Tailor-made climbs

Overview

Crater camp

Hotels

Celebrations

Day 1: Machame Gate to Machame Camp
Elevation (m): 1800m to 3000m, Distance: 11km, Time: 5-7 hours, Habitat: Montane Forest

Drive from the Hotel to the Mount Kilimanjaro National Park Gate. Once you reach the park gate, you will sign in at the Park office and make your final preparations to start the climb. Our path takes us through rain forest on a winding trail up a ridge to Machame Camp where we will camp overnight.

Day 2: Machame Camp to Shira Camp
Elevation (m): 3000m to 3850m, Distance: 9km, Time: 4-6 hours, Habitat: Moorland

After breakfast, we start walking, leaving the rainforest behind, and continue our ascent, crossing a small valley and up to a steep rocky ridge, covered with heath. Our route now turns west onto a river gorge. Time for rest, dinner, and overnight at the Shira campsite.

Day 3: Shira Camp Via Lava Tower to Barranco Camp
Elevation (m): 3850m to 4600m to 3950m, Distance: 12 km, Time: 6-7 hours, Habitat: Semi-desert

This is a very important day for acclimatization and will help your body prepare for summit day. This will be our toughest day so far and you may start to feel the symptoms of altitude. We will ascend to Lava Tower at 4600m and take our lunch there to acclimatize. Following this we descend to spend the night at Barranco campsite. This offers great photographic opportunities of the Western Breach and Breach Wall. The camp is situated in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Wall, which will provide you with a memorable sunset while you wait for your dinner.

Day 4: Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp
Elevation (m): 3950m to 3930m, Distance: 7 km, Hiking Time: 4 hours, Habitat: Alpine Desert.

Today starts with a short, but fun, scramble, to the top of the Great Barranco Wall. We then traverse over scree to the Karanga Valley (3930m) beneath the icefalls of the Heim, Kersten and Decken Glaciers. We will stay overnight at Karanga campsite.

Day 5: Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp
Elevation (m): 3930m to 4600m, Distance: 6kms, Hiking Time: 3 hours, Habitat: Alpine Desert

We leave Karanga campsite behind to meet the junction connecting with the Mweka descent Trail. From here we continue up to the Barafu Hut. You have now completed the Southern Circuit, which offers views of the summit from many different angles. At camp, we can rest, enjoy dinner, and prepare for the summit day. The two peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo are to be clearly seen from this position.

Day 6: Barafu Camp to Summit (sleeping in Crater Camp)
Elevation (m): ): 4600m to 5895m (and down to 5790m) , Distance: 8kms, Time: 7-8 hours, Habitat: Alpine Desert

You will be woken at 07:00 and we will eat a hearty breakfast before starting our summit ascent between the Rebman and Ratzel glaciers. We will head in a northwesterly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point on the crater rim. This is the most mentally and physically challenging part of the trek. At Stella Point (5732m), we will stop for a short rest and will be rewarded with the most magnificent views (weather permitting). At Uhuru Peak (5895m), we will have reached the highest point on Mount Kilimanjaro and the continent of Africa. After celebrating with a few summit photos we begin our descent into Kibo Crater to camp for the night. The scenery is breathtakingly and depending on the time of year you will see the fast receding glaciers set amidst either sandy, dessert or snowy conditions.

Day 7: Kibo Crater to Mweka Hut
Elevation (m): 5790m to 3100m), Distance: 23km descent, Time: 7-8 hours descent, Habitat: Stone screed and ice-capped summit and Moorland

From here, we start an hour before dawn to trek over to the rim to catch the spectacular African sunrise. We then descend down to the Mweka Hut camp site, via Barafu for lunch. Trekking poles will be needed for the loose gravel going down to Mweka Camp (3100m). Later in the evening, we will enjoy our last dinner on the mountain and a well-earned sleep.

Day 8: Mweka Camp to Hotel
Elevation (m): 3100m to 1800m, Distance: 8 km, Time: 3-4 hours, Habitat: Forest

We depart after breakfast descending down to the Mweka Park Gate to receive your summit certificates. At lower elevations, it can be wet and muddy. Gaiters and trekking poles will help. Shorts and t-shirts will be suitable (keep rain gear and warmer clothing handy).

Day 1: Londorossi Gate To Mti Mkubwa
Elevation (m): 2360m to 2895m, Distance: 6 km, Time: 3-4 hours, Habitat: Montane forest.

Drive from the Hotel to Londorossi Park Gate for registration. Our porters prepare and pack the supplies and luggage before we start our ascent along the forest trail to Mti Mkubwa (big tree) campsite at 2895m. We will stay here overnight.

Day 2: Mti Mkubwa to Shira
Elevation (m): 2895m to 3500m, Distance: 8 km, Time: 5-6 hours, Habitat: Moorland

Our journey continues eastwards across Shira Plateau and Shira Cathedral. We will cross moorland meadow to reach Shira 1 camp for dinner and overnight camping at 3810m. By now we will be able to see, in an easterly direction, the Western Breach with its stunning glaciers. The night here is colder than the previous night & the temperature could possibly go below freezing.

