6-Day Kilimanjaro Marangu Route Hike to Uhuru Peak from Moshi

Distance: 8 km, Hiking Time: 3 hours

• You will be picked up from your hotel in Moshi and driven straight to Marangu Gate. As you travel to the gate, enjoy great views of Mount Kilimanjaro with your team of guides and porters.

• In the forest, you may see colourful birds, colobus and other species of monkeys, as well as mosses, lichens, flowers, and delicate orchids.

• When the sky is clear, you can also see the town of Moshi on the edge of the plain below. Once the check-in is completed, begin your ascent from the park buildings on a 3-hour trek through coffee plantations and dense jungle to Mandara Hut for dinner and an overnight stay.

Distance: 11 km, Hiking Time: 5 hours

• The second day of the Kilimanjaro Mountain Mandara Hut Trek begins right after breakfast with a steep ascent through the last stretch of rainforest.

• As soon as you leave the shelter of the forest, Kilimanjaro's two peaks - the snow-capped Kibo and the rocky Mawenzi - come into view on the horizon.

• You will continue across an area of open moorland with sparse vegetation, gaining about 1,000 meters in altitude today. The hike can take between five and seven hours, depending on your pace. Dinner and an overnight stay will be at Horombo Hut.

• On this day, you have the opportunity to get used to the altitude step by step. Data shows that an acclimatization day effectively doubles the success rate of reaching the summit, so the time is well spent.

• The day is far from wasted, as there are several hikes you can do close to the hut. We take the most famous acclimatization hike, which leads to the base of the spectacular Mawenzi Peak on the eastern side of Kilimanjaro.

• The trek takes 4-5 hours round trip and reaches an altitude of 4,600 meters. Afterwards, return to Horombo Hut for dinner and an overnight stay. This hike will help prepare you for the days ahead.

Distance: 9 km, Hiking Time: 5 hours

• The fourth day's trek to Kibo takes about five hours. See Mawenzi Peak as you pass the last waterhole, then traverse a barren, almost lunar-shaped landscape to the Saddle, a vast tundra desert between the two peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo.

• Here, you will enjoy fantastic views of the upper ridges before reaching Kibo Hut, a dry-stone hut with sleeping quarters and limited facilities.

• Tonight, prepare for tomorrow's final assault on the summit. An early evening is imperative, as you need to leave at midnight to reach the top in the morning before cloud cover forms and still have time to return to the hut.

Overnight at Kibo Hut for 1 night (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Distance: 9 km, Hiking Time: 5 hours

• Your guides will wake you just after midnight, and you will begin a torchlit journey to Uhuru Peak in the bitter cold. At this time of day, the scree is still frozen, which makes walking easier.

• After about two hours, you should reach Hans Meyer's Cave. From here, it is a short walk to Gillman's Point in time for sunrise. Your reward is the dramatic spectacle of sunrise over the ice fields and the craggy peaks of Mawenzi. The abundance of colours and shapes makes it worth all the suffering.

• It takes a few more hours along the crater rim to reach Uhuru (Freedom) Peak.

• Your descent, approximately 3 hours, follows the route back past Kibo Hut to Horombo Hut for a well-deserved rest. Overnight at Horombo Hut for 1 night (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

• The pace picks up as you continue your triumphant return journey through the alpine meadows and past Mandara Hut, then through the rainforest to Marangu Gate, where you board the vehicle for the return trip to Arusha or Moshi.