Climbing in Tanzania

Keep us updated! I'd love an excuse to go back!

Hey Bobby, I'll be in Tanzania also, starting this summer for about a year. I'll be doing my PhD fieldwork, so I'm not really sure how much time I'll have for climbing. Summers especially will be really busy with research. But I would love to get a few outings in if possible. I'll be in Kilimanjaro/Arusha region as well.

Another pic of Mount Longido blog.samt.st/africa/kenya-a…

Aerial Photography of Mount Longido from benwilhelmi.com.
benwilhelmi.typepad.com/ben…

Longido

mt longido

Mount Longido

These guys offer a hike up to Mount Longido. Knowing the location of that campsite and that access trail might be helpful.

authentickilimanjaro.com/ot…

And I think I remember taking some pictures of it at some point. We drove right past Longido coming from Nairobi down to Arusha. I'll try to track them down.

By the way, if you want a luxury night or two, check out The African Tulip. Best place I stayed in all of East Africa in the six months I was there. theafricantulip.com/home.html

Tyler,
Yeah I found alot of tour services offering basically the same tour. It seems to all go through the Tanzanian cultural program.
Yeah I would love to see pictures. I will be driving by it in the next few days but it might be at night.

Bobby, finally found some of my pictures. They aren't much (we were in a hurry) but they offer a different view than the ones already posted. This is Mt. Longido.

Mt. Longido at dusk, from the road.

Mt. Longido from the road. Forgive me for the 'stache

Mt. Longido from a distance. Striking feature.

Mt. Longido

Thanks for the pictures Tyler. I actually got to drive by Longido on Tuesday. I tried to take pictures, but nothing turned out. I was surprised that the large impressive face in your pictures was directly facing the road. There is a tremendous amount of rock immediately around the border. I am hoping to make it back up to mount longido in the next month or two and scout some routes.

Hi Bobby, i'm likely to be in Tanzania for some months later this year, no exactly sure when. I'm keen to get out climbing too. Have you found anywhere interesting with established climbs? I'm also up for new-routing, trad/sport whatever. let me know if you've found any places that sounds promising. I don't have much time to do research. I may also get to Malawi, Zambia & kenya... incase you found anything good there. Cheers, Ben

Ben, PM sent

I made it up to Mount Longido this weekend. It is well worth a stop if you are passing by. It is much less of a tourist trap than Kili and Meru. The view from the top its really good. On a clear day you can see Kili and Meru in the south and into kenya in the north.

View from the top of Longido into kenya
Rock quality wise, it is very solid granite. It has a lot more texture than the Yosemite granite I am used to. I was not able to get at the main face (which is in all the previous pictures on this thread) this trip. I am afraid that it will be dirty as all the rocks at the summit have lichen on them. The summit. Notice the Lichen covered granite.
The entire mountain side is covered in large granite boulders, some might be as tall as 60 feet.
Overhanging Granite Boulder
So there is a lot of potential there. I am hoping to make it up there again soon.

Check out Mbuji rock in Southern Tanzania.

Mbuji rock 1

Mbuji rock 2

Mbuji 3

Do you know if Mbuji rock has ever been climbed? It looks like there is no walking path to the summit, so it would have to be a technical climb.

Hey Pat,
I am loving the climbing you are developing and posting over in Angola. Good job. I would love to make it over there one of these days.
I haven't been down to Mbuji so my info is from online research. I found a comment somewhere about a fairly well worn path to the top. I also found a story about a peace corp volunteer who died in a "rock climbing" accident there. What their definition of rock climbing is I am not sure. From the little info i found about the actually event it sounds like he slipped while hiking down.
So to answer your question it looks like there is a non technical route up and I don't know if there are any technical routes in existence.

Bobby, so excited to hear you made it up Longido! That is so cool. I remember driving by and wishing I could go up it. 60 ft tall bolders? Sounds pretty wild! I hope you're able to get up there.

Mbuji looks like a winner.

So I made it up to Longido again this weekend but this time I had all my gear and another climber. The results weren't very encouraging. In short I believe that route development is possible, but it would require a lot more effort, time and money than I have.
When you look at the face from a distance it looks clean.

Mount Longido from the West.
When you get on the face(We rappelled down from the summit) it is a different story.
On the face of Mount Longido
Most of the rock is covered with lichen and there are small shrubs and trees growing in most cracks. While this is not insurmountable it would require a lengthy cleaning process requiring more time and money than I can devote to it. With fees being $40 or more a day it would get expensive pretty quickly.
Nevertheless we did get sort of get in one route.
4 for 40. The picture angle makes it look steeper than it is.
It was about 40 feet of pretty decent 5.7 and and about 60 feet of nasty 4th class through bushes and shrubs. I am calling it 4 for 40 (4 hours packing a rack for 40 feet of climbing)
Approximate location of 4 for 40
So if someone where to want to really do it right, a trail would have to be broken through some dense brush to the base. After cleaning a trail you could set up camp and then continue "gardening" for several days as you climb up the wall.
Anyway that's my two cents about climbing Longido, I hope it is helpful to someone.

Hi
I am a climber based in Nairobi but not been to Longido. From Mtn Club of Kenya archives and the East Africa International Mtn Guide there are two routes up Longido:-

The Great Escape VI- (UIAA) 335m FA= A. Wielochowski, R. Corkhill 1984

West Diagonal V+ (UIAA) 600m FA= I.J.Allan, M.Savage 1973

The main W facing cliff is cut by a prominent L to R diagonal fault, The Great Escape follows the most prominent chimney line in centre of the R hand half of this cliff. THe upper section quits the main chimney line and traverses R below huge roofs to find a spectacular escape to the summit ridge. (Taken from EAMGuide)

Thanks Fish,
That is good info. Thanks for looking that up and posting it up.
I was looking at the chimney that I think the Great escape takes. I am not a fan of chimneys though. I made a simple topo of where I think the Great Escape is located. Tell me what you think.

Great Escape ?

I visited the Usambara mountains last week. Tons of potential there. I posted up some area and pics.
mountainproject.com/v/-west…

Hi,
I've just arrived in Arusha and would like to know if there's any climbing potential in the area. I'm also looking for a climbing partner, anyone out around here?
Thanks for getting back to me.