September 02, 2026
Depart from home country.  Early Arrivals (extra charges)

September 03
Arrive JRO/Kilimanjaro Tanzania. You will be picked up from Kilimanjaro airport and transported to the Four Points Arusha hotel. This will be our team base pre and post mountain. 

Mandatory arrival day for the whole team.

September 04
Full day of orientation, Q&A, gear checks and packing at our hotel. 
Team lunch & dinner included. 

September 05
Day 1. We drive 2 hours to the Machame Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park and trek to Machame Camp at 10,000 feet elevation. Today will we walk through the beautiful montane forest, with huge tree ferns, flowers, towering camphor hardwoods, and giant heather (Erica arborea) trees. The montane forest zone of Kilimanjaro is the most lush and receives the most rainfall on the mountain. Expect some mud and rain this day.

Elevation gain: 3,800 ft.
Time: 6-6.5 hours on average
Distance: About 10 km/6.5 miles

September 06 Shira Camp
Day 2. We will climb more steeply day 2 through the rocky heather and moorlands zone to Shira camp at 12,500 elevation. Shira camp is located on the vast Shira plateau. An ancient volcanic plateau created by the eruptions of the oldest of the mountains volcanic cones Shira, approximately 2.3 million years old. From Shira we can see the upper mountain very clearly and have great views West to Mt Meru towering over Arusha.

Elevation gain: 2,600 ft.
Time: 5-6 hours average
Distance: About 8 km/5 miles

September 07 Moir Camp
Day 3. We ascend more gradual terrain towards the dramatic Western slopes of Kilimanjaro. We make our way over the packed scree, volcanic boulders and heather, to Moir camp at 13,550 feet on the NW corner of the mountain. Day 3 is an important day for acclimation with our highest sleeping elevation until high camp on day 6 at 15,800 feet. Afternoon provides an opportunity to acclimate with a further 600 feet of gain up to a high view point.

Elevation gain: 1,000 ft.
Elevation loss: minimal
Time: 5-6 hours average
Distance: About 10.4 km/6.5 miles

September 08 Baranco Camp

Day 4 is a critical day for acclimation and we follow the very effective climb high, sleep low methodology. This is also one of the most scenic and beautiful days as we reach to Lava Tower at 15,000’ and descend into the beautiful Barranco valley to Barranco camp at 12,900’. We take lunch at Lava Tower, allowing for a longer rest period at 15,000 feet. This helps our body understand it needs to acclimate to this altitude. We then descend to 12,900 feet, 600 feet lower than where we slept the previous night, giving our body an extra chance to recover at lower altitude.

Elevation gain: 1500 ft.
Elevation loss: 2,100 ft.
Time: 6 hours average with lunch at lava tower
Distance: About 7 km/4.3 miles

September 09 Karanga Camp

Day 5! With a very early start to beat traffic, we will ascend the fabled Barranco wall, complete with a little scrambling just after sunrise. 1,000 feet of gain up the Barranco wall take us to one of our most favorite break spots on the whole mountain. We enjoy a long break with great views of the Southern side of Kilimanjaro, all the way down to the forested slopes on the Umbwe river gorge. We then traverse East to Karanga camp at 13,300 feet and our 5th nights camp. Today is the shortest day of the trip, we are in generally in camp before 12 noon and can rest and relax before the push to high camp the following day. Lunch is in camp on this day.

