Like all the other mountains, there are several Kilimanjaro Gates to reach the summit of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. Each route will start at its own gate or point of entry to the Kilimanjaro.
All the Kilimanjaro Gates at the base of this mountain and the most renowned routes are:
There are different gates and routes to offer different experienced to the tourists. In most cases you will star form a different gate and complete from another to give you a unique experience.
The Marangu Gate
This is one of the entry points to the Kilimanjaro. It’s also the beginning of the Marangu trail. This gate is also used as an exit gate. It is important to note that some gates are only used to ascend like the Machame gate.
Most people that hike through the Rongai and Marangu its self will exit through this gate.
This gate is the largest and busiest of all the entry points of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. It’s also probably the most popular gate on this mountain.
The park offices here are major and host most of the departments of the park authorities. You can have all your paper worked sorted in and out of the park.
Most gates to the Kilimanjaro National Park are located at the base of the mountain and therefore they are all at the edge of the Montane forest zone vegetation of the mountain.
This area is characterized by a lot of trees that form a canopy at the top since it’s a tropical rain forest. This makes the place a bit cooler since the sun rays cannot hit directly.
The Machame Gate
The Machame gate is another famous entry route of the Kilimanjaro National park. It is allocated at the base on the southern part of the Kilimanjaro Mountain.
Just Like the other gates, the gate has park administration offices where all official park activities related to the park are done like the registration.
It’s not just a formality, everyone that enters that park has to be registered to keep trek and account for all lives.
This gate is located in the area of Machame which is the southern part of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. The journey to this gate is well done and this makes the drive to this gate a little more smooth compared to the Marangu gate.
The gate has fewer shops since the gate is mostly for ascending and there for the traffic is a bit low.
The gate is approximately 30 kilometers from the town of Moshi and can take about 45 minutes since the road is well done.
The Umbwe Gate
The Umbwe Gate is of course the gate way to the Umbwe route of the Kilimanjaro National park. This route is also among those that are only used to ascend and you will have to use a different route to descent.
Some of the options for descending are the Mweka route. The route has low traffic due to its small size and location.
For those that want small groups, here you will not be as crowded as the other routes.
Umbwe is a remote place on the southern footsteps of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. This is where the Umbwe gate is also located.
The place a very low population and you will find just a few locals. Most of the people here are farmers.
The Mweka Gate
The Mweka route is mostly a descend route for people hiking the Kilimanjaro mountain.
This route is most popular for this. More than half the number of the people that hike the Kilimanjaro will descend and leave the Kilimanjaro through this gate.
It is common for the people that hike through the Umbwe, Machame, Shira, Lemosho and other northern routes.
The Park authority offices are small just like in Umbwe since the biggest activity here is descending and there for there is just making sure that the group the hiked has come in the same number as they left which part of the park’s mandate to account for all people an lives.
In the Southern boundary of mountain Kilimanjaro in the Uhuru west ward is where the Mweka gate is located. The place is rural with very few locals and very few residential homes.
The people here a predominantly farmers and as you head to this gate, you will drive though a lot of coffee and Banana plantations.
The gate is near the Moshi town and you can shop from Moshi as this gate has very little shop and may not cater for all your needs.
The Lemosho Gate
The Lemosho Gate gate is where the Lemosho trail begins from. It’s of course one of the entry Points of the Kilimanjaro National park and the Kilimanjaro Mountain.
Like all the entry points, there is the administration office of the park here for registration and other related activities.
This gate is no accessed by car and therefore you will have to enter through Londorosi Gate and you may be required to do your registration here before you proceed to the starting point of the Lemosho trail.
This gate almost acts as a meeting point of the Lemosho trail. You will meet your team here and all the briefing will be done here. Most of the facilities like other gates will be available for example the toilets.
This gate in located on the North western area of the bottom of the base of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. The gate is also in a rural area just like the Mweka gate and you will go though plantations of coffee and bananas to get here.
The gate doesn’t have an actual entrance as you will first go through the Londorosi Gate to eventually reach this gate.
The Londorosi Gate
This gate is located on the northern part of the base of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. This is a busy area as it is the administrative gate for the Shira and Lemosho routes.
The area is an open field with several offices of the park authority. It’s called a gate but it’s more like an administrative area.
Most of the registration and related activities for Hiking Kilimanjaro through Shira and Lemosho is done here.
When all the registration formalities are done, you will drive to the starting point of either the Lemosho or Shira trails.
The area around the Londorosi gate receives a lot rainfall levels due to the fact that it is at the bottom of a montane forest.
Moshi is usually the nearest point to the Kilimanjaro among the major towns as it is about 42 Kilometers from the Kilimanjaro National Park.
The Londorosi gate is about 80 Kilometers from the town of Moshi.
It’s about one hour and 40 minutes to two hours. The drive is a bit smooth since there traffic is majorly that, that heads to the park.
The Rongai or Nalemuru or Nalemoru Gate
This gate is known as The Rongai or Nalemuru or Nalemoru Gate. It’s located on the north Eastern part of the base of the Kilimanjaro Mountain and it’s also close to the Tanzania-Kenya boarder.
It is the starting point for hiker using the Rongai trail to the highest peak of Kibo or Uhuru. The Rongai gate has administrative offices of the park that monitor and offer all the services related to hiking including registration.
Rongai is also a remote area gate and is rarely used by hikers and therefore has low traffic. It’s far from most of the other attractions and that’s why it’s not a favorable hiking route.
It’s almost three hours from the major town of Moshi. Although the road here is tarmacked, the drive is really long. The roads as you approach the gate are murram.
The drive however gives stunning views as you go through plantations of Bananas and coffee. You will also encounter Lake Chala.
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