6 Days Rongai Route
6 Days Rongai Route
Recommended itinerary
Hiking time: 5 hours
Distance: About 8 km’s
Habitat: Mountain forest
Depart from your hotel in Arusha and drive for one hour towards the Marangu Gate for registrations as Rongai Gate. After registration we will drive two hour and half to the starting point of the Rongai Route. The hike begins from the village of Nale Moru. The small winding path crosses maize fields before entering pine forest and then climbs gently through the forest. The trail is not at all steep, but is rather a gentle hike through the beautiful country side. The first night you camp at First Cave, about 2,600 m. There is a washing room available and water is brought by the crew from down the trail below the First Cave.
Hiking time: 6-7 hours
Habitat: Moorlands
The trail continues up the hill towards Kibo, passing the Second Cave (3450m) en- route, and arrives at Kikelwa Cave at about 3600 metres. Here the temperature can drop to freezing point at night. When the clouds open and the view is clear, you begin to feel you’re on a really big mountain! Overnight at 3rd Cave Camp (Kikelewa Caves).
Hiking time: 3-4 hours
Habitat: Moorlands
A short but steep climb up grassy slopes offers superb views of this wilderness area. The vegetation zone ends shortly before you reach your next camp at Mawenzi Tarn, spectacularly situated beneath the towering spires of Mawenzi. It’s one of the greatest days on the mountain, you spend the afternoon acclimatizing and exploring the area.
Hiking time: 4 – 5 hours
Habitat: Alpine desert
After breakfast continue ascending on the east side of Kibo through the saddle between Mawenzi peak and Kibo, the hike takes about 4 to 5 hours to reach Kibo Hut where the view of the summit is incredible. Here you relax for the rest of the day and prepare for the final ascent, which begins at midnight. After an early dinner you retire to you tents for an early night.
Hiking time: 8 hours to reach Uhuru – 6 hours to descend to Horombo
Distance: 6 km’s ascent – 21 km’s descent
Habitat: Stone scree and ice-capped summit
Here you wake up to start the ascent around midnight. After a light breakfast you get ready to start the most mentally and physically challenging part of this adventure. The first section of the trail consists of a rocky path to the Hans Meyer Cave (5150m). The path then zigzags up to Gillman’s point (5681m) on top of the Crater-rim. Conquering the crater-rim is very steep and challenging with a lot of stone scree, requiring a great physical and mental effort. This part is probably the most demanding section of the entire route. Do the Kili shuffle and move slowly under the support of our team of professionals. From Gillman’s Point snow is all the way up to Uhuru peak (5895m), the highest point in Africa. Total exhilaration and satisfaction – you made it. Weather conditions on the summit will determine how long you can spend taking photographs before a 3-hour descent back to Kibo Hut for a short time to relax. After you head down to Horombo Hut for dinner and overnight. Later in the evening you enjoy your last dinner (with soft drinks and beer for sale at the camp office) on the mountain and well-earned sleep, filled with memories and stirring emotions.
Hiking time: 6 hours
Distance: About 27 km’s
After breakfast depart with a picnic lunchbox to the Horombo Hut and walk down the hill through the beautiful mountain forest. Arriving at the Marangu Gate at about 4pm where our driver is waiting to drive you to your hotel in Arusha.
The route can be extended to 7 days by spending extra night at the Mawenzi Tarn or Kekelwa campsite before heading to Kibo Hut.
The End of 6 Days Rongai Route
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN YOUR ITINERARY
- Accommodation as per the itinerary.
- Pickup from the airport (Kilimanjaro International Airport) or bus terminal, and drop off when climb finished
- Professional Mountain guide
- Daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner as per the itinerary.
