Mount Kilimanjaro Daily Routine

Daily Routine for Climbing Kilimanjaro: 

On a typical day on the mountain, you will be awaken from your tent around 6:30 AM by your waiter/porter, who will bring you a warm pan of water to wash your face and hands. In the morning have your bags packed before breakfast.

Generally breakfast is between 7:30am and 8:00am, and departure from camp is at 9:00am after medical checkup.

There is a lunch at midday, tea and biscuits around 4pm and dinner at 7pm. Summit morning is different; full breakfast 11:30pm and start hiking at midnight or sometimes 1am.

Meals are served in a mess tent or occasionally outdoors if the weather is nice - complete with chairs, tables, dinnerware and silverware. After you assemble your day pack, you will begin walking around 8:00 AM, while the porters stay behind to clean up the campsite, and pack up the tents and other equipment.

While the hours vary from day to day, your average walking time will be around four to six hours per day. During the walk, your guide will decide the pace and when to take a breaks depending on his assessment of the party's performance. The pace is slow and not forced at all. There is a rest at least once every hour and plenty of time to take photos, enjoy the view and chat. The porters consistently move ahead of the group in order to prepare food, collect water, and set up tents so that everything is ready when  you arrive at the campsite.  When you arrive at the campsite you will find the tents erected and your bags ready to collect. 

​A hot lunch is served part way through your day's trek though on occasion a boxed lunch may be provided.

​Kilimanjaro Summit day routine:

Summit day is a tough, 11 to 16 hour day. This monumental effort is what makes climbing Kilimanjaro an achievement. It begins very early as guides try to time their trekking party to reach Uhuru Point at sunrise. Climbers go to sleep after an early dinner the night before and are awoken around midnight to prepare for the summit attempt. After a light snack, climbers ascend in the darkness, cold and wind. It goes without saying that under these conditions, climbing is difficult, especially on loose rock and up a very steep slope. This is where your physical prowess and mental toughness will be tested.

Expect a long day starting at midnight and getting all the way back down to Millennium Camp/Mweka camp by about 3pm or 5pm in the afternoon. The route up will be in the darkness and it will be cold and often windy. Do prepare with good warm clothing and protect your extremities and face. From Barafu to the crater rim will take about 6 hours, and you will arrive with the dawn which is very special. From the rim (Stella Point) it is a further hour to the top, so expect summit time be anything between 7am and 9am. With an hour on top for photos and enjoying the exceptional view, and feeling absolutely elated, the route down is dusty, loose and quite a strain on the knees. Take it easy and stay with one of the guides; they will split up to cover all the mini groups that naturally form for the descent.

Once you reach the summit, some time is spent celebrating and taking photos, before returning to high camp, either Barafu or Kibo Hut. There, you eat lunch and regain your strength before continuing the descent to a much lower camp. The long descent immediately after summiting is where most people get tired, due to the partial night's sleep, the expenditure of energy required to reach the top, and the particularly long distance covered that day. This is completely normal. For those who may be feeling ill from the altitude, getting to this lower elevation can relieve symptoms often quickly and completely.
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When you get back to Barafu pack your bags for the porters to take down (you should prepare this the night before), take a rest and lunch and then drop down to Millennium Camp or Mweka camp. Some people question this, but it is necessary to get lower because Barafu is still at 4600 metres and your body will thank you for losing altitude. It may be the last thing you want to do after having summited Kilimanjaro, but it is necessary!