Climbing in Tanzania

Bobby Hutton wrote: I recently got a chance to do some more exploration in Northern Tanzania. I had seen some promising looking rock from the high way and went out with my friends to check it out. As you can see in the pictures it is an impressive cliff face that is fairly clean for Tanzania and looks like it has potential. I believe the rock face is around 300 meters tall. Good news is there is a pretty decent road to the base of the escarpment, bad news is there is no trail up to the cliff face just lots and lots of thorns.  This cliff is not to far from the Lake Manyara National Park. Rough Gps Coordinates-3.898788, 35.704802

I must say, that Manyara Escarpment cliff face looks very intriguing. Anyone explored this any further?

Anyone in this thread still in TZ? Will be in Dar for work for 6 months and am looking for partners. Will have time throughout to explore the country. Have a rack, rope and am keen for some exploring / adventure climbing.

Also looking to plan a trip up to Mt. Kenya, ideally around June-July.

Mitch Guichon wrote: Anyone in this thread still in TZ? Will be in Dar for work for 6 months and am looking for partners. Will have time throughout to explore the country. Have a rack, rope and am keen for some exploring / adventure climbing.

Also looking to plan a trip up to Mt. Kenya, ideally around June-July.

Hi Mich, there is a possibility that I will be based in Dar for a work contract, I'll only find out in the next week or two. Will let you know if it comes through.

Hi Mitch and Darryl, I will be based in Dar until August! I only brought my shoes unfortunately, but would be down to tag along if you go bouldering somewhere or something!

Darryl Combe wrote:

Hi Mich, there is a possibility that I will be based in Dar for a work contract, I'll only find out in the next week or two. Will let you know if it comes through.

Perfect, looking forward to it if it works out!

Laurel wrote: Hi Mitch and Darryl, I will be based in Dar until August! I only brought my shoes unfortunately, but would be down to tag along if you go bouldering somewhere or something!

Don't have a pad unfortunately, not even sure where one would get one here? But will let you know if I get up to anything! Not much established around here

Mitch Guichon wrote:

Don't have a pad unfortunately, not even sure where one would get one here? But will let you know if I get up to anything! Not much established around here

I can't find any reference on the internet to climbing or bouldering around Dar. Worst case scenario I'll put a small bouldering wall and campus board up for training.

Mitch Guichon wrote:

Don't have a pad unfortunately, not even sure where one would get one here? But will let you know if I get up to anything! Not much established around here

That's true it might be a bit difficult to find one, but it might be possible! Sounds good though! Definitely let me know

I've created a group on Facebook called Tanzania Rock Climbing Club, lets see if we can get a group going in order to explore possible climbing activities.

Darryl Combe wrote:

I can't find any reference on the internet to climbing or bouldering around Dar. Worst case scenario I'll put a small bouldering wall and campus board up for training.

I've heard about people bouldering around Coco beach at low tide. Also found this online, covering stuff in the Arusha area.


Topo & source 

Bergman wrote: I lived in Tanzania for a while about 10 years ago. Is it your first time to eastern Africa? I did the trek up mt Meru - you would nee d a special permit to climb there - its a National Park, and one of the requirements is to travel with Vidmateam armed Park  iTunes guide. We were actually charged by a few Notepad++elephants there, and the guides had to fire more than a few shots off to scare them away. But there is lots of good rock, as mentioned above, even on the road to  Dar. My only advice is that you will not find much in the way of good gear there, so bring your own, and most importantly driving times are muchg, much longer. We figured 40km and hour of non-highway travel was doing really good. Most of time it was closer to 25km/hour max. The dirt roads are rough, but the highway is half-decent, especially around Arusha.

Update.
I have been doing alot of research on climbing in Tanzania. I have yet to find anything of developed routes or crags. Still looking.
I have however found some very interesting pictures. The following are from the Usambara Mountains A couple hours south east of Arusha that I found in a google search.

ARINITYRA LIYATSIA wrote:

Update.
I have been doing alot of research on climbing in Tanzania. I have yet to find anything of developed routes or crags. Still looking.
I have however found some very interesting pictures. The following are from the Usambara Mountains A couple hours south east of Arusha that I found in a google search.

