The Kilema route: riding towards the summit

The Kilema route is a 19 km track from Kilema Gate, at about 1,970 m6,463 ft on the south-east slope, to Horombo Hut at 3,720 m12,205 ft. It is the park's rescue road: a four-wheel-drive track that carries supplies up to Horombo and brings sick climbers down. It runs roughly parallel to the Marangu route and joins it at Horombo. Above Horombo, bikes follow the Marangu path to Kibo Hut and the summit.

It is the only route on which the park allows a bike towards the summit. Porters are not allowed on the Kilema track: they walk up the Marangu route a day ahead and meet the riders at Horombo.

A typical five days

The itineraries published by operators that run this trip follow the same shape, and the days below combine them. Altitudes are the ones used throughout this guide.

Day 1: Kilema Gate to Horombo Hut

You register at Marangu Gate (1,860 m6,102 ft) and transfer by vehicle to Kilema Gate, where the riding starts. The 19 km to Horombo take five to eight hours, all of it uphill. The grade goes from easy to steep as the track winds up through the rainforest, and it breaks out of the trees into moorland at about 3,000 m9,843 ft. Ride gently and rest often: this is the day that sets up your acclimatization. Some operators split it, with a first night at a campsite part-way up.

Day 2: acclimatization day at Horombo

A ride or walk towards Mawenzi and the Saddle, then back to Horombo to sleep. Riders have reached about 4,270 m14,009 ft on this loop. Climb high, sleep low: the same principle as the acclimatization days on a walking climb.

Day 3: Horombo Hut to Kibo Hut

About 9 km to Kibo Hut at 4,700 m15,420 ft, along the Marangu path across the Saddle (see Horombo Hut to Kibo Hut). The path is wide and the gradient gentle, so most of it is rideable, slowly. Allow four to six hours.

Day 4: summit, and down to Horombo

The longest day. Above Kibo Hut the path climbs loose scree to Gilman's Point at 5,681 m18,638 ft, and here the bike is carried, on your back or by a summit porter. The crater rim is flatter, and riders get back on for the stretch past Stella Point (5,756 m18,885 ft) to Uhuru Peak (5,895 m19,341 ft).

The way down is the reward. Ride the rim back and carry the bike over the steep rocks below Gilman's Point. Ride the scree if you are skilled enough, then take the long run from Kibo Hut to Horombo. That last section, several hours on foot, has been ridden in about 90 minutes. Allow 13 to 17 hours for the whole day.

Day 5: Horombo Hut to Kilema Gate

The 19 km back down the track you rode up on day 1, five to seven hours, mostly downhill.

How much you really ride

The Kilema track, the Saddle and the crater rim are rideable. The summit cone between Kibo Hut and Gilman's Point is not, in either direction, for almost everyone. Over the five days riders climb and then descend about 4,000 m13,123 ft. The descent is what most of them come for, and it is also where the risk is: loose rock, steep ruts, short carries, and tired legs at altitude.

Night start or daylight?

The park's cycling guidelines allow riding only between 6.30 am and 6 pm, and they set the summit for bike trips between 11 am and 6 pm. The published itineraries, though, leave Kibo Hut around midnight like a walking climb, with the bikes carried, because frozen scree is firmer at night and the summit is clearer at dawn. Ask your operator which plan they follow and why. A daylight summit means a later start from a high camp and a descent that has to finish before dark.

Is five days enough?

Five days is the same as the shortest Marangu climb. This guide presents Marangu as a six-day climb, with an extra night at Horombo for acclimatization, and does not recommend the five-day version (see also How many days do you need?). Riding does not change the altitude. We would add a second night at Horombo, or a night at the half-way campsite on day 1, and choose an operator who allows it. Read Altitude and acclimatization before you book, as you would for any route.

The bike and your kit

A mountain bike with good brakes and suspension, ideally full suspension for the descent, and spares for a week with no shop: tubes, tyres, brake pads, a chain link. Your operator provides the safety kit the park requires (helmet, whistle, GPS, first-aid kit, glasses, repair kit and communications), but your own helmet and pedals that suit you are worth bringing. Everything else is the standard Kilimanjaro kit in Equipment and packing: the summit night is as cold for a rider as for anyone else.

Riders who went first

Nicholas and Richard Crane pedalled to the summit over Christmas 1984 and New Year 1985, raising money for charity, and told the story in Bicycles Up Kilimanjaro. Bikes were later banned in the park for many years, until the park published its cycling guidelines and opened the Kilema route.

On 28 January 2022 the Canadian mountain biker Cory Wallace rode from Kilema Gate to Uhuru Peak and back in 8 hours 55 minutes. He left the gate at 7 am, reached the summit at 2 pm, and had scouted the route to the top earlier the same week.