6-Day Kilimanjaro Trek via Marangu Route to Uhuru Peak

• Drive to Marangu Gate, enjoying excellent mountain views as you meet your team of guides and porters at the gate.

• Venture into the forest and come across brightly coloured birds, colobus monkeys and other monkey species, as well as mosses, lichens, flowers, delicate orchids, and views of the town of Moshi.

• After registration, begin the ascent on a 4-5 hour walk through areas of coffee plantations and thick rainforest to Mandara Hut.

Head out for dinner and an overnight stay.

• Start your day with a steep climb through the last swathe of rainforest, which gradually gives way to a rolling alpine meadow dotted with giant heather.

• Continue walking to catch a glimpse of Kilimanjaro's two peaks - snow-covered Kibo and rocky Mawenzi - lying straight ahead on the skyline.

• Cross a zone of open moorland with diminutive vegetation, gaining roughly 1,000 m in altitude; the walk can take five to seven hours, depending on your pace.

Be regaled with stories and anecdotes during dinner and your stay at Horombo Huts.

• Take the opportunity to acclimatise to the altitude as you set out on various walks.

• The most famous acclimatisation walk leads to the base of Mawenzi Peak, the dramatic eastern summit of Kilimanjaro. This round trip takes about 4-5 hours and rises to an altitude of 4,600 m.

Work up an appetite before heading back to Horombo Hut for dinner and an overnight stay.

• Watch the scenery become rockier and rougher as you leave for Kibo. Everlasting flowers, massive groundsels, and lobelias appear in the sparse moorland during five to seven hours of rigorous walking.

• Skirt the perimeter of Mawenzi Peak as you pass the Last Waterpoint, crossing a stark, almost lunar landscape to the Saddle - a wide tundra desert between the two peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo.

• Take in the awe-inspiring views of the upper ranges before arriving at Kibo Hut (4,705 m), a dry-stone-walled hut with dorms and limited facilities.

• Prepare for tomorrow's final assault - the summit - by repacking and leaving any non-essential items with the porters.

• Have an early night at Kibo Hut, as you must make a midnight start to reach the summit before the cloud cover settles.

• Set out in the darkness, zigzagging up a long scree slope by torchlight for roughly two hours before reaching Hans Meyer's Cave - named after the German geologist who made the first successful ascent in 1889 - where he found the remains of a frozen leopard.

• Keep in mind that the gradient gets steeper, and after another three hours - the hardest stretch of the climb - you reach the crater rim at Johanne's Notch.

• Make a short scramble to Gillman's Point (5,685 m) to witness the beauty of dawn.

• Stand mesmerized by the profusion of colours and shapes melding together as the sun rises over the ice fields and craggy peaks of Mawenzi.

• Continue for another couple of hours along the crater rim to reach Uhuru (Freedom) Peak (5,896 m).

• Retrace the route back down past Kibo Hut to Horombo Hut for a well-deserved rest throughout the day.

• Quicken your pace as you continue your triumphant descent across alpine meadow and past Mandara Hut, through the rainforest to Marangu Gate.

• Board the vehicle for the journey back to Moshi for a day room or overnight stay, depending on your plans in Tanzania.