8-Day Kilimanjaro Uhuru Peak Trek via Machame Route from 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 in Moshi.

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

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

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

• Stop for lunch before continuing on to Machame Camp.

• Arrive at Machame Camp later in the afternoon. Your porters will already have arrived and 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 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, hiking time is about 7-8 hours, and the distance travelled will be about 16-19 km.

• Enjoy breakfast at Machame Camp.

• Climb for an hour or so before leaving the forest glades behind. The gradient eases off as you hike through moorland for a further 2 hours until it is time for lunch.

• Continue your ascent up a rocky ridge leading onto the Shira Plateau. From here, on a clear day, you will see the Western Breach and its awesome glaciers to the east.

• Enjoy a short hike onward to Shira Camp, where you will spend the night. Again, the porters will have your tents pitched before you arrive and will boil drinking and washing water before your cook prepares dinner.

At 3,850 metres, temperatures at this camp will drop to more than just a few degrees below freezing. The altitude ranges between 2,980 metres and 3,850 metres, hiking time is around 6 hours, and the distance travelled will be around 9-10 km.

• Turn east from Shira Camp towards Kibo. You will find yourself hiking through semi-desert and fairly rocky terrain surrounding Lava Tower. By the time you get here, you will have hiked for about 5 hours and reached an altitude of over 4,450 metres.

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

• Descend again by approximately 650 metres down to 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 for some stunning pictures. The camp is located in a valley just below the Breach and the rather impressive 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 down to 3,950 metres. Hiking time is around 7 hours, and the distance travelled will be 14-15 km.

• Leave Barranco Camp and make your way up the Great Barranco Wall - this part of the climb looks far worse than it really is, so remember that as you begin.

• Descend through the Karanga Valley from the Great Barranco Wall, crossing 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 of it. From this junction, it will take 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 expect gale-force winds and a freezing night here. At camp, your guide will advise you to familiarise yourself with your surroundings before dark, as you will be leaving at midnight for 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 your headlamp and camera batteries are in order, and make sure you have spare sets available. Be in bed by 19h00 - you will only have 4½ hours before your wake-up call, so it is important to get as much sleep as possible beforehand.

The altitude ranges between 3,950 metres and 4,560 metres, hiking time is 7 hours, and the distance travelled will be about 13 km.

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

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

• Depart from Stella Point and more than likely walk through snow for the next 2 hours until you finally reach the summit of Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres.

• Do not get too relaxed or 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 moving again. Take a little time to enjoy the fact that you have conquered Kilimanjaro, get the camera out, and take some pictures, then it is best to keep moving - it is a long way down.

• Descend first to Barafu, which 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.

The altitude ranges between 4,560 metres and 5,895 metres, then back down to 3,100 metres. Hiking time is around 15-16 hours, and the distance travelled will be around 30 km.

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

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

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

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

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

• Transfer back to the airport or hotel.