Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro The right route for you.

Morning briefing and gear check in Moshi. Drive 4 hours via Boma Ng'ombe to the Londorossi Gate (2,250 m) for park registration.

Climb out of the rainforest into the heather and moorland zone. 5–6 hours.

An easier acclimatisation day traversing the Shira Plateau with Kibo's glaciers ahead and Mt. Meru behind. 4–5 hours.

Ascend the Southern Circuit to Lava Tower (4,630 m) for lunch, the classic 'climb high, sleep low' day. 6–7 hours.

A short but spectacular day. 4–5 hours.

The acclimatisation day that makes this itinerary special. 3–4 hours.

Wake at 23:30 for tea and biscuits. 12–14 hours.

A final 3-hour descent through the rainforest to Mweka Gate.

Morning briefing and gear check in Moshi, then a 1-hour drive to Marangu Gate (1,860 m) for park registration.

The forest ends abruptly within an hour and gives way to open heath and moorland studded with giant lobelias and senecios.

The day that makes this itinerary work. 3 hours (acclimatisation).

Past the Last Water Point at 4,130 m, from here everything is carried, and out onto 'The Saddle', a stark, wind-scoured alpine desert between Mawenzi and Kibo. 6–7 hours.

Wake at 23:00 for tea and biscuits and set off by headtorch at midnight. 12–14 hours.

A long but easy descent retracing the moorland and rainforest path, with a rest stop at Mandara Hut. 5–6 hours.

Morning briefing and full gear check at your hotel in Moshi. 5–6 hours.

The forest thins within an hour and the trail steepens onto a rocky ridge of the Shira Plateau.

The classic 'climb high, sleep low' day and the most important for acclimatisation. 6–7 hours.

A short, spectacular day. 4–5 hours.

A steady climb up the rocky ridge across barren alpine desert to Barafu, Swahili for 'ice', the summit base camp perched on an exposed shoulder at 4,673 m. 4–5 hours.

Wake at 23:30 for tea and biscuits and set off by headtorch at midnight, climbing switchbacks of frozen scree at a deliberate pole-pole pace. 12–14 hours.

A final descent on soft forest trail, muddy after rain, so gaiters are handy, through the rainforest to Mweka Gate. 3–4 hours.

Morning briefing and gear check in Moshi, then a 3–4 hour drive around the mountain to Nalemoru Gate (2,020 m) near the Kenyan border for park registration.

A relaxed moorland climb on a good path as the vegetation thins to heather and everlasting flowers. 3–4 hours.

Leave the main northern trail and traverse east across trackless open moorland beneath the north face of Kibo, a wild, rarely walked section with almost no other climbers. 6–7 hours.

Short but steep, climbing grassy slopes into the alpine zone as the ground turns rocky and bare. 3–4 hours.

The day that transforms Rongai's summit odds. 3–4 hours (acclimatisation).

Morning trek across 'The Saddle', a stark alpine desert between Mawenzi and Kibo, to summit base camp at Kibo Hut (4,700 m). 15–17 hours.

A final descent through moorland and rainforest, with a rest stop at Mandara Hut, down to Marangu Gate. 5–6 hours.