5 Days Marangu Route

No need to arrange transport! Our transfer driver will collect you and all your gear from Kilimanjaro Airport and take you to the hotel in Moshi. Relax after your flight, take a dip in the pool or explore Moshi. Later you will meet our Kimanaa African Safaris operation team. They will tell you more about the trip, share tips and safety information and thoroughly check your gear to see if you have everything you need.

Elevetion: 1200m to 1860m to 2700m, Distance: 8km, Hiking Time: 3-4 hours, Habitat: Montana forest

You will be transferred to Marangu gate from the hotel and do a registration at the gate. Afterwards, you will begin trekking though the rainforest to Mandara hut. Here you will have an acclimatization opportunity of visiting Mound Crater. Dinner and overnight at Mandara hut.

Elevation: 2700m to 3720m, Distance 12km, Hiking Time: 5-6 hours, Habitat: Moorland

After breakfast you will out climb the rainforest and continue trekking to Horombo hut where you will trek through rolling moorlands and get your fist clear view of towering Kilimanjaro.

Elevation: 3720m to 4703m, Distance: 9km, Hiking Time: 5-6 hours, Habitat: Alpine Desert.

This is the day when you would trek past the last water point to reach Kibo saddle: a great desert between the two peaks Mawenzi and Kibo. An early dinner and overnight at Kibo hut.

Elevation: 4703m to 5895m, Down 3720m, Distance: 6km up, 15km down, Time: 6-8 hours up, Habitat: Alpine Desert.

Wake at midnight for a light breakfast then prepare for your summit ascent. Be aware of that as you have to climb to the summit in dark; hence you need to keep your headlamps /flashlights with you. It would be too cold till descending, hence pack up all the warm clothes you have. See, your goal is to reach at Uhuru shortly before or after sunrise: yet you need to proceed slowly, so that you can do it easily. This is by far the most difficult part of the trek because you have to pass through the steep scree or possibly the snow and you would have to reach at the Gilman’s point on the crater rim at 5685m between 4 and 6 a.m. At this point you will have a view of the fabled crater and its icecaps facing you.

Another 2 hours trekking along the Kibo crater rim would take you to the true summit “the Uhuru peak” where you will spend some times for taking photos. When your photo session is over, now it is the time to descend to the Kibo huts where you would have your lunch and rest. After taking rest you collect your equipments and continue down trough re-cross the saddle to the Horombo huts. Have dinner and overnight at Horombo Camp.

Elevetion: 3720m to 1860m to 1200m, Distance: 20km, Descending Time: 4-7 hours

In the morning after a long sleep and after having breakfast you would start descending through the moorland to Mandara huts. Here you will have lunch then proceed trough lush forest to Marangu gate. After the gate sign out, a vehicle will take you back Moshi at the hotel where it is definitely time for your certificate presentation and celebration!

After a good night rest and breakfast at the lodge, our transfer vehicle will be ready to pick you up and take you to Kilimanjaro International Airport to connect with your flight back home. But if you wish to extend your program and proceed with safari kindly let us know so that we can arrange it in advance.