After an early morning breakfast, you will start your ascent leaving the rain forest and entering the heartland moorland vegetation. In the moorland, you will spot exotic plants, including giant lobelia and groundsel. As you ascent, the trail provides a spectacular view of Mt. Kilimanjaro. At the campsite, you will be next to a stream and have a spectacular view of the Western Breach and the Great Barranco Wall in the East.

  2940m / 3950m

  Hiking time: 6 hours

  Habitat: Moorland

Following an early morning breakfast, you will leave the moorland environment and enter the semi desert and rocky landscape. After 5 hours of hiking east, you will reach face to face with the Lava Tower (4630m). At this point of the hike, it is normal for hikers to start feeling the effects from the altitude including headaches and shortness of breath.

After lunch at Lava Tower, you will scramble up the steep Class 2 trail to the Arrow Glacier Camp (4800m). Vegetation at Arrow Glacier is sparse and hikers are surrounded by stone scree.

  3950m / 4630m / 4800m

  Habitat: Moorland/Semi-desert

After an early morning breakfast, hikers will continue to scramble up the Class 2 trail on rocks. During the rain season, an ice ax and crampons are required due to icy conditions. Hikers slowly ascend up the Western Breach to the Crater (5700m). Upon reaching the top of the crater, you will be amazed by the Northern Ice fields of Kilimanjaro with the Furtwangler Glacier directly in front of you. The ash pit is 340m across and 120m deep.

  4800m / 5700m

  Hiking time: 5 hours

  Habitat: Stone scree and ice-capped glacier

Your will have an early morning call from your guide at around 4;00 am for tea and biscuits. You will then begin your summit attempt. As you ascend, you including many hikers feel like it’s the most demanding part of the climb both physically and mentally. For about 2 hours, you will hike on a snow-covered trail to Uhuru Peak (5895m). Reaching the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro is a lifetime accomplishment. Spend few minutes at the peak taking photographs and sipping a cup of tea before descending down to Barafu. It’ll take about 3 hours to reach Barafu Camp.

At the camp, take some rest and have your lunch in the sun. Then you’ll descend down to Mweka Hut which has an elevation of 3100 m. The Mweka Trail passes through the scree and rocks into the moorland and then to the rainforests. Mweka Camp (3100m) is located in the high rain forest, so fog and rain should be expected.

  5700m / 5895m / 3100m

  Hiking time: 2 hours to Uhuru and 7-8 hours to Mweka

  Distance: Approximately 7-kilometer ascent and 23-kilometer descent

  Habitat: Stone scree and ice-capped summit

Following a well-deserved breakfast, your staff will have a big celebration full of dancing and singing. After the celebrating, you will descend for three hours back to Mweka Gate. To receive the certificate of completion, all hikers need to sign their names on required documents.

  3100m / 1980m

  Hiking time: 3 hours

  Distance: Approximately 15 kilometers

  Habitat: Forest

  End of the Trek