This feature is a very beautiful geographical phenomenon that is located on the Kilimanjaro Mountain. The Cathedral is located on the famous Shira plateau of the Kilimanjaro Mountain.
The cathedral is made up of rocks that always captivate hikers with special features and shapes. It has a monolith that towers over the landscape of the plateau.
This is a huge mass of rock that is shared in a pyramid shape. The rock has a lot of pointed sides. The Shira cathedral stands at an altitude of about 3895 meters above sea level.
It’s located on the east Shira hill steep trails. This area is most famous for the crown eagle that inhabits this area.
How to get to Shira
To get to this peak, you will have to take the machame route of the Kilimanjaro. It’s a challenging trek but very rewarding with spectacular view of the tropical forest below and the southern ice fields.
The area in covered by several vegetation types including the Rain-forests, Arctic and the Moorland.
The first wedding to be conducted on the Kilimanjaro took place here. In the year 2014 on the 21st of September a couple took their marriage vows on the Shira camp 2, one of the camps that lead up to the peak of this mountain.
Shira Ridge
On the Shira Plateau, there is a ridge. As such, your options are not limited to the Shira Plateau. The ridge is located approximately 3,600 meters above sea level.
Situated in Kilimanjaro Mountain’s forest zone, the ridge is not far from the Shira gate.
Shira Needle
The Shira Needle can be reached by scrambling but in the end it provides amazing point of views.
Walking on the edge of the Shira Plateau/Caldera you can catch a great view of Shira Cathedral and Shira Needle.
Why hike the Shira Plateau Route
The fact that this route starts at a higher altitude is a disadvantage for several hikers as they don’t have enough time to acclimatize and several of them will suffer from altitude related sickness on the first few to days.
It’s after the route joins the Lemosho on day two that we join Machame trail on the next day. We join this via the Lava Tower and then slope a bit to the Barranco Camp through the Southern Circuit.
Like most of the other routes like Umbwe and Lemosho, we ascend to Uhuru peak through the Barafu Camp and then to the southern Slopes of the Kibo Peak.