After breakfast and a  briefing from your guide, leave Moshi at 9 AM, drive for 45 minutes to  the Marangu Gate on the eastern side of Kilimanjaro, register with the  national park, and begin hiking at 10:30 AM. In the rainforest, look for  towering Eucalyptus trees, bird life, and Colobus monkeys. At these  lower elevations, it can be wet and muddy, so gaiters and trekking poles  will help. Shorts and t-shirts should be sufficient, but keep your rain  gear and warmer clothing handy. Stop halfway for lunch, and reach the  Mandara Huts at 2 or 3 PM. Unpack, rest, and have some tea or coffee. A  15-minute side trip to Maundi Crater is a good way to see the  surroundings including Northern Tanzania and Kenya. Dinner is served  during the early evening at 7 PM. Bathrooms with running water are  available.                    

Wake to a 7:30 AM breakfast,  and pack for your next trek. Break camp by 8:30 AM, hike for an hour  through rain forest glades, then follow an ascending path through  heath land where you can look for giant lobelias and groundless. Continue  up into open moorlands where small shrubs are the main vegetation. Stop  halfway for lunch, where you can enjoy amazing views of Mawenzi. Arrive  at the Horombo Huts by 3 PM, where you can see Kibo’s summit. Rest,  unpack, and prepare for dinner. Bathrooms with running water are  available.  You may start to feel the effects of altitude here and to  aid your acclimatization, you can choose to spend an extra day resting  at Horombo or climbing to a base-camp below Kibo’s sub peak Mawenzi.                   

Wake to breakfast as usual,  but if you wake early you can get some great photos of the sunrise. The  first part of the day’s hike climbs through the dwindling heath-land that  blends into a moonscape as you enter the sweeping saddle connecting  Mawenzi and Kibo. When you stop for lunch, and later when you cross this  surprisingly large saddle, you can examine the summit climb up Kibo  that you will be starting in just a few hours. Be careful to notice any  signs of altitude sickness. There is no running water at the Kibo Huts.                   

You can add an extra day at  the Horombo Huts (3,690 m/12,100 ft). You can spend a full day and a  second night at Horombo. On this day, you can either rest at the huts or  take a stroll up to the Mawenzi basecamp then return to the Horombo  Huts. This extra day will help your acclimatization, and further your  understanding of the mountain’s weather and altitude. After your pause,  you will continue up to the Kibo Huts on your fourth day for your  midnight start to the sum                        

Wake at midnight to a light  breakfast, then prepare for your summit ascent. The goal is to climb  before dawn so that you can reach Uhuru Peak shortly after sunrise.  Leave at 1 AM, switchback up steep scree or possibly snow, and reach  Gilman’s Point on the crater rim at 5,861 m/18,640 ft between 5 and 7  AM. Here, views of the fabled crater and its icecaps greet you. Another 2  hours of hiking along the crater rim near the celebrated snows take you  to Kilimanjaro’s true summit, Uhuru Peak, by 9 AM. This is Africa’s  highest point, and you would have to travel more than 3,000 miles toward  the Himalayas to find a higher peak! Be sure to have your picture taken  at the summit to show your friends. After your summit stays, descend  back to the Kibo Huts, have lunch, rest, collect your things, and  recross the saddle to the Horombo Huts. Eat dinner and get some  well-deserved sleep!   You do the beginning of this climb in the dark  with headlamps or flashlights. It will be very cold until you start  descending, so you will need all of your warm layers. This is, by far,  the most difficult part of the trek. Slowly slowly, or, “pole pole,”              

Wake, as usual, pack, and  descend through the moorland to the Mandara Huts. Have lunch there then  continue your triumphant recessional down through lush forest to the  park gate, which you should reach around 2 or 3 PM. Remember to tip your  guides, cooks, and porters, since you will be leaving them here. A  vehicle will take you back to the Hotel in Moshi, where it is definitely  time for celebration! Depart for the airport or other destinations in  Tanzania or Kenya. A trip to the beaches at Zanzibar is a good way to  recuperate. We can arrange many reasonably priced trips and safaris  around Moshi and the Kilimanjaro region.