Rongai Route

You will be picked up from your hotel and driven to the start of the Rongai route - the Narumuru Gate, close to the Kenyan Border, where we begin the ascent of Kilimanjaro after meeting our porters and having lunch.

We walk to the Rongai Forest past farmland, where you will see potatoes, maize and other vegetables, carefully tended by the men and women of the nearby villages. In the forest, the vegetation is lush and exotic. After leaving the forest, the lush vegetation thins to heather moorland with many flowers, including the unique Protea Kilimanjarica, which grows only on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. After a 3-4 hour walk today ends with dinner & overnight at Simba Camp.

After breakfast, we continue to climb through moorland scenery. You will notice the growing altitude today in your legs and the rhythm of your breathing. Your guide will advise you to go “pole, pole” (“slowly, slowly”) if he thinks your pace is too fast for the altitude. You will see Kilimanjaro’s snowcapped summit, which seems quite near and the jagged peak of Mawenzi on the horizon. We stop for lunch at Second Cave, a natural cave formed by the cooling of the lava. The Rongai Route divides here and you take a right fork to Third Cave, whilst the climbers on the longer route go to Kikelewa Camp. We get up to a height of 3,900 metres, where we camp for the night at Third Cave. You will need to start wear warm clothes as it can get very cold at this stage.

Today is a steep climb across arid montane desert. By the end of the day we have reached Kibo Hut at 4,700 metres where we camp overnight, and rest ready for the ascent to the Summit at Midnight. Your guide will brief you about what to wear and how to approach the final leg to the summit. You will wake just before midnight, have a hot drink with snacks then begin your climb.

We have a very early start for the final ascent; it is a 5 hour slow walk up increasingly steep scree to Gillman’s Point, on the rim of the Crater at 5,690 metres. You may make a short break at Hans Meyer Cave which at 5150 metres is halfway to Gilman’s Point. After the cave; the path becomes steeper as it zigzags up towards the Crater Rim. At Gilman’s Point you are nearly there. The view is surreal, you will see the spectacular glaciers of the Eastern Ice Fields in the Crater.

 After a very short break, followed by a further 1 to 2 hour walk around the crater rim, you reach Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa at 5,895 metres. The sun rises and the plains of Africa are stretched out below you. Despite the cold, you will pose for your summit photo before start descending.

From Uhuru Peak to Horombo Huts You descend down to Kibo Hut for a short rest and lunch, then down the Marangu Route all the way to Horombo Huts (3720m), for dinner and a well-earned sleep. There are huts at Horombo, but as you are on a camping route, you will sleep in tents on the adjacent camping ground.

After breakfast, we go directly to the park gate at Marangu. We see the amazing Euphorbia trees and Giant Lobelias. We then return to the tropical rain forest where we will probably see Blue Monkeys, the White & Black Colobus Monkey, Impatiens Kilimanjarica flowers .We stop at Mandara Huts for lunch and reach the Marangu Gate in the afternoon, where you will receive your certificate and be met by your driver, who will take you back to your hotel. Your team, who are by now old friends, may even sing you the Kilimanjaro Song to say “Kwaheri na karibu tena” –‘Goodbye and welcome again”