Hiking Kilimanjaro Via Rongai

7 days—Climbing Kilimanjaro Via Rongai Route

$2280-2469 USD

Get quote

Safari summary

This is one of Kilimanjaro’s easiest routes, and it has become an increasingly popular route in recent years. This route is located on the northern side of Mount Kilimanjaro, with a variety of spectacular landscapes and different plant and animal species. The typical duration for this trip is 6 days. However, you can also add an acclimatization day and make it a 7-day climb.

The Rongai Route is more scenic than the Marangu Route and easier than other camping routes for climbing Kilimanjaro, and the success rate on the Rongai Route is very high. Unlike the Marangu Route, where you sleep in huts, on the Rongai Route you sleep in tents. The porter will have your tent pitched and waiting for you at the end of each day’s trek. This route starts on the north side of the mountain, just south of the Kenyan border, and is one of the least traveled routes.

The route merges with the Marangu Route for the summit climb. The descent follows the Marangu Route on the mountain’s southeast side, so you will be able to see Kilimanjaro from many viewpoints.

About this tour

	Tour type	Set-date, set-itinerary, group
	Main focus	None
	Activity level	Strenuous activity
	Best months	All months
	Countries	Tanzania
	Parks	Kilimanjaro

Fine details

Safari highlights

Hiking | trekking

What’s included?

Accommodation
Airport transfers
Meals
Park fees

What’s not included?

International flights
Spa treatments
Tips and gratuities
Visas

Itinerary

Moshi to Rongai Gate to Simba Camp

Kilimanjaro

Elevation (m): 1,387/915 m to 1,950 m to 2,750 m Distance: 9 km Hiking Time: 4 hours Habitat: Montane Forest You will have an early breakfast. Transfer by our vehicles through many villages and coffee plantations for a 2-3 hour drive to Rongai Gate (1,950 m/6,398 ft). After signing in and preparing the porters, you will start hiking on a wide path winding through fields of maize and potatoes, and then enter Montane Forest.

Simba Camp

Simba Camp to Kikelewa Camp

Kilimanjaro

Elevation: 2,750 m to 3,600 m Distance: 17 km Hiking Time: 7 hours Habitat: Moorland After an early breakfast, you will have a steady ascent to the second cave, where you will stop for lunch. You leave the direct trail at this point and strike out across the moorland on a smaller path toward Mawenzi Side Peak and Kikelewa Camp in a sheltered valley.

Kikelewa Camp

Kikelewa Camp to Mawenzi turn hut

Kilimanjaro

After breakfast, you will face a short, steep climb up grassy slopes, rewarded by superb all-round views and immersed in the vast surrounding wilderness. Soon after, you leave the vegetation behind and arrive at the Mawenzi Tarn Camp, which is situated in a spectacular cirque directly beneath the towering spires of Mawenzi Peak.

Mawenzi turn hut Camp

Acclimatization day

Kilimanjaro

This is your extra day on the mountain, and you will spend two nights at Mawenzi Tarn. You will hike up towards Mawenzi for a splendid acclimatization hike. Then, after returning to the camp for lunch, dinner, and overnight.

Mawenzi turn hut Camp

Mawenzi Tarn Hut to Kibo Huts Camp

Kilimanjaro

Elevation: 4,330 m to 4,695 m Distance: 8km Hiking Time: 5 hours Habitat: Alpine Desert After an early breakfast, you will cross the lunar desert of the saddle between Kibo Peak and Mawenzi Peak to reach the reach the Kibo Huts at the bottom of Kibo’s crater wall. You should spend the remainder of the day resting and preparing for your summit climb.

Kibo Huts Camp

Summit Day: Kibo Huts Camp to Uhuru

Kilimanjaro

Wake at midnight to a light breakfast, and then prepare for your summit ascent. The goal is to climb before dawn so that you can reach Uhuru Peak shortly before or after sunrise. Leave the peak at 12:00 AM, switch back up steep scree or possibly snow, and reach Gilman's Point on the crater rim at 5,861 m/18,640 ft between 4 and 6 AM. At this point, you will have views of the fabled crater and its ice caps facing you.

Horombo Huts camp

Horombo Hut Camp-Marangu Gate-Moshi

Kilimanjaro

After a long and enjoyable sleep, you will be awakened for breakfast, pack up, and start descending through the moorland to Mandara Huts. Here you will have lunch, then proceed with your triumphant descent down through lush forest to Marangu Gate. Here you will sign out, and then a vehicle will take you back to the hotel, where it is definitely time for the certificate presentation and celebration!

Moshi

Here are the latest tours by Evergreen Escape Adventure.