaustion of the mountain's natural resources.On Kilimanjaro, like any other mountain, we do not believe in taking shortcuts. On our Kilimanjaro Shira Route climb you will find an extra day trekking which is 2 days more than a standard climb so your ability to maximise your acclimatisation and increase your enjoyment of the wild scenery on this remote path to the summit.
Without compromise, all cooking is on kerosene stoves rather than wood fires and all rubbish is carried off the mountain. Unfortunately it is possible to cut corners on Kilimanjaro by rushing the time spent on the ascent to save on expensive park fees and porter fees. It is our careful attention to the treatment of our local staff that makes us stand out from other tour operators. We pay one of the highest salaries in full immediately on exit from the National Park and ensure that they are well supplied with food, fuel and tents.
The natural landscapes we explore are some of the richest, often most challenging, yet at the same time some of the most fragile environments on earth. With education, experienced leadership and appropriate equipment and techniques, it is possible to travel responsibly through these regions. For us, it is critically important that such wilderness travel experiences do not diminish the natural values of the environment.
Our environmental sustainable principles: True sustainability is a guiding aspect in all aspects of our business planning and operations. Specifically our tour operations should be managed in a way where the natural and cultural values of the host region are undiminished in the long-term.
Where possible, we engage in partnerships with local environmental groups and/or land managers to actively campaign for conservation or promote environmental protection and/or rehabilitation.
Our Responsible Travel Guidebook: Our philosophy since 1975 has been to leave only footprints and take only photographs. To reiterate this, every customer who travels with us receives a copy of our award-winning Responsible Travel guidebook. This detailed book outlines our environmentally sustainable principles, and outlines how each customer can minimize their impact while traveling.
Global Warming and Carbon Balancing: The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely!
The Impacts of this Trip
Our responsible travel principles: Our company aims to maximise the positive benefits of tourism for host communities. This includes training and employment of local staff, using local suppliers and assisting in the development of sustainable local businesses.
We actively minimise the negative effects that tourism can have by ensuring that tourism does not divert resources away from local communities or drive up prices on local resources.
We provide opportunities for real cultural exchange, where locals and visitors alike can share and learn from each other in an environment of mutual respect.
We contribute to the welfare of the host community. This is epitomised in our Community Project Travel program where we organise for our travelers to spend time in disadvantaged villages upgrading basic facilities such as health, education and water access.
We strive to educate our travelers about the destination and its local cultures as well as providing guidelines on appropriate behaviour to minimise impact.
No local payments policy: Local cash payments are becoming increasingly popular with many operators in the adventure travel industry. This policy seems to benefit the tour operators more than the local economies or the travelers, as it avoids local taxes and transfers the costs and risks of cash handling onto the travelers. In accordance with our Responsible Travel practices, we have chosen a policy of not asking for such payments.
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