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Kilimanjaro · 6 days · Marangu Route · Private climb

Marangu Route

The only route on Kilimanjaro with huts instead of tents: up and down the same south-eastern path, with a day at Horombo to let your body catch up before summit night from Kibo Huts.

MoshiMarangu GateHoromboKibo HutsUhuru PeakMarangu Gate

Request a quote →See the days

Length6 days · 5 nights on the mountain

SummitUhuru Peak, about 5,895 m

Starts & endsMarangu Gate, both ways

SleepingShared huts

Best monthsJanuary–February, June–October

Overview The route Day by day Rates Where you sleep Included Add-ons When to go Flights & extras FAQ Enquire

IOverview

The hut route, and why we add the sixth day.

Marangu is the oldest route on Kilimanjaro and the only one where you sleep in huts — shared A-frame huts with dormitory bunks at Mandara and Horombo, and a stone hut at Kibo. There is no tent to pitch and a roof over you when it rains. The path climbs through forest and moorland on the south-eastern side, crosses the saddle towards Kibo, and comes back down the same way.

It has a reputation as the easy route because it is the shortest and the gradients are gentle. It is not easy. The summit is the same summit, summit night is as long and as cold as on any route, and the short schedule gives your body less time to adjust than the western routes do. People underestimate it. That is why we run it in six days, with an extra night at Horombo, rather than five — and why, if you have the time and do not mind a tent, we will usually point you to Machame or Lemosho instead.

Major attractions · 4

01Kilimanjaro National Park
02Uhuru Peak
03Mawenzi and the saddle
04The montane forest above Marangu

Trip detailsPrivate climb

Length: 6 days · 5 nights on the mountain
Route: Marangu, up and down the same path
Start / end: Marangu Gate, about 1,880 m, both ways
Sleeping: Shared huts, dormitory bunks
Summit: Uhuru Peak, about 5,895 m
Group size: Maximum per group
Meals: Full board on the mountain
Best period: Jan–Feb · Jun–Oct
Fitness: Good walking fitness; no technical climbing, but a very long summit day

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IIThe route

Up the south-east side, and down the same path.

Six mountain days and five nights: Mandara, Horombo, Kibo and Horombo again on the way down. About an hour by road each way between Moshi and the gate. The solid line is this plan; the dotted lines are the other roads through the region. Point at a day to see its leg.

01Moshi → Marangu Gate → Mandara Huts~1 h road
02Mandara Huts → Horombo HutsTravel home
03Horombo → towards Mawenzi → HoromboTravel home
04Horombo Huts → Kibo HutsTravel home
05Kibo Huts → Uhuru Peak → Horombo HutsThe long dayTravel home
06Horombo Huts → Marangu Gate → Moshi~1 h road

Overnight stopPassing throughSchematic, roughly to scale

Drawn to scale

Every metre up, and every metre down.

Marangu climbs steadily and comes down the same way. Its one acclimatisation day is at Horombo: a walk up to about 4,000 m and back to sleep at about 3,720 m. That is less time high than the western routes give you, which is why we will not run the five-day version without saying so first.

IIIDay by day

Six days, one at a time.

Each day lands on top of the last as you scroll: honest road time, game time, meals and where you sleep. Times are door to door in a safari vehicle and move with the season and what you stop for.

Mandara HutsADD IMAGE · The forest path between Marangu Gate and Mandara Huts, moss and tree ferns on either side

01/ 06

About an hour by road, registration at the gate, then about 4 hours up through the forest.

03°11′S 37°31′EDay 1 · Moshi → Marangu Gate → Mandara Huts

Through the forest to Mandara

Travel: ~4 h walking + ~1 h road
Highest point: Mandara Huts, about 2,720 m
Meals: L · D
Sleep: Shared huts, about 2,720 m

Morning
Up from Moshi through the coffee and banana villages to Marangu Gate, at about 1,880 m. Registration takes a while; your guide handles it while the porters weigh and load.
Afternoon
A wide, well-made path through montane forest, gaining about 840 m. Walk slowly from the first step — the guides will say ‘pole pole’, slowly, and they mean it.
Evening
The A-frame huts at Mandara, at about 2,720 m. If you still have legs, the short walk to the Maundi Crater rim nearby is worth it on a clear evening.

Shared huts

The huts are the park’s, allocated by the park. You will usually share a room with other climbers, and the bunks are dormitory-style. Earplugs are the most useful thing you can pack.

Horombo HutsADD IMAGE · Giant groundsels and heather on the moorland below Horombo Huts, Kibo on the skyline

02/ 06

About 6 hours, out of the trees and onto open moorland, gaining about 1,000 m.

