5 Days Marangu Route – Kilimanjaro Climbing

You will be met at Kilimanjaro Airport (JRO) by a PK Adventure staff member and transferred to your hotel in Moshi. We will go through an equipment check and your guide will give a thorough briefing and answer any questions that you might have. If you have a later arrival, this can be done in the morning before departing for the mountain. Any equipment items that you are lacking can be rented locally.

• 7 km
• 4-5 hours
• Montane Forest

After breakfast at your hotel. you will be picked up and we will drive for approximately 45 minutes to the Marangu Gate on the eastern side of Kilimanjaro. Upon arrival at the gate you will register at the national park, and begin hiking. 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 warmth, but keep your rain gear and an extra layer of clothing handy. We stop halfway for a picnic lunch and reach the Mandara Huts in mid-afternoon. 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 if the skies permit. Dinner is served during the early evening.

• 11 km
• 6-8 hours
• Heathland

In the morning after breakfast follows a hike for an hour through rainforest glades, then an ascending path through heathland where you can look for giant lobelias and groundsels. Continue up into open moorlands where small shrubs are the main vegetation. We stop halfway for lunch, where you can enjoy amazing views of Mawenzi  Peak (one of the 3 dormant volcanoes on Kilimanjaro). Arrive at the Horombo Huts by mid-afternoon, where you can see Kibo’s summit. Rest, unpack, and prepare for dinner.  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 (additional charge if you spend an extra day on the mountain).

• 10 km
• 6-8 hours
• Alpine Desert

In the morning after breakfast you will hike to Kibo Hut. The first part of the days 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.

• 4 km up, 14 km down
• 10-15 hours
• Alpine Desert

Wake at midnight to a light breakfast, and 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 a.m, switch back up steep scree or possibly snow, and reach Gilman’s Point on the crater rim at 5,861 m/18,640 ft. Here, views of the fabled crater and its icecaps greet you. Another hour of hiking along the crater rim near the celebrated snows takes you to Kilimanjaro’s true summit, Uhuru Peak, around 7 a.m. These times may vary according to how well you are adjusting to the altitude. 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. You won’t stay at the summit long, you still have a long day ahead of you. After taking in the success, we descend back to the Kibo Huts, have lunch, rest, collect our things, and re-cross 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, an optimistic attitude, and determination will get you there!

• 18 km
• 5-7 hours