Itinerary

1. Day 1: Moshi

   • Meet your local guide at Kilimanjaro International airport and transfer to Moshi, where you will spend the evening.

   • Before dinner, your guide will sit with you and brief you on the climb ahead.

   Overnight stay at Moshi.

2. Day 2: Moshi to Machame Camp

   • Travel from Moshi to Machame Village, where all your supplies and equipment will be prepared by your guide and a team of porters and a cook. Most likely, it will be wet and muddy, so you will have to take an hour-long walk of nearly 3 km from the village to the Machame gate; otherwise, you will be driven there if the road is dry enough.

   • Register at the gate office, begin your Kilimanjaro climb for real.

   • Enter the rainforest (where it really does rain), so you can fully expect to take a wet and soggy hike along a muddy trail until you hit the halfway point to the Machame Camp.

   • Stop for lunch before heading off for the Machame Camp.

   • Arrive at Machame Camp later in the afternoon; your porters will already have arrived and will have started preparing everything for your arrival, your tents will be pitched, and water will be on the boil.

   • Get a supply of water to wash with, and later on, your cook will prepare dinner for you.

   Expect temperatures to drop to freezing point at this campsite. The altitude ranges from 1,500 metres to 3,100 metres and the Hiking time takes about 7- 8 hours. Distance travelled will be about 16 – 19 km.

3. Day 3: Machame Camp to Shira Camp

   • Enjoy breakfast at Machame Camp.

   • Climb an hour or so before you leave the glades of the forest. The gradient eases off a bit as you hike through moorlands for a further 2 hours trek until it’s time for lunch.

   • Continue your ascent up a rocky ridge leading onto the Shira plateau. You will see from here the Western Breach with its awesome glaciers in the east on a clear day.

   • Enjoy a short hike from here to the Shira Campsite, where you will be spending the night. Again, the porters will have your tents pitched before you arrive and boil drinking and washing water before your cook prepares you dinner.

   At 3,850 metres, your night at this camp will see temperatures dropping to more than just a few degrees below freezing. Altitude ranges between 2,980 metres and 3,850 metres, and the Hiking time will be around 6 hours approximately. Distance travelled will be around 9 to 10 km.

4. Day 4: Shira Camp to Lava Tower to Barranco Camp

   • Turn east from Shira camp, towards Kibo. You will find yourself hiking through semi-desert conditions and fairly rocky conditions surrounding Lava Tower – to get here; you will have hiked for about 5 hours will have attained an altitude of over 4,450 metres.

   • Have lunch before beginning your ascent towards LavaTower at 4,600 metres.

   • Descend again by approximately 650 metres down to the Barranco camp – this will take a little over 2 hours of hiking.

   • Make the most of the excellent vantage points along the way, which overlook the Western Breach and Breach Wall – a good time to get your cameras out to get some stunning pictures. The camp is located in a valley just below the Breach and the rather impressive looking Great Barranco Wall.

   • Enjoy the magnificent sunset while you wait for your cook to finish preparing a well-deserved dinner, and the porters get your tents ready for a night of rest in subzero temperatures.

   Altitude ranges from 3,850 metres to 4,600 metres and then 3,950 metres. Hiking time is around 7 hours approximately, and the distance travelled will be 14-15 km.

5. Day 5: Barranco Camp to Barafu Camp

   • Leave Barranco Camp and make your way up the Great Barranco Wall – this part of the climb looks far worse than it really is – and remember this when you start this climb.

   • Descend through the Karanga Valley from the Great Barranco Wall, over intervening ridges and valleys, to the junction that connects with the Mweka route.

   • Make sure you fill up with water in the Karanga valley, as there will be no water at Barafu camp, where you will be spending part of the night.

   • Carry your water in a thermal flask; otherwise, it will freeze later. Mweka is the preferred route down from the summit, so make a mental note to remember it. From this junction, it will take you almost another hour to reach Barafu Hut.

   • Pitch your tents at an altitude of 4,560 metres on a narrow, stony, and dangerous ridge exposed to all the elements – you can bank on gale-force winds and a freezing night out here. At camp, your guide will advise you to familiarise yourself with your surroundings before dark, as you will be leaving at midnight to make the final ascent to the summit, and you will not want to be caught stumbling around or causing an accident on this ridge at this stage. You will also need to spend some time preparing your equipment for your summit attempt.

   • Ensure that headlamp and camera batteries are in order and make sure you have spare sets of batteries available. Make sure you are in bed by 19h00 - you will only have 4½ hours before your wake up call, so it’s important to get as much sleep as possible before.

   Altitude ranges between 3,950 metres to 4,560 metres, and the hiking time is 7 hours. Distance travelled will be about 13 km.

6. Day 6: Stella Point to Summit (Uhuru Peak) to Mweka Campsite

   • Rise around 23h30, and after some tea and biscuits, head off into the night towards Stella Point on the crater rim. The walk to Stella point is, for many climbers, probably the most mentally and physically challenging part of the entire route. You will be hiking for about 6 hours to get to Stella Point.

   • Stop for a rest at Stella Point and if the weather is kind, see a truly magnificent African sunrise.

   • Depart from Stella Point; you will more than likely be walking through snow for the next 2 hours when you will finally reach the summit of Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres.

   • Do not get too relaxed and spend too much time on the summit, even if the weather is good because cold and fatigue will set in quickly, and you may find it very difficult to get started again. So spend a little time to enjoy the fact that you have conquered Kilimanjaro, get the camera out and take some pictures, then it will be best that you get moving again – it is a long way down.

   • Descent to Barafu first; it will take almost another 3 hours. Here, stop for a short rest before heading down to Mweka Hut – it takes an average of 5 hours to work your way down the rock and scree path to the moorland and eventually back into the rainforest. Mweka camp is situated in the upper forest, and mist or rain can be expected in the late afternoon. As usual, your tents, dinner, and washing water will be prepared.

   Altitude ranges between 4,560 metres to 5,895 metres and back to 3,100 metres. Hiking time is around 15 to 16 hours, and the distance travelled will be around 30 kilometres.

7. Day 7: Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate

   • Take a short 3-hour and scenic hike back to the Mweka Park Gate, where you sign your name and enter your details in a register.

   • Make your achievement official; you will receive a summit certificate. If you reached Stella Point, you would be presented with a green certificate, and if you made it all the way to Uhuru Peak, you would have earned yourself a gold certificate.

   • Walk from the Mweka Gate down into the Mweka village, normally a muddy 3 km hike that will take an hour.

   • Be served a delicious hot lunch before returning to Moshi, where you will stay at your hotel. Take some timeout for a bit of celebrating before getting a decent night's rest in a comfortable bed.

   Altitude range is 3,100 metres to 1,970 metres. Hiking time is about 3 hours, and the distance travelled about 15 km.

8. Day 8: Departure

   • Transfer back to airport/hotel.