The Itinerary

It all sounds very glamorous at this stage, but the reality of the effort involved is not particularly apparent.

Day one
We fly overnight from London Heathrow to Nairobi.

Day two
We arrive in Nairobi early morning and meet our transfers for a seven-hour bus journey to Marangu in Tanzania. Along the way we’ll see the magnificent sights of the African bush. On arrival at our hotel we’ll meet our guides and have a briefing on the challenge ahead.

Day three
We have an early start to catch our transfers to our starting point, Naremoru Gate, at the base of the mountain. We’ll trek through farmers’ fields and into the forest zone for a 700m climb before reaching our camp for the night.

Day four
After an early breakfast we continue our trek along narrow paths through moorland. We trek up to an old lava tube cave where we break for lunch. We then continue our ascent to Kikelewa Cave to complete the day’s 1,000m climb before setting up camp for the night.

Day five
Today we have a steeper trek, climbing 600m to reach Mawenzi Tarn. In the afternoon we have a short acclimatisation walk to a higher altitude before returning to camp.

Day six
Today we have a slow trek across “the Saddle” – an alpine desert between the volcanic peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo. We reach our camp and rest overnight before summit day.

Day seven
We wake up shortly after midnight for a long and challenging day. We climb Kibo to Gilman’s Point on the rim of the volcanic crater and watch the sunrise. We then continue trekking across the snow before a final push to Uhuru Peak.
We start our descent down the mountain the same way we came – past Gilman’s Point and Kibo, trekking along the Marangu route to Horombo Huts where we camp for the night.

Day eight
We descend from Horombo through the moorland and forest to the gate and Marangu. From here we transfer to our hotel for a celebratory dinner.

Day nine
We transfer back to Nairobi for our overnight flight to London Heathrow.

Day ten
Arrive London early morning.