8-Day Kilimanjaro Climb via the Umbwe Route to Uhuru Peak

• You will be picked up by an Uphill Treks and Safaris driver at Kilimanjaro International Airport and transferred to your hotel in Moshi town.

• You will then meet your guide for a briefing on your upcoming trek and an equipment check to ensure you have all the necessary mountain gear. Any missing gear can be rented on this day.

Meals: No lunch or dinner included.

• Your day starts 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 guides and porters pack your equipment and supplies and provide you with a lunch pack. You 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. The introduction is over, and you now climb for several hours through a dense forest of rubber trees and giant fig trees. In some places, you must scramble up steep sections of roots and rock. Umbwe Camp is set in the forest, with some caves nearby, and you will be welcomed with a graciously served hot meal.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included.

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

• After breakfast, you will climb steeply through thinning forest glades into Giant Erica, Heather, and drier air. You continue up a ridge that drops steeply on both sides, and if the clouds part, you will be rewarded with a view of Uhuru Peak looming overhead.

• After lunch, you enter a zone of giant groundsels (Scenario Kilimanjaro) that seem to guard the heights, and this garden is one of Kilimanjaro's special treasures.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included.

• This is an extra day for acclimatization. Adding this day will ease your effort and improve your acclimatization.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included.

• After breakfast, continue up a steep ridge to the great Barranco Wall, then climb this imposing obstacle, which turns out to be easier than it looks. From here, you can appreciate how beautiful Kilimanjaro is, just below the Heim Glacier. With Kibo's glaciers soaring overhead, you descend into the lush Karanga Valley to the Karanga Valley campsite. From camp, you can look east and see the jagged peaks of Mawenzi jutting into the African sky.

• After a hot lunch at camp, your afternoon is free for leisurely rest or exploration. This short day is crucial for acclimatization, as your summit push is about to begin.

• 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.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included.

• In the morning, you 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, even though Barafu is the Swahili word for ice. The famous snows of Kilimanjaro lie far above Barafu Camp, near the summit of the mountain. Your tent will be 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 sleep.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included.

• You will rise around 11:30 PM, and after some steaming tea and biscuits, you set off into the night.

• The 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), you stop for a short rest and a chance to see a supremely sanguine sunrise. At Stella Point, you join the upper part of the Marangu Route, but do not stay too long, as it can be extremely difficult to start again because of the cold and fatigue. Depending on the season and recent storms, you may encounter snow on the remaining hike along the rim to Uhuru Peak.

• On the summit, you can enjoy your accomplishment and know you are creating a day you will remember for the rest of your life.

• After your three-hour descent from the summit back to Barafu Camp, you will have a well-earned but short rest, collect your gear, and continue 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. Dinner and washing water will be prepared, and the camp office sells drinking water, soft drinks, chocolates, and beer!

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner included.

• After a well-deserved breakfast, it is a short and scenic three-hour hike back to the park gate. Do not give your porters tips until you and all your gear have reached the gate safely, 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 reach Stella Point are issued green certificates, while those who reach Uhuru Peak receive gold certificates.

• From Mweka Gate, you will 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, you will be served a delicious hot lunch, after which you are driven back to Moshi for an overdue hot shower and a comfortable night at your hotel in Moshi. Remember to tip your guides, cooks, and porters, as you will leave them here.

• A vehicle will take you back to your hotel in Moshi, where it is time for a celebration!

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch. Dinner is not included.