7-Day Kilimanjaro Umbwe Route Trek to Uhuru Peak

• Start with an hour-long drive from your hotel in Moshi to Umbwe village, where your guides and porters will prepare your equipment and supplies. Once registration to enter Kilimanjaro Park is completed, you will also receive your lunch pack.
• Begin your ascent from Umbwe Gate and continue on a small vehicle path until you reach the sign marking the Umbwe Trail. You will then climb for 5-6 hours through dense rainforest. It is impossible to miss the giant fig trees and rubber trees, and in some places their roots have overtaken the path. Although sometimes slippery, they can make good footholds when the trail becomes muddy after rain. Inside the forest, you will first stop at Number Camp.
• Arrive at your camp, where your tent will already be set up by the porters who ran ahead. They will bring you boiled drinking water and washing water in preparation for dinner.

Rising (ft): 5,905ft /1,800m to 9,190ft /2,800m
Stretch: 8 km
Hiking time: 5-7 hours
Climatic habitat: Rain Forest

• Rise early for coffee or tea. After breakfast, pack up for the day's trek. Your climb begins steeply through the disappearing rainforest glades before ascending into the drier air of Giant Erica and heathland terrain, where the vegetation becomes sparse with small shrubs.
• Continue on an exposed ridge that offers your first view of Uhuru Peak, if the clouds have parted enough. After lunch, enter the semi-desert terrain as you trek through a garden of Senecio plants. These odd-looking groundsels resemble something like a prehistoric cactus.
• Reach Barranco Camp, where your porters will boil drinking and washing water before serving dinner. While waiting for your meal, you may experience one of the most memorable sunsets of the trek as the sun drops through the valley. Pay attention to your body and keep your guide informed of any signs of altitude sickness.

Rising (ft): 9,190ft /2,800m to 12,800ft /3,900m
Stretch: 8 km
Hiking time: 4-5 hours
Climatic Habitat: Moorland

• Spend Day 3 exploring near Barranco Camp for much-needed acclimatization. Keep your camera handy to capture the scenery of the groundsel-clad campsite. Many trekkers rank this as their favourite camp on this trail, which makes it the perfect place for your acclimatization day. If you are highly confident in your body's ability to acclimatize well, you can choose the 6-Day Umbwe itinerary.

Stretch:10 km
Hiking time: 7 hrs
Climatic Habitat: Moorland

• Continue upward until you reach just below the glacier, then descend through the Karanga Valley. This is the last place where your porters can gather water, and they will collect all the water needed for the remainder of the ascent here. You will then settle in at Karanga Camp.
• After lunch, spend the afternoon doing light exploring or resting while taking in the views of Mawenzi's towering spires.

Rising (ft): 12,960ft /3,950m to 13,780ft/4,200m
Stretch: 7 km
Hiking time: 4 hours
Climatic Habitat: Moorland

• Head east, crossing multiple ridges and valleys until you join the Mweka Route. Turn left and continue up the ridge for an hour to reach Barafu Hut.
• Arrive at camp to find your tent pitched on a rocky ridge with high winds. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the camp before dark for safety. Keep your headlamp or flashlight handy in case you need to leave the tent after dark. Before going to bed by 7 PM, prepare your equipment, including replacing batteries for your headlamp and camera, and try to catch a few hours of sleep before your summit attempt.

Rising (ft): 13,780ft / 4,200m to 14,930ft / 4,550m
Stretch: 5 km
Hiking time: 3-4 hours
Climatic habitat: Alpine desert

• Wake at 11:30 PM for tea or coffee and biscuits, then depart Barafu on your bid for the peak.
• Climb for 6 hours through thick scree, following multiple switchbacks between the Ratzel and Rebmann glaciers until you reach Stella Point (18,650 ft/5,685 m). You will have completed what most climbers consider the most challenging part of the trek. Depending on your pace, you may get the chance to enjoy the majestic sunrise during your short rest here. Although you will be fatigued, it is important to keep moving because of the extreme cold. At Stella Point, you join the final section of the Marangu Route.
• Hike along the rim for another 1-2 hours until you reach your ultimate goal, Uhuru Peak. Congratulations - you are now standing on the roof of Africa. You will have time to take pictures with the world-famous Uhuru Peak sign, but it is important to begin your descent soon so that you have enough time to rest at Barafu Camp.
• Reach Barafu after a 3-hour descent down sliding scree, take a short rest while collecting your gear, and then continue down the path back into the forest camp of Mweka. You might experience a little rain in the afternoon, so be sure to keep your rain gear in your daypack. Enjoy dinner and some well-deserved sleep. At Mweka Camp, the office sells bottled water, soft drinks, candy bars, and beer.

Rising (ft): 14,930ft / 4,550m to 19,340ft / 5,895m to 10,170ft/ 3,100m
Stretch: 7 km up and 22 km down
Hiking time: 8 hours up, 9-10 hours down
Climatic habitat: Arctic

• As usual, wake up for breakfast, pack, and descend on a short scenic 3-hour hike to Mweka Gate. Wait until you and all of your gear have reached the gate before tipping your staff.
• Receive your summit certificates - green for those who reached Stella Point and gold for those who reached Uhuru Peak. From the gate, if the road is too muddy for vehicles, you will continue hiking for 1 hour to Mweka Village, 3 km away.
• Enjoy a hot lunch before being driven back to Moshi, where you can have your first hot shower in days. On your day of departure, transfer to Kilimanjaro Airport.

Rising (ft): 10,170ft / 3,100m to 6,500ft / 1,980m
Stretch: 10 km
Hiking time: 3-4 hours
Climatic Habitat: RainForest