This is a fairly gentle introduction to climbing Kilimanjaro, which passes through some of the finest forest scenery to encircle the mountain. Ascending steadily on a straightforward path, you are transported through lush montane cloud forest to arrive at the Machame Hut on the edge of the health or moorland zone.

Following an energetic start to the day and an aggressive ascent of a steep volcanic fin that juts out of the mountainside, the terrain levels and the path eases onto the Shira Plateau, an atmospheric, ancient part of Kilimanjaro.

This is a superb day’s walking that showcases some of Kilimanjaro’s finest features. The path climbs across the Shira Plateau to a high point by Lava Tower, before dropping into the Barranco Valley to arrive at Barranco Hut, a mere 110m higher than the day’s start point. This climb-high, sleep-low approach to scaling Kilimanjaro maximizes your ability to acclimatize and improves your chance of successfully reaching the summit. The views of the Shira Plateau, Lava Tower and the western face of Kibo are sumptuous, and the final campsite affords you with some of Kilimanjaro’s classic viewpoints.

This is a potentially long day. The early stages are focused on traversing the attractive Great Barranco Valley and overcoming the stiff challenge posed by the ascent of the Barranco wall. Having overcome this obstacle, the gradient relents as the path contours around the southern face of Kibo, under the massed ranks of the Southern Icefields, before making an approach to the Barafu Hut.

Wake up around 23:00 for adding more warm clothes and head lamp. Leave the campsite and start summiting by midnight into the glacial zone. The path leads to Stella point 5756M.Have time for the sun rise pictures and a short rest for 5 to 10 minutes while having water or hot tea at Stella point. For the climbers who have experienced AMS are advised to start descending down, however for those interested can take a round trip along the crater rim to reach Uhuru Peak 5895M.Proceed by descending down from the summit, have a short rest to the base camp again for 2 hours. Have some lunch, repack your gears and start to descend down to Mweka hut 3100M “pole pole” through Mweka route.

This is short, relatively swift final day that sees you descend the remaining distance through the forest to Mweka Gate. The forest section is lush and extremely picturesque. The track here used to be very narrow and after rainfall would degenerate rapidly into slippery trench.

You have the entire day to relax after safari or trekking before your return flight. You can see Moshi town, go on day trips, or get some souvenirs before leaving for the airport, depending on the time of your departure.If you want to explore Tanzania even further, there are add-ons like safari and Zanzibar.