RONGAI ROUTE 5 DAYS

Arrival in Tanzania – drive to Moshi.

You will be met on time of your arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport by our transferring driver who will you will welcome and escort you to the waiting vehicle then drive to The Hotel in Moshi for the rest of the day your trek will start the next day morning. The rest of the day will be spent at the pool relaxing at the hotel or explore the town of Moshi. Your mountain guide will meet you in the evening for briefing on the next morning trek.

Accommodation: Hotel

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Day 1
Moshi to Simba Camp (2830m)

 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. You may even see White and Black Colobus Monkeys, and the exotic Hartlaubs Turaco, a large bird with a violet blue tail, red wing tips, a blue- black head, and eyes surrounded by white. Even if you don’t see it, you may hear its loud raucous call. 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 Cave 1 sometimes called Simba Camp. (2830m.)Your cook will then prepare a delicious meal, and you can swap travellers’ tales around the table with your co-adventurers.
 

Day 2
Simba Camp to Third Cave (3900m)

After a big 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 snow capped 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 today where we camp for the night at Third Cave. You will need to start wear warm clothing. It can get very cold at this stage.
 

Day 3
Third Cave to Kibo Hut (4700m)

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 and a snack and begin your climb. Faint snakes of light shine out in the frosty night as other groups of climbers make the slow ascent to the summit.
 

Day 4
Kibo Hut to Uhuru Peak (5,895m) to Horombo Hut

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 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 starting to go down.
Uhuru Peak to Horombo Huts You descend down to Kibo Hut for a short rest and lunch, and on 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.
 

Day 5
Horombo Huts to Marangu Gate  

After breakfast, we head directly for 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 you will be welcome again”
On the next day you will be driven back to the airport for your flight home, leave on one of our safaris, or fly onwards to the island paradise of Zanzibar