6 Days Marangu Route

After your breakfast , your guide would give you a short briefing on the day’s tour and then you would take a drive of 45 minutes to the Marangu Gate where you would have to registered your entry with the park authority and officially start with a four-hour walk to the Mandara encampment. We will pass through a thick rainforest will officially commence with a four-hour walk to the Mandara encampment. We will pass through a thick rainforest zone, where there is a high chance of rain in the afternoon. We will spend the night at Mandara Hut (2,750m), an attractive collection of buildings. Bathrooms are available with running water.

Today we will continue our ascent through the forest for a short time, before reaching the heather and moorland zone at roughly 3,000m (approximately a six-hour walk). Enjoy stunning views of the mountain peaks at this altitude. We will spend the night at Horombo Hut (3,720m), which lies in a valley surrounded by giant lobelia and groundsel, flora which are characteristic of this semi-alpine zone. Bathrooms are available with running water.

Our trek continues past the final watering point, and ascends onto the sale of Kilimanjaro, between the peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi. The vegetation thins out as we enter the desert-line alpine zone (approximately 4,000m) and, once we cross the saddle, Kibo peak comes into view. The saddle is an alpine desert that resembles a lunar landscape. Be careful to notice signs of altitude sickness. This seven-hour walk will be taken at a slow pace. We will landscape. Be careful to notice signs of altitude sickness. This seven-hour walk will be taken at a slow pace. We will spend the night at Kibo Hut (4,703m), a comfortable stone construction (no running water at Kibo Hut). This semi-desert zone receives an annual rainfall of under 250mm; the ground often freezes at night, but ground temperatures soar to above 30 degrees Celsius by day. Few plants other than lichens and grasses survive in these conditions.

Shortly after midnight, we will commence our climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro, since it is easier to climb the scree slope to Gillman’s Point (5,861m) on the crater rim when it is frozen and an early start for the six-hour hike improves our chances of reaching the summit in time for sunrise. From Gilman’s Point, it is a further two-hour round trip long the crater’s edge to Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa. From the summit we would start descending all the way to Horombo Hut where we will be spending our last night on the mountain.

Today’s descent continues past the Mandara encampment to the bottom of the mountain, where each hiker will receive a well-earned certificate. From here, you will be transferred t a Base Hotel in Moshi / Arusha for dinner and overnight.