03°08′S 37°26′EDay 2 · Mandara Huts → Horombo Huts

Out of the forest to Horombo

Travel: ~6 h walking
Highest point: Horombo Huts, about 3,720 m
Meals: B · L · D
Sleep: Shared huts, about 3,720 m

Morning
A short last stretch of forest, then the trees give way to heather and open moorland. On a clear morning Kibo and Mawenzi come into view for the first time.
Midday
Lunch on the trail. The path is steady rather than steep; the height is what you notice, not the gradient.
Afternoon
Horombo, at about 3,720 m — one of the busiest camps on the mountain, where climbers going up meet those coming down. You will sleep here tonight, tomorrow, and again on the way down.

Headaches

A mild headache at this height is common. Tell your guide anyway; they check everyone each evening and would rather hear it early.

HoromboADD IMAGE · Zebra Rocks above Horombo, black and white striped lava cliffs on the moorland

03/ 06

A walk up towards Mawenzi or Zebra Rocks, about 4,000 m depending on the walk, and back down to sleep.

03°08′S 37°26′EDay 3 · Horombo → towards Mawenzi → Horombo

The acclimatisation day at Horombo

Travel: ~3 h walking
Highest point: Above Horombo, about 4,000 m
Meals: B · L · D
Sleep: Shared huts, second night

Morning
A slow walk up towards Mawenzi or the striped lava cliffs of Zebra Rocks, to about 4,000 m depending on the walk. Climbing higher than you sleep is the whole point of the day.
Midday
Back down to Horombo for lunch.
Afternoon
Rest, drink, eat, and repack for the saddle. This is the day the five-day version leaves out.

Why this day matters

It is the only extra night Marangu gives you. It does not make the route as gradual as the western ones, but it makes a real difference — we would not drop it.

Kibo HutsADD IMAGE · The high desert of the saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo, the path running straight towards Kibo Huts

04/ 06

About 6 hours, up onto the bare saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo.

03°05′S 37°23′EDay 4 · Horombo Huts → Kibo Huts

Across the saddle to Kibo Huts

Travel: ~6 h walking
Highest point: Kibo Huts, about 4,710 m
Meals: B · L · D
Sleep: Shared hut, about 4,710 m

Morning
Up past the last vegetation onto the saddle, the wide stony desert between Mawenzi and Kibo. It is exposed, and it is often windy.
Afternoon
Kibo Huts, a stone hut at about 4,710 m, at the foot of the summit cone. An early dinner, the kit laid out for the night, and a briefing from your guide.
Evening
Sleep if you can, from about seven. Most people doze rather than sleep at this height, which is normal.

Kibo Huts

Kibo is a stone building with bunk rooms, colder and more basic than the huts below. Keep your summit clothes and water inside your sleeping bag so they are warm and not frozen when you get up.

Horombo HutsADD IMAGE · Headtorches zig-zagging up the scree of Kibo’s summit cone at night, the lights of other groups above

The long day05/ 06

The long one: roughly 12 to 14 hours of walking, most of the ascent in the dark.

03°08′S 37°26′EDay 5 · Kibo Huts → Uhuru Peak → Horombo Huts

Summit night: Uhuru Peak, and down to Horombo

Travel: ~13 h walking
Highest point: Uhuru Peak, about 5,895 m
Meals: Snacks · B · L · D
Sleep: Shared huts, the way down

Around midnight
Woken with tea and biscuits, and out in the dark. The path zig-zags up loose scree on the summit cone towards Gilman’s Point on the crater rim. It is slow, cold and below freezing near the top.
Dawn
From Gilman’s Point, along the crater rim to Uhuru Peak, at about 5,895 m — the highest point in Africa. A few minutes for the photograph, then down: nobody stays long at this height.
Afternoon
Down to Kibo Huts for a rest and something to eat, then on across the saddle to Horombo, at about 3,720 m. The air thickens with every hour.

Turning back

Your guide checks everyone on the way up and will turn anyone round whose symptoms are worsening. The summit is optional; getting down is not. Nobody is ever sent down alone.

MoshiADD IMAGE · Climbers with summit certificates at Marangu Gate, the forest behind them

06/ 06

About 6 hours down past Mandara to the gate, then about an hour to Moshi.

03°21′S 37°21′EDay 6 · Horombo Huts → Marangu Gate → Moshi

Down to Marangu Gate

Travel: ~6 h walking + ~1 h road
Highest point: Horombo Huts, about 3,720 m
Meals: B · L
Sleep: Homeward

Morning
Down through the moorland and past Mandara into the forest. It is a long descent; knees and walking poles earn their keep.
Midday
Marangu Gate, where you sign out and collect your summit certificate. This is where the crew is thanked and tipped.
Afternoon
About an hour back to your hotel in Moshi, and the first proper shower in six days.

