6-Day Mount Kilimanjaro Trek via Marangu Route to Uhuru Peak

• Get picked up from the hotel and drive to Marangu Gate. En route, enjoy excellent views of the mountains.

• Meet your team of Kilimanjaro trekking guides and porters at the gate. In the forest, see brightly coloured birds, colobus monkeys and other species of monkey, as well as mosses, lichens, flowers, and delicate orchids. If the skies are clear, you can also see the town of Moshi lying at the edge of the plains.

• Once registration is complete, start ascending through areas of coffee plantation and thick rainforest to Mandara Hut.

Dinner and overnight stay at the hut.

• Start the second day on the mountain just after breakfast with a steep climb through the last swathe of rainforest. The steep climb soon gives way to a rolling alpine meadow dotted with giant heather trees. Once you leave the forest shade, Kilimanjaro's two snow-covered peaks - Kibo and Mawenzi - lie straight ahead.

• Cross a zone of open moorland with diminutive vegetation as you go further. Today, you gain around 1,000 m of altitude. The walk can take five to seven hours depending on your pace.

• Arrive at Horombo Huts for dinner and overnight stay.

• Spend the day getting yourself acclimatised to the altitude, as acclimatisation effectively doubles the chance of success in reaching the summit.

• Embark on one of the most famous walks that most people take for acclimatisation. This leads you to the base of Mawenzi Peak, the dramatic eastern summit of Kilimanjaro. The walk takes 4-5 hours for a round trip and reaches an elevation of 4,600 m.

• Return to Horombo Hut for dinner and overnight stay.

• Leave Horombo behind, and the scenery becomes rockier and rougher. On the way, come across some rare flowers and other bizarre alpine plants. Massive groundsels and lobelias appear in the sparse moorland. The trail up to Kibo will take between five and seven hours.

• Skirt around Mawenzi Peak; after passing the Last Water Point, continue across a stark, wide tundra desert between the two peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo. Here, get fantastic views of the upper ranges of the mountain before arriving at Kibo Hut (4,705 m).

• Retire early, as it is imperative to make a midnight start in order to reach the summit in the morning before the cloud cover settles and still have time to get back down to the hut.

Overnight stay at Kibo Hut (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

• Wake up soon after midnight and start out in the darkness, zigzagging up a long scree slope using torchlight in the extreme cold. At this time of day, the scree is still frozen, which makes it easier to walk on.

• After roughly two hours, reach Hans Meyer's Cave, named after the German geologist who made the first successful ascent in 1889 and found the remains of a frozen leopard. From here on, the gradient gets steeper.

• In the next three hours, arrive at the crater rim at Johanne's Notch. From here, it's a short scramble to Gillman's Point (5,685 m).

• Reward yourself with the dramatic spectacle of the sun rising over the ice fields and craggy peaks of Mawenzi. The profusion of colours and shapes makes all the suffering seem worthwhile. For those who still have the energy and drive, it takes another couple of hours along the crater rim to reach Uhuru (Freedom) Peak (5,896 m).

• Descend (approx. 3 hours) and retrace the route past Kibo Hut to Horombo Hut for a well-deserved rest.

Overnight stay at Horombo Hut (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

• Start the descent across the alpine meadow and pass Mandara Hut through the rainforest to reach Marangu Gate.

• Collect your summit certificates at Marangu Gate and then board the vehicle for your journey back to Moshi.

• Arrive in Moshi, and you can either stay overnight or depart for the airport or other destinations in Tanzania.

End of the tour.