Itinerary

1. DAY 01: Moshi - Machame Gate to Machame Camp

   • Start your day early with a briefing, breakfast, and a 45-minute drive from Moshi (910m) to the Machame Park Gate.

   • Register at the gate office, and you will start your ascent and enter the rainforest. You will receive a lunch pack at the gate, and you can also drink bottled water you bought at Springlands Hotel in Moshi. There is a possibility of rain in the forest, which will transform the trail into a very soggy, muddy and slippery experience. In the evening, the porters will boil drinking and washing water, and the cook will prepare dinner before you retire to your tent. Night temperatures can already drop to freezing point at Machame Camp.

2. DAY 02: Machame camp - shira camp

   • Rise early at Machame Camp, and after breakfast, you climb for an hour or so to the top of the forest and then for 2 hours at a gentler gradient through the moorland zone.

   • Take a short lunch and rest.

   • Continue up a rocky ridge onto the Shira plateau. By now, you will be able to see, in an easterly direction, the Western Breach with its stunning glaciers. You are now due west of Kibo, and after a short hike, you will reach the Shira camp at 3,840m. The porters will boil drinking and washing water before serving dinner. The night at this exposed camp will be colder than the previous night, with temperatures dropping to below freezing.

3. DAY 03: Shira Camp to Barranco Camp

   • Embark on the route, which now turns east into a semi-desert and rocky landscape surrounding Lava Tower, where you reach an altitude of 4630m after about a 5-hour walk.

   • Eat lunch served in a designated area before ascending the rocky scree path to Lava Tower (4630m). Definitely the toughest day so far. It usually is around this point where, for the first time, some climbers will start to feel symptoms of breathlessness, irritability and headaches.

   • Descend again by almost 680m to the Barranco camping area, and after reaching the high altitude of 4600m at Lava Tower, the true acclimatization benefit of this day becomes clear. This descent to Barranco camp takes about 2 hours and offers excellent opportunities to take beautiful photographs of the Western Breach and Breach Wall. The camp is situated in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Wall, which should provide you with a memorable sunset while you wait for the preparation of your dinner and overnight at Barranco Camp.

4. DAY 04: Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp

   • Start the morning with a scramble up the almost vertical Barranco Wall to an altitude of about 4200m and after approx. 3 hours, the path now crosses through the southern slopes to reach the Karanga Valley.

5. DAY 05: Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp

   • Continue after breakfast in a southeasterly direction to the junction before turning north to reach Barafu Camp (4600m) after about 4 hours. Here you take a long rest and prepare for the midnight ascent to the summit.

6. DAY 06: Barafu Camp to Uhuru Peak

   • Head around midnight northwesterly up the southeast valley towards Stella Point on the crater rim. The 6-hour walk to Stella Point is a mental and physical challenge, with the steep face just below Stella posing the ultimate challenge. The weather and wind conditions determine the time you spend on the summit.

   • Walk back to Mweka Camp from the summit, which can take over 7 hours.

7. DAY 07: Mweka Camp | Mweka Gate | Moshi

   • Travel from the Mweka Gate after breakfast, and you will continue down into the Mweka village, which is usually a muddy and long hour walk.

   • Drive to Springlands Hotel from the Mweka village, and you will be served a delicious hot lunch and a long overdue hot shower. It is recommended, and tips will be highly appreciated at the end of their trip. Tips can be given to the guide at the Springlands Hotel. This is also where successful climbers receive their summit certificates. Those climbers who reached Stella Point (5,685m) are issued green certificates, and those who reached Uhuru Peak (5,895m) receive gold certificates.

   Overnight in Springlands Hotel.