This day is spent relaxing and recovering from your travels. You will have an opportunity to meet the rest of the Kilimanjaro team and our mountain guides.

Morning 

This is your time to relax and explore a bit as you stroll around Moshi downtown.

Afternoon – ORIENTATION

We’ll meet as a group this afternoon. Your guide will have a trip briefing and review your equipment. You’ll be responsible for packing your own mountain gear into a duffel bag (up to 39 pounds/ 18 kilos) that the porters will carry. You’ll also leave one bag with travel and safari clothes, etc. at the hotel in storage.

6,046ft /1,840m – 5m/8km

After breakfast you will be transferred from Moshi to Marangu Gate – once you reach the gate, you will sign the register at the park office and make your final preparations for the climb. Your team of porters will arrange and load their packs, containing the food, water, cooking gas and most of your equipment. It is important to have all your daypack items such as drinking water, a lunch pack and extra clothing with you and not with the porters, as they will ascend a lot quicker than your group.

After stopping for lunch and a rest, you will head off to Mandara Hut where you will stay overnight. This camp consists of a group of wooden A-framed huts situated in a forest clearing, with each hut sleeping 4 hikers in bunk beds. All the huts are equipped with solar generated lighting and this camp has a total capacity of 60 hikers. Spring water is piped into the camp and you will find flush toilets behind the main hut. Dinner and overnight at Mandara hut.

8,858ft / 2,700m – 7miles /12km

Your waiter will greet you at your hut as you awaken with hot drinks at your choice, followed by water for a quick wash before breakfast. The first part of the walk is a steep ascent through forest, but the path soon opens out into grassy moorland and, in clear weather, there are good views of Kibo and Mawenzi peaks. We stop on the trail for picnic lunch.  We climb steadily through the moorland zone, containing giant heather and occasional stands of groundsel, to eventually reach the hut complex at Horombo hut. Sunrises and sunsets here are often very spectacular; the site is close to the glaciated dome of Kibo and there is a real sense of being above the clouds. Dinner and overnight at Horombo hut.

12,205ft / 3,720m – 3 miles/5km – 14,160ft / 4,315m – 3miles/5km

Today is acclimatization day so you will stay based at Horombo hut. From here we recommend taking the hike past Zebra Rocks to Mawenzi saddle – this hike forms an important part of the acclimatization process. The hike will take you 3 hours on the ascent, and a further 2 hours for the descent back to camp. Remember to keep your water intake levels up, and not too rush this hike.

Horombo hut is actually a village of huts with double the capacity of Mandara hut – both ascending and descending hikers meet here with all the guides, porters and cooks on their respective routes – so this camp is normally full and buzzes with activity and excitement.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and overnight at Horombo hut. Tonight, you will have a good opportunity to get to bed early for a good night’s sleep – make the most of it because you will need all the energy you can get for the next couple of days.

12,205ft / 3,720m – 6 miles/10km

We climb very gradually towards the lunar desert of the Saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo. The terrain changes to scree and there is a palpable sense of high-altitude wilderness. We stop on the trail for picnic lunch. We usually reach Kibo Hut at the bottom of the Kibo peak by midday and the afternoon is free (to contemplate the summit ascent!!). The remainder of the day is spent resting and eating in preparation for the final in the midnight!

15,450ft /4,710m – 4 miles/6km – 19,341ft/5895m – 12,205 /3,720m 10 miles/16km

Wake at midnight to a light breakfast, and then prepare for your summit ascent. The goal is to climb before dawn so that you can reach Uhuru Peak shortly after sunrise. Leave at 1 AM, switchback up steep screed or possibly snow, and reach Gilman’s Point on the crater rim at 5,861 m/18,640 ft between 6 and 7 AM. Another 2 hours of hiking along the crater rim near the celebrated snows takes you to Kilimanjaro’s true summit, Uhuru peak.

We arrive at the summit and are rewarded with clear views before midmorning clouds roll in. We will bask in the glory of our accomplishment, grab a bite to eat and enjoy the breathtaking views.  This is a great opportunity to take lots of photos. After our summit celebration we will begin our descent past. We stop at Kibo hut for lunch and pack before we descend to Horombo Hut. After descending 12,205ft, you will feel intoxicated by the oxygen-rich air! At Horombo we will wash and have evening tea before meeting the team for Tipping ceremony. Dinner and overnight.

12,205/ 3,720m – 13m/20km

Wake as usual, pack, and descend through the moorland to the Mandara Huts. Have lunch there then continue your triumphant recessional down through lush forest to the park gate. A vehicle will take you back to the hotel in Moshi.

A Celebratory Dinner at the Hotel will complete this amazing adventure!

Summiting Kilimanjaro marks the end of one adventure and the start of another – you can choose to extend your stay by adding a safari and/or trip to the Island of Zanzibar.

Transferred to Airport fly home, safari, or a relaxing trip to Zanzibar.