5-Day Kilimanjaro Marangu Route Climb to Uhuru Peak

After breakfast and a briefing from your guide, leave Moshi at 9 AM and drive for 45 minutes to Marangu Gate on the eastern side of Kilimanjaro. After registering with the national park, begin hiking at 10:30 AM.

In the rainforest, look for towering eucalyptus trees, birdlife, and Colobus monkeys. At these lower elevations, conditions can be wet and muddy, so gaiters and trekking poles will help. Shorts and T-shirts should be sufficient, but keep your rain gear and warmer clothing handy.

Stop halfway for lunch, then reach Mandara Hut at around 2 or 3 PM. Unpack, rest, and enjoy some tea or coffee. A 15-minute side trip to Maundi Crater is a good way to see the surroundings, including Northern Tanzania and Kenya. Dinner is served in the early evening at 7 PM. Bathrooms with running water are available.

Mandara Hut

• Budget mountain hut located on Mt Kilimanjaro

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (other drinks not included)

Wake to a 7:30 AM breakfast and pack for your next trek. Break camp by 8:30 AM and hike for an hour through rainforest glades, then follow an ascending path through heathland where you can look for giant lobelias and groundsels.

Continue up into open moorlands, where small shrubs are the main vegetation. Stop halfway for lunch, where you can enjoy amazing views of Mawenzi. Arrive at Horombo Hut by 3 PM, where you can see Kibo's summit. Rest, unpack, and prepare for dinner. Bathrooms with running water are available.

You may start to feel the effects of altitude here, and to aid your acclimatization, you can choose to spend an extra day resting at Horombo or climbing to a basecamp below Kibo's sub-peak Mawenzi.

Horombo Hut

• Budget mountain hut located on Mt Kilimanjaro

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (other drinks not included)

Wake to breakfast as usual, but if you rise early, you can get some great photos of the sunrise. The first part of the day's hike climbs through the dwindling heathland that blends into a moonscape as you enter the sweeping saddle connecting Mawenzi and Kibo.

When you stop for lunch, and later when you cross this surprisingly large saddle, you can examine the summit climb up Kibo that you will be starting in just a few hours. Be careful to notice any signs of altitude sickness. There is no running water at Kibo Hut.

Kibo Hut

• Budget mountain hut located on Mt Kilimanjaro

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (other drinks not included)

You can add an extra day at Horombo Hut (3,690 m/12,100 ft). You can spend a full day and a second night at Horombo.

On this day, you can either rest at the huts or take a stroll up to Mawenzi basecamp, then return to Horombo Hut. This extra day will help your acclimatization and further your understanding of the mountain's weather and altitude.

After your pause, you will continue up to Kibo Hut on your fourth day for your midnight start to the summit.

Horombo Hut

• Budget mountain hut located on Mt Kilimanjaro

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (other drinks not included)

Wake at midnight to a light breakfast, 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 and switchback up steep scree or possibly snow, reaching Gilman's Point on the crater rim at 5,861 m/18,640 ft between 5 and 7 AM. Here, views of the fabled crater and its icecaps greet you. Another 2 hours of hiking along the crater rim near the celebrated snows takes you to Kilimanjaro's true summit, Uhuru Peak, by 9 AM.

This is Africa's highest point, and you would have to travel more than 3,000 miles toward the Himalayas to find a higher peak. Be sure to have your picture taken at the summit to show your friends.

After your summit stay, descend back to Kibo Hut, have lunch, rest, collect your things, and re-cross the saddle to Horombo Hut. Eat dinner and get some well-deserved sleep.

No accommodation (End of tour)

Meals & Drinks:

• All meals included
• Drinking water (other drinks not included)