Day : 1 Arrival at Moshi

We’ll pick you up from Kilimanjaro Airport and transfer you to Moshi hotel. We’ll spend some of the day checking over your kit to make sure you’ve everything you need and you’ll have the chance to get your bearings.

Day : 2 Londorossi Gate to Forest Camp

Our trek begins on the wilder, western side of Kilimanjaro so you’ll spend part of Day 2 admiring the patchwork fields of the coffee and banana plantations as you’re driven along the south boundary of majestic Kilimanjaro to the Londorossi Gate. You’ll hike through dreamy, misty moss-clad forest, through a soundscape of birdcalls, monkeys tripping across branches overhead, and your own footfalls. You’ll camp at Forest Camp. After a tasty dinner you’ll fall asleep to the sound of the night birds.

Day : 3 Forest Camp to Shira Camp 1

It’s an early start today as, after a filling breakfast, you’ll leave the density and closeness of montaine forest. The moorland you’ll hike through is an almost prehistoric landscape of giant heathers interspersed with groundsel and lobelia. You’ll pick your way over bubbling mountain streams, steep ridges and rocky outcrops and we’ll rest for lunch on the western edge of the Shira Plateau, where you’ll see the Kibo Massif sweeping up to the summit. After lunch we’ll continue the trek under the glorious African skies with plenty of opportunity for photography. We’ll rest overnight at Shira 1 Camp where you’ll get the chance to relax, gazing as the sun sinks into the clouds below you while you enjoy a scrumptious dinner before a well-earned rest.

Day : 4 Shira Camp 1 to Moir Camp

Today you’ll wake to azure blue skies – hopefully! – As you’ll seem to be floating above cloud level. After a hearty breakfast you’ll continue your adventure northwards, as the scenery becomes more rocky and barren. You’re heading to the little-used and lonely Moir Camp, definitely and literally off the beaten track, so it will seem that you have the mountain to yourself. You’ll stop to rest and have lunch which will give you the opportunity to listen to the soundscape this side of the mountain - a still hush, or, more likely, the wind whipping round the rocks. After further climbing you’ll enjoy a well-earned rest and hearty dinner at Moir Camp.

Day : 5 Moir Camp to Sheffield Camp

After a restful sleep and sustaining breakfast you’ll head off through an obvious volcanic landscape, so rocky and barren that you’ll feel like you’re on the moon. You’ll see the black, glassy obsidian rocks and pebbles, hurled out during eruptions. All the evidence of its violent past is there for you to climb over, around and through. We’ll camp tonight at Sheffield Camp, where you’ll enjoy a warming, filling dinner and the thought of a lie in tomorrow!

Day : 6 Acclimatization day at Sheffield Camp

Although you’ve climbed high, there’s more climbing to do and it’s important that you become acclimatized to the rarer atmosphere – especially as you’ll be sleeping high in Crater Camp tomorrow night. So you’ve the opportunity to spend the day at Sheffield Camp where you can chill out in your cozy sleeping bag, take in the enormous views, the big skies and the rolling clouds below you; make friends with the friendly chats that skip around the tents or spot a white-necked raven or the soaring elegance of a bearded vulture high above you. Spend the day with a well-earned break, eating, snacking, and taking photos, making videos and reading. It’s also a great opportunity to take stock of what you’ve achieved so far, and gather your strength for the climb ahead – it’s a tough one.

Day : 7 Sheffield Camp to Arrow Glacier Camp

We hope you feel rested and rejuvenated after your acclimatization day at the camp. Today’s hike is tough but it makes up for that with its beauty and the opportunity to dig deep into your own character. You’ll be directly below the Western Breach itself, with cliffs and steep drops all around you. It’s an exhilarating landscape and you’ll start to feel that the summit is really within reach. Arrow Glacier Camp has indescribable views and is known for luminescent, astounding sunsets. Kick back, relax, and enjoy the sunset and a filling dinner because it’s early to bed as the temperature drops.

Day : 8 Arrow Glacier Camp to Crater Camp

Today’s the day you face the Western Breach – the most difficult of the three summit routes. You’ll start before dawn, strengthened by breakfast, and the climb is easy at first. You’ll meet some challenging rocky areas where you’ll have to scramble using your hands, and you’ll be well within the snowline. The Great Barranco Valley spreads out before you with stunning views of the Lava Tower and you’ll be able to look back across the Shira Plateau. You’ll ascend through a breach in the crater rim with magnificent views of the isolated Furtwangler Glacier, the last remnant of an ice cap that once covered the summit, and the Northern Icefield.

Day : 9 Crater Camp to Mweka Camp

It’s a big day today - the highlight of your adventure! It’s a shorter climb than other summit routes which means you won’t have to rise at midnight to start your climb, so you’ll be well-rested. With the pink and gold of the African sunrise lighting your way, the sky becoming bolder and bluer and you’ll take in the vastness of the views around you. At last you reach the summit of Uhuru Peak itself and you’ll rest there for a short time for photo opportunities and the awesomeness of climbing up on the rooftop of Africa itself. You’ll still be high and excited from your successful climb and this will get your through today’s tiring downhill trek. But a hot dinner awaits you at the Mweka Camp as you celebrate what you’ve just achieved.

Day : 10 Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate

Your final hiking day will take you down through sultry rainforest on a 4 to 6 hour hike, so we’ll make sure you have a good breakfast to fuel the journey. After the windswept silence of the high plains and dusty crater, you’ll enjoy the rustling of the trees and the birdsong and the colour of the blossoms are a contrast to the monochrome landscape of the ice fields you’ve just left.

Day : 11 Departure

If your flight time allows it, spend some time post-climb wandering round lively Moshi: a redolent mixture of Asian and African influences with plenty of places for a tasty lunch. It’s time to say goodbye to your life changing week as we drive you to Kilimanjaro Airport in good time for your flight home.