After the climb

Most people want a quiet day before anything else. A safari or a flight to Zanzibar can start the day after next.

IVRates

Priced by group size, because the vehicle is shared.

Park fees, accommodation, vehicle, guide and meals as listed — per person, no booking fees. Rates move with the month and lodge availability; your quote is fixed once you book.

Private climb · price per person, sharing
Group size	1 person	2 people	3 people	4 people	5 people	6 people
From year	rate	rate	rate	rate	rate	rate

Single supplementamount

Children

Child policy: ages, sharing discount, lodge minimum ages

What moves the price

What changes itHow much

Days on the mountain
Park fees are charged per person per day, so each extra day adds its own fees as well as crew wages.
How many climb together
The guide and much of the crew cost the same for two climbers or six, so the per-person price falls as the group grows.
Hut fees
Set by the park per night and the same whoever you book with. We show them as their own line.
Hotel nights either side
The nights in Moshi or Arusha before and after are added at the level you choose.
Kit hire
Anything you do not bring can be hired in Moshi; it adds up if you hire it all.

Not sure which level suits you? Tell us your dates, group and budget and we will send an itemised quote with named properties.

Request a free quote →

On request

VWhere you sleep

Three hut camps, and Horombo twice on the way.

Each night is described by type first, because the right camp depends on your month. The properties we normally use at each level are listed below; your quote confirms them against availability.

Night 11×

Mandara Huts

Shared huts, about 2,720 m

The first night, in the forest edge. Low enough to sleep well.

Private climb here means: What we provide at the huts (sleeping mat, pillow, where meals are served)
Step up: Ask us

Nights 2–32×

Horombo Huts

Shared huts, about 3,720 m

Two nights here on the way up, with the acclimatisation walk between them.

Private climb here means: What we provide at the huts (sleeping mat, pillow, where meals are served)
Step up: Ask us

Night 41×

Kibo Huts

Shared hut, about 4,710 m

The high camp: a few hours’ rest before summit night.

Private climb here means: A bunk in the stone hut’s shared rooms. Basic and cold; you will spend most of the night awake anyway.
Step up: Ask us

Night 51×

Horombo Huts, on the way down

Shared huts, about 3,720 m

The night after the summit, more than a thousand metres below Kibo. Most people sleep better here than anywhere else on the climb.

Private climb here means: As on the way up.
Step up: Ask us

The properties we use

Where	Private climb
Mandara Huts	property
Horombo Huts	property
Kibo Huts	property

What ‘private climb’ means on this trip

Shared huts. Every night is in a park hut with dormitory bunks, and you may share a room with other climbers. The park allocates the space, not us.
Sleeping bag. Not provided by the huts. Bring a warm one or hire it in Moshi; Kibo Huts are cold. Rating we recommend, and whether we supply one
Meals. Cooked by your own cook, three a day, with treated drinking water. Where meals are served: hut dining hall or our own mess tent
Toilets and washing. The park’s shared toilets at each hut. Washing water, and whether a private toilet tent is offered on Marangu

VIThe fine print

What is in the price, and what isn’t.

✓Included

Park feesConservation, hut and rescue fees — each itemised on your quote
A licensed lead guidePlus assistant guides in proportion to the group
Cook and portersCarrying the food, the kitchen and your main bag within the park’s weight limit
Meals on the mountainThree meals a day and treated drinking water
Transfers to and from the gateFrom your hotel in Moshi or Arusha

–Not included

International flights
Hotel nights before and afterAdded to the quote at the level you choose
Tanzanian visaApply online before you travel
Travel insuranceRequired. It must cover trekking to 6,000 m and evacuation
Tips for the crewThe largest cost people forget; we send a guideline with your booking
Kit hireSleeping bag, poles, jacket — available in Moshi if you do not bring your own

VIIAdd-ons & changes

The plan is a starting point, not a package.

The changes people ask for most, each with what it costs you in days or hours. Not in the standard price — arranged on request, and most can be combined.

−1 dayprice

The five-day version

Drop the acclimatisation day at Horombo and go straight on to Kibo. We run it if your dates leave no choice, but we would not recommend it: it gives you less time to adjust than almost any other way up, and it is where most people come unstuck.

Makes senseOnly if you have been to altitude recently

Compare the routes →

+2 daysprice

Lemosho instead

Eight days from the quiet western side, in tents, with far more time to acclimatise before summit night. The route we put most first-time climbers on.

