7-Day Kilimanjaro Trek via Umbwe Route to Uhuru Peak

• Start your day early with a briefing, followed by breakfast and a one-hour drive from Moshi to Umbwe Village (1,490 m/4,890 ft), where your Kilimanjaro guides and porters pack your equipment and supplies and provide you with a packed lunch.

• Begin your ascent at the small Umbwe Gate just above the village and follow a gentle, winding vehicle track for an hour to a signboard marking the start of the steep Umbwe Trail. Climb for several hours through a dense forest of rubber trees and giant fig trees.

• Proceed to Umbwe Camp in the forest, where there are some caves nearby.

• Be greeted here with a graciously served hot meal.

8 km, 5-7 hours

Habitat: Montane Forest

• Start your day early with a steaming cup of tea or coffee.

• After breakfast, climb steeply through thinning forest glades into Giant Erica, heather, and drier air.

• Continue up a ridge that drops steeply on both sides, and hopefully the clouds will part to reward you with a view of Uhuru Peak looming overhead.

• After lunch, enter a zone of giant groundsels (Senecio Kilimanjari) that seem to guard the heights. This garden is one of Kilimanjaro's special treasures.

8 km, 4-5 hours

Habitat: Semi-desert

• Extra day for acclimatisation. Adding this day will ease your effort and improve your acclimatisation.

• After breakfast, continue up a steep ridge to the great Barranco Wall and then climb this imposing obstacle, which turns out to be easier than it looks.

• After topping out just below the Heim Glacier, appreciate just how beautiful Kilimanjaro really is. With Kibo's glaciers soaring overhead, descend into the lush Karanga Valley to the Karanga Valley campsite.

• From the camp, look east and see the jagged peaks of Mawenzi jutting into the African sky.

• After a hot lunch in camp, your afternoon is at leisure for resting or exploring. This short day is very important for your acclimatisation, since your summit push is about to start.

• Scramble easily to the top of the Great Barranco and then traverse screes and ridges to the Karanga Valley campsite (3h, 4000m), beneath the icefalls of the Southern Glaciers.

7 km, 4 hours

Habitat: Alpine Desert

• In the morning, hike east over intervening ridges and valleys to join the Mweka Route, which will be your descent route.

• Turn left toward the mountain and hike up the ridge through a sparse landscape for another hour to Barafu Hut, where you will receive a hot lunch. The last water on the route is in the Karanga Valley; there is no water at Barafu Camp. The famous snows of Kilimanjaro are far above Barafu Camp near the summit of the mountain.

• See your tent pitched on a narrow, stony, wind-swept ridge, so make sure you familiarize yourself with the terrain before dark to avoid any accidents.

• Prepare your equipment and warm clothing for your summit climb, and drink plenty of fluids.

• After an early dinner, go to bed for a few hours of precious sleep.

13 km, 8 hours

Habitat: Alpine Desert

• Rise around 11:30 pm, and after some steaming tea and biscuits, shuffle off into the night. Your six-hour climb northwest through heavy scree between the Rebmann and Ratzel glaciers to Stella Point on the crater rim is the most challenging part of the route for most climbers.

• At Stella Point (5,685 m/18,650 ft), stop for a short rest and a chance to see a supremely sanguine sunrise. At Stella Point, join the top part of the Marangu Route, but do not stop here too long, as it will be extremely difficult to start again due to cold and fatigue.

• Depending on the season and recent storms, you may encounter snow on your remaining hike along the rim to Uhuru Peak. On the summit, enjoy your accomplishment and know that you are creating a day that you will remember for the rest of your life.

• After your three-hour descent from the summit back to Barafu Camp, have a well-earned but short rest, collect your gear, and hike down a rock and scree path into the moorland and eventually into the forest to Mweka Camp (3,100 m/10,170 ft). This camp is in the upper forest, so you can expect mist or rain in the late afternoon.

• Relish dinner and washing water prepared for you, and note that the camp office sells drinking water, soft drinks, chocolates, and beer.

7 km up, 23 km down; 8 hours up, 7-8 hours down

Habitat: Scree and seasonal snow

• After a well-deserved breakfast, enjoy a short, scenic, three-hour hike back to the park gate, but do remember to tip your staff at the gate.

• At Mweka Gate, you can sign your name and add your details to a register. This is also where successful climbers receive their summit certificates. Climbers who reached Stella Point are issued green certificates, and those who reached Uhuru Peak receive gold certificates.

• From Mweka Gate, continue down to Mweka Village, possibly on a muddy 3 km, one-hour hike if the road is too muddy for vehicles.

• In Mweka Village, enjoy a delicious hot lunch and then drive back to Moshi for an overdue hot shower and a comfortable night at your hotel in Moshi.

15 km, 3 hours

Habitat: Forest