2. Kilimanjaro Climb - Rongai 6 Days 5 Nights
After breakfast at your hotel, you will be collected by your head guide and driven to Kilimanjaro National Park for registration and to begin the climb. Form here, you will travel by vehicle onto the village of Nale Moru at around 1,950 meters. The day’s walk is around 3 to 4 hours, beginning on a small path that winds its way through fields of maize and potatoes before entering pine forest. Have dinner and stay overnight at Simba campsite.
After breakfast at the camp, you set off to the Kikelelwa Caves. On this day you will walk around 5-6 hours from the campsite, with a steady ascent up to Second Cave at 3,450 meters. Here you are rewarded (weather permitting) with superb views of Kibo (the summit) and the Eastern ice fields on the crater rim. Have dinner and camp overnight near the Kikelelwa Caves at 3,800m. The trek the following day is shorter, but it involves some steeper sections. Leaving camp at a short but steep climb up grassy slopes is rewarded by a real sense of wilderness and stunning all round views. Stay at Mawenzi Tarn Hut for a night before you set off for day four of the adventure. On this day you will walk for 4 to 5 hours as you cross the lunar desert between Mawenzi and Kibo (Kilimanjaro’s two highest peaks).
On day five, you will be woken early (around 1am) for a hot drink and snack before beginning the summit attempt. The group will trek very slowly by torchlight to reach the crater rim at Gilman’s point at 5,685 meters. You will rest there for a short time to enjoy the spectacular sunrise over Mawenzi peak. Then, continue on to Uhuru (freedom) peak at 5,895 meters - the roof of Africa. Descend to Kibo hut, at 4700m to rest and have brunch before you continue down to camp at Horombo Hut. The final day involves a descent of around 5 -7 hours to Marangu Park Gate (1,700m), where you will sign out of the mountains. The walk is through lush forest on good paths. You will be met by a driver and transferred to your hotel in Moshi or Arusha.