Makes senseYou have the time and do not mind a tent

The Lemosho Route →

+1 dayprice

Rongai up, Marangu down

Start on the drier, quieter northern side, camp in tents on the way up, and come down this path — so you see both sides of the mountain.

Makes senseYou want quiet, or it is a wetter month

The Rongai Route →

Half dayprice

Materuni waterfall before you climb

A gentle walk to a waterfall and a coffee farm above Moshi on the day you arrive. Loosens the legs without tiring them.

Makes senseThe day before the climb

Materuni Waterfall →

+3 daysprice

A safari after the climb

Tarangire and the Ngorongoro Crater from Arusha, with nothing to carry and no hills to walk.

Makes senseYou have come this far

Northern Circuit Express →

+3–5 nightsprice

Zanzibar to finish

An hour’s flight from Kilimanjaro to the beach. The best recovery there is.

Makes senseEveryone, most of the year

Zanzibar after the mountain →

VIIIWhen to go

Rated for this route, not for the country.

The dry months are the best for any Kilimanjaro route, and Marangu is no exception: January to early March and June to October. The huts are a real advantage in the wetter shoulder months, when a dry roof matters, but the long rains of April and May still make the forest paths muddy and the summit cloudy. The huts are allocated by the park, so book early for the busy months.

Jan

Dry, clear, cold nights

Feb

Dry, warmer

Mar

Rains building

Apr

Long rains, wet trails

May

Long rains

Jun

Dry, cold, quieter

Jul

Dry, cold, busy

Aug

Dry, busy

Sep

Dry, clear

Oct

Dry, warmer

Nov

Short rains

Dec

Holiday weeks busy

Three bars — the route at its bestTwo — good, with trade-offsOne — possible, and quiet

IXFlights & extras

Getting there.

Arrive

Kilimanjaro International (JRO)

Between Moshi and Arusha, and the closest international airport to the mountain. Plan to land at least a day before the climb: the briefing and the kit check happen the evening before.

Stay before and after

Moshi or Arusha

A night before the climb and a night after are not part of the days shown here; we add them to your quote at the hotel level you choose.

Leave a spare day

Weather and bodies

Nothing is scheduled around the summit day, but a day in hand before an international flight takes the pressure off everyone.

What else to budget.

Not part of the safari price, in order of how much they matter.

Crew tipsGuides, cook and porters, at the end of the climb
Guideline per day
Kit hireSleeping bag, poles, warm jacket, in Moshi
Typical cost
Tanzanian visaApply online before travel
Current fee
Travel insuranceMust cover trekking to 6,000 m and evacuation
Typical cost
Drinks and snacks at the hutsSome huts sell bottled drinks
Varies

XWhy book with us

Only what we can prove.

Arusha, since 2010

A Tanzanian company, locally owned, running climbs and safaris for more than fifteen years.

Licensed and registered

TALA-licensed through the Tanzania Tourist Board and registered with BRELA. Ask us for the numbers; we will send them.

One lead guide, one crew

The same lead guide, assistant guides, cook and porters from the gate to the gate. Nobody else joins your group.

Every fee on its own line

Conservation, camping or hut, and rescue fees are shown separately on your quote, so you can see exactly what goes to the park.

XIQuestions

The ones we are asked most.

Is Marangu the easy route?

No. It is the shortest and has the gentlest gradients, and the huts make the nights more comfortable. But the summit is the same height, summit night is just as long, and the short schedule gives you less time to acclimatise than Machame or Lemosho. People underestimate it; please do not.

Why six days and not five?

The sixth day is the acclimatisation day at Horombo: a walk up to about 4,000 m and back to sleep lower. It is the single most useful thing you can add to this route. We will run five days if you insist, but we will say so plainly first.

What is summit night like?

You leave Kibo Huts usually around midnight and climb in the dark for several hours to Gilman’s Point on the crater rim, then along the rim to Uhuru Peak around dawn. Then you come all the way down to Horombo. It is cold, slow and the hardest day most people have ever walked.

What about altitude sickness?

Acute mountain sickness can affect anyone, however fit. Your guide checks everyone each evening and on the way up. If symptoms get worse, the answer is to go down, and we will. Whether to take medication such as acetazolamide is a decision for your own doctor, not for us. Oxygen and first-aid kit carried: ask us.

How much should we tip, and can we hire kit?

Tips for the crew are the cost people most often forget; we send a guideline with your booking. Sleeping bags, poles and warm jackets can be hired in Moshi if you do not want to bring your own.

How fit do we need to be?

Fit enough to walk six hours a day for several days running, and then much longer on summit night. Walks with a pack, hills and stairs in the months before help more than the gym. Fitness does not protect you from altitude, but it makes every other day easier.

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