Trek one of the quietest trails up Kilimanjaro from home.
Last week saw us embark on a virtual expedition on the Machame Route.
This week we’ll be tackling the Rongai Route.
Due to the remote location of its trailhead, Rongai is seldom visited by the trekkers.
It takes a long four-hour drive from the Moshi town (a popular travel hub) to get there. Yet, the experiences on Rongai are rewarding - the only route approaching Kilimanjaro from the North, it offers sheerly different vegetation and landscapes from what a one can see on the other Kilimanjaro route.
Rainforest zone
The rainforest zone on the Rongai route is somewhat special from this zone in the south, east of west - it does not receive so much rainfall, and here the hikers have a chance to see coniferous trees.
Heather and Moorland
At around 2800 m the heather and moorland zone begins. This is where the rainforest zone recedes, eventually giving way to heather. The higher we go, the less thick vegetation becomes.
Alpine desert
Alpine (or Highland) desert starts at 4000 m. These fields look empty and desolated. This area gets the least rainfall of all - less than 8 inches every year. The vegetation is meagre, as very few plants can handle burning say at daytime and subzero temperatures at night.
Arctic Zone
The Arctic zone starts at 5000m and tops at Uhuru Peak at 5,895m. Its lower area is known as “scree” - the mass of loose pebble, gravel and soil. It is one of the reasons why all summits start at night - low temperatures freeze pieces of this scree together, making it less loose and allowing the boots to have better traction.
Uhuru Peak (5,895m)
Congratulations you are now at Uhuru Peak, Tanzania. 5895 AMSL.
Explore the imagery
View on:
Altezza Travel
This Guidebook would not have been possible without the studious team at Altezza Travel.
They’re taking bookings for the 2021 season, including the Rogai route. See the Altezza Travel website for more details.
More soon…
Sadly we could only able to film two treks (see the Machame Route here)) due to timings over the January to March trekking season.
When the good weather for trekking returns again in June, we’ll be hoping for a few more drier days to capture the missing imagery with our Trek Packs.
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