Have you checked with the Mountain Club of Kenya? I know there was development in Tanzania in the past, those records have probably not been modernized.

ARINITYRA LIYATSIA wrote:

Update.
I have been doing alot of research on climbing in Tanzania. I have yet to find anything of developed routes or crags. Still looking.
I have however found some very interesting pictures. The following are from the Usambara Mountains A couple hours south east of Arusha that I found in a google search.

Hi, there is a bolted multi pitch on longido near the summit (2 1st pitches barely hvs, final 4 pitches easy slab walk/scramble) It’s a nice day hike,  but you barely need a rope for the climb. You have to take a ‘guide’ on the walk and pay your forestry fee. Still, rock is clean, views are nice. Don’t know if anyone’s mentioned it yet- sorry if they have! Plenty of rock in singida, usambaras, iringa, etc, but you’ve probably seen that also. 

There is an active group of climbers in Iringa (they have a whatsapp group). A few cracks to climb, and many to be climbed. Take your gear, since no one in Iringa has trad gear (if you have big cams, bring them too, a few massive OW or maybe even chimneys yet to be climbed).
In Dar, we're empty handed at the moment. A few schools have walls, but won't share them. You can boulder the reefs of Bongoyo Island, but be careful of cutting yourself. Climbing baobab trees has also proven to be tricky. There is an initiative from local climbers to set up a 9 meter wall that should be up by late May somewhere in Masaki.

Rodolfo Lesser wrote: There is an active group of climbers in Iringa (they have a whatsapp group). A few cracks to climb, and many to be climbed. Take your gear, since no one in Iringa has trad gear (if you have big cams, bring them too, a few massive OW or maybe even chimneys yet to be climbed).
In Dar, we're empty handed at the moment. A few schools have walls, but won't share them. You can boulder the reefs of Bongoyo Island, but be careful of cutting yourself. Climbing baobab trees has also proven to be tricky. There is an initiative from local climbers to set up a 9 meter wall that should be up by late May somewhere in Masaki.

Thanks for this info Rodolfo. Any idea how I can get hold of the Masaki climbers?

In case anybody is wondering I know that there are a few bolted multi-pitches on Longido. I live in Arusha and I have done some exploring around the area for potential climbs. I did a school trip up Longido  in October 2019 (I'm only 16) and I saw some bolts around in areas. I asked the guide and he said that some Germans set them up. The bolts looked to be in good condition (no rust, solid rock) and I took some pictures of them (I can't find them sadly). I did look up the brand later and I can confirm they are German. The guide told me that there are a few bolted multi-pitches on Longido but I don't know much more than that. I haven't really built up a proper trad rack (just a nut set and some cams) but I have all the gear needed for a bolted multi-pitch.

I've done some exploring around Arusha but from what I've found most of the cliffs are awful gravely rock (there are a lot of gravel mines in the area). You'll need to travel a ways out of Arusha if you want to find any good rock. I'm trying to see if me and a friend can do the multi-pitches on Longido and I'll make sure to post an update if it happens.

Edit:

There is a bolted 6 pitch 200 meter route on some sloping rock on the approach to the summit. Easy climbing (no harder than 5.7 and 5.3-5.4 for most pitches), but still an enjoyable fun little day climb. If you are confident you can free solo the route like I did, just watch out for wet rock from the clouds. Ask any local guide or ranger and they can easily take you there. Only trouble is it takes a 4 hour hike to reach the rock, but combined with summiting the mountain it can be a fun day trip. There's potential for a lot of climbing on the main cliff face, but it'll be a big undertaking. There's an established trad multipitch or two on the main wall, but these are 350 and 600 meters long, so be prepared.

Bumping this thread.  I just moved to Lushoto and would love to find some climbing partners.  I'm scouting the area for potential development but without a car it's difficult.  I spotted some boulders on the road going up the Usambara escarpment leading to Lushoto, but you'll need a machete and a lot of patience to establish anything.