Elevation gain: 2,500 ft.
Time: 5 hours
Distance: About 6 km/3.7miles

September 10 Kosovo High Camp

Day 6. From Karanga camp at 13,300’ we will ascend at 1st moderate terrain, and then steeper terrain to our special high camp called Kosovo, 15,800’ Typically in 4 pushes, about 1 hour each. We stay 800 feet higher than most climbers, who camp at Barafu 15,000 feet (our 3rd break point), and thus we have a shorter summit push. We will have lunch in camp and then have a detailed summit briefing to discuss schedule and strategy. We go to bed early, prepped for our summit bid.
We awake by 11pm for a light meal before beginning our summit push at 12am from 15,800 feet. We will ascend packed scree (small rocks) on switchbacks, averaging about 600-650 feet gain per hour push, with a maintenance break between pushes. The 5th break is at Stella Point 18,900 feet where you gain the crater rim of the volcano. We enjoy some hot tea before continuing 1 hour more up to the summit, Uhuru at 19,344 feet. Uhuru means “freedom” in Swahili and symbolizes the country of Tanganyika gaining its independence from Britain on December 09, 1961. Typically the summit is 6 pushes, and around 7-7.5 hours to Uhuru. The descent is done in 2 stages. 1st stage we descend from Uhuru back to Kosovo, have a little rest and then pack up our tents and enjoy lunch. Summit back to Kosovo is 2-3 hours. We then descend down to Millennium camp at 12,250 feet in the heather/moorlands zone for our last night on the mountain. 2-3 hours descent from Kosovo camp. Note: there is significant elevation loss on the last 2 days of the trip (14,000 feet over 2 days) and some folks underestimate this part of the trek.

Summit day average times:
Kosovo—Summit 7–8 hours
Summit— Upper Kosovo 2–3 hours
Kosovo—Millenium 2.5–3 hours

Elevation gain to Uhuru 3,544 ft.
Distance Kosovo-Uhuru-Kosovo About 9.5 km/6 miles

Millennium Camp 12,250 ft.
Elevation loss Uhuru to Millennium 7,150 feet
Distance Kosovo to Millennium: About 4.8 km/3 miles

September 11 Summit Day!

Day 7. We awake by 11pm for a light meal before beginning our summit push at 12am from 15,800 feet. We will ascend packed scree (small rocks) on switchbacks, averaging about 600-650 feet gain per hour push, with a maintenance break between pushes. The 5th break is at Stella Point 18,900 feet where you gain the crater rim of the volcano. We enjoy some hot tea before continuing 1 hour more up to the summit, Uhuru at 19,344 feet. Uhuru means “freedom” in Swahili and symbolizes the country of Tanganyika gaining its independence from Britain on December 09, 1961. Typically the summit is 6 pushes, and around 7-7.5 hours to Uhuru. The descent is done in 2 stages. 1st stage we descend from Uhuru back to Kosovo, have a little rest and then pack up our tents and enjoy lunch. Summit back to Kosovo is 2-3 hours. We then descend down to Millennium camp at 12,250 feet in the heather/moorlands zone for our last night on the mountain. 2-3 hours descent from Kosovo camp. Note: there is significant elevation loss on the last 2 days of the trip (14,000 feet over 2 days) and some folks underestimate this part of the trek.

Summit day average times:
Kosovo camp—Summit 7–8 hours
Summit— Kosovo camp 2–3 hours
Kosovo—Millennium low camp 2.5–3 hours

Elevation gain to Uhuru 3,544 ft.
Distance Kosovo-Uhuru-Kosovo About 9.5 km/6 miles

Millennium Camp 12,250 ft.
Elevation loss Uhuru to Millennium camp 7,150 feet
Distance Kosovo camp to Millennium camp: About 4.8 km/3 miles

September 12

Day 8. We awake very early (4:30am approximately) at Millennium Camp to begin the long descent to the Mweka gate at 5,400 feet. Stage 1 takes us down very rocky terrain to Mweka camp at 10,000 feet and the edge of the montane forest zone, in 2.5 hours. Stage 2 takes us through the lush montane forest to the Mweka gate at 5,4oo feet and around 3-3.5 hours. At the gate we will get our summit certificates from the national park, have a buffet lunch followed by a tipping ceremony for our amazing Tanzanian crew. After celebrating with our crew, we load up in the land cruisers to drive back to Arusha (2.5 hrs). This is a long day of descent and we typically do not arrive to the hotel until 4pm at the earliest. We will enjoy a celebration dinner together at the hotel to wrap up an amazing journey together.

Elevation loss: 7,000 ft to Mweka Gate
Time: 5.5 hours on average
Distance: About 13.7 km/8.75 miles

September 13, 2026

• Departures for home or your own schedule can start from this day.‍ ‍

You will be transported to the international airport JRO for your onward fights home.

September 14 Arrive home USA