Day 3: Shira 1 to Moir Hut
Elevation (m): 3500m to 4200m, Distance: 14 km, Time: 5-7 hours, Habitat: Moorland

We leave the forest behind now, the trail gets steeper as it enters the moorland zone. A gentle grade walk takes you across the high altitude Shira Caldera to Shira Cave with fabulous views of Arrow glacier. We will camp here for the night at 4200m.

Day 4: Moir Hut Via Lava Tower to Barranco Camp
Elevation (m): 4200m to 4600m to 3950m, Distance: 12 km, Time: 6-7 hours, Habitat: Semi desert

Our route continues on a rocky and rugged eastward path as we ascend to the base of the Lava Tower at 4600m for lunch and acclimatization. This will be our toughest day so far and you may, for the first time, feel the altitude. After lunch we will descend again by almost 650m to the Barranco camp. The high altitude of 4600m at Lava Tower and then descending to sleep will aid acclimatization. Our descent to Barranco camp takes about 2 hours and offers great opportunities to take some beautiful photographs of the Western Breach and Breach Wall. The camp is situated in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Wall, which should provide you with a memorable sunset while you wait for your dinner.

Day 5: Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp
Elevation (m): 3950m to 3930m, Distance: 7 km, Hiking Time: 4 hours, Habitat: Alpine Desert.

Today starts with a short, but fun, scramble, to the top of the Great Barranco Wall. We then traverse over scree to the Karanga Valley (3930m) beneath the icefalls of the Heim, Kersten and Decken Glaciers. We will stay overnight at Karanga campsite.

Day 6: Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp
Elevation (m): 3930m to 4600m, Distance: 6kms, Hiking Time: 3 hours, Habitat: Alpine Desert

We leave Karanga campsite behind to meet the junction connecting with the Mweka descent Trail. From here we continue up to the Barafu Hut. You have now completed the Southern Circuit, which offers views of the summit from many different angles. At camp, we can rest, enjoy dinner, and prepare for the summit day. The two peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo are to be clearly seen from this position.

Day 7: Barafu Camp to Summit To Crater Camp
Elevation (m): ): 4600m to 5895m (and down to 5790m) , Distance: 8kms, Time: 7-8 hours, Habitat: Stone scree and ice-capped summit

You will be woken at 07:00 and we will eat a hearty breakfast before starting our summit ascent between the Rebman and Ratzel glaciers. We will head in a north-westerly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point on the crater rim. This is the most mentally and physically challenging part of the trek. At Stella Point (5732m), we will stop for a short rest and will be rewarded with the most magnificent views (weather permitting). At Uhuru Peak (5895m), we will have reached the highest point on Mount Kilimanjaro and the continent of Africa. After celebrating with a few summit photos we begin our descent into Kibo Crater to camp for the night. The scenery is breathtakingly unbelievable and depending on the time of year you will see the fast receding glaciers set amidst either sandy, dessert or snowy conditions.

Day 8: Kibo Crater to Mweka Camp
Elevation (m): 5790m to 3100m, Distance: 12 km, Time: 6-8 hours, Habitat: Stone scree and moorland

From the summit, we descend down to the Mweka Hut camp site, via Barafu for lunch. Trekking poles will be needed for the loose gravel going down to Mweka Camp (3100m). Later in the evening, we will enjoy our last dinner on the mountain and a well-earned sleep.

Day 9: Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate
Elevation (m): 3100m to 1800m, Distance: 10 km, Hiking Time: 3-4 hours, Habitat: Forest

We depart after breakfast descending down to the Mweka Park Gate to receive your summit certificates. At lower elevations, it can be wet and muddy. Gaiters and trekking poles will help. Shorts and t-shirts will be suitable (keep rain gear and warmer clothing handy).

Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is an inactive stratovolcano in north-eastern Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895 metres or 19,341 feet (the Uhuru Peak). Mount Kilimanjaro is considered to be the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, rising 4600m (15,100 feet) from the base. The name Kibo in Kichagga means "spotted" and refers to rocks seen on snowfields

The Kibo summit is the best preserved crater on the mountain; its' southern lip rises to 5895m and is known as Uhuru Peak. Kibo is also the only one of the three summits which is permanently covered in snow due to the large glaciers that cover much of its surface.

Kibo are actually 3 volcanic craters on Kibo. Kibo Crater itself measures 1.9 x 2.7 km and forms a broken ring where lava flows have breached the craters rim. One of the other craters within Kibo is Reusch Crater whose inner crater measures 1.3km in diameter. There are still signs of volcanic activity, including fumaroles, the smell of sulphur from Reusch Crater. The third crater, the Ash Pit, is much smaller measuring only 130m deep by 140m wide.

The Furtwängler Glacier on Kilimanjaro is a remnant of the ice cap that once covered the mountain. These have retreated dramatically over the last century with over 80% glacial retreat. The glacier is named after Walter Furtwängler, who along with Ziegfried Koenig, were the fourth to ascend to the summit of Kilimanjaro in 1912.