- All Park entrance fees
- Rescue fees
- Porter’s allowance
- Professional mountain cook
- Transfer to and from the mountain gate
- Conservation fees
- Local government taxes
- Clean water
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR ITINERARY
- Travel and personal health insurance
- All Internal or International flights and taxes
- All optional activities and any other extras not detailed in the above itinerary
- Tips and gratuities
- Alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic drinks
- Visas
- Passport
- Accommodation before and after safari
Book this Route
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EXCELLENT Based on 139 reviews Jorge Madrid2022-03-04Verified Amazing safari Super experience, everybody helpful and super nice. It feels like a family going into the wild. The driver knows where are the animals and he can spot them while driving safe. Good team and the places where we slept were wonderful, camping in ngorongoro and Serengeti is definitly something else. Even though it is a 5 Days tour It goes super fast. I recomend It 100% Asante sana! Mya Z2022-03-02Verified Great experience Focus in Africa est une agence sérieuse pour effectuer son safari. Nelson est très professionnel et m'a donné tous les détails pour que le safari se passe au mieux. Prise en charge dès l'arrivée à Arusha, j'ai dormi dans l'hostel de Nelson au Lionsgate avant d'entamer le safari le lendemain. Habib notre guide est très professionnel avec de bons yeux pour observer certains big divers cachés au loin. Notre cuisiner était également au top. Je recommande Focus in Africa pour vos safaris. Esra C2022-02-27Verified Amazing safari experience! Onze safari was werkelijk geweldig! Nelson heeft alls voor ons geregeld naar onze wensen. Wij zijn keurig op tijd opgehaald van het vliegveld en zijn eerst gebracht naar het hostel. Een warme welkom en aardige kok die voor ons ook een gids heeft geregeld om het cetrum van Arusha te bezoeken, bezoek de mooie kleurrijke lokale markten en tanzanite museum bijvoorbeeld. Niet te vergeten de gegrilde mais met lime en chilipoeder😋 Wij hebben een 4 daagse safari geboekt, waarbij we eerst naar Tarangire zijn geweest, daarna Serengeti 2 dagen en tot slot Ngorogoro krater, onze gids Mozes was zeer ervaren en vertelde veel over de dieren als natuurgebieden. Hij had ‘eagle eyes’ waardoor we uiteindelijk meer dan de big 5 hebben gezien😊. Onze groep (7 personen) was ook zeer divers waardoor het heel gezellig was. Onze wens was onder andere dat we ipv tenten in lodges wilde blijven. Nelson heeft het perfect geregeld, we voelden ons net in een 4 sterren verblijf midden in de prachtige natuurgebieden! Vooral Seronera en Rhino lodges waren onze favorieten 😍 Onze lunches waren lekker en goed vullend gemaakt door kok van onze safari. Het avondeten in de lodges waren van hotelkwaliteit👌🏼Het was ook fijn dat er altijd (gekoelde) water aanwezig was in onze auto. We willen Nelson en zijn crew nogmaals bedanken voor alles. Maak je dus geen zorgen als je via Focus on Africa boekt, regel alleen je vlucht naar Arusha en Nelson haalt je op en brengt je ook weer naar het vliegveld. Hakuna Matata, zero stress👏🏼 Claire B2022-02-23Verified Unforgettable safzri The safari with Focus in Africa was the highlight of my trip in Tanzania. Everything was perfectly planned and very well organized. I did a 4 days safari, exploring Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro and we made the most of every single day from sunrise to sunset. The driver, Ariel, knows a lot of African wildlife and we saw many animals thanks to his knowledges. All the team, Nelson and his family are very friendly, reliable and serious so that we can have a memorable trip. can only recommend to travel with Focus in Africa. Asante Sana ! Johannes von Simons2022-02-17Verified Great Kili 7 day hike with super team, excellent food and very friendly & helpful guides We did a Kilimanjaro tour with Focus in Africa, and our guide was Emanuel, assistant guide Gadil, and cook Peter. We (Claire and Johannes) really liked everything, from the preparatory talk with Emanuel on the day before the tour, the fact that they also had women porters, the excellent level of service everybody in the team was providing, the outstanding cuisine of Peter (how did he do it?!? Secret miracle cooking device or what? ;-), the flora and fauna explanations of both Emanuel and Gadil during the hiking, the willingness to regularly sit down with us and explain, plan and organize the next steps and days, the help-when-needed-but-also-let-us-explore-our-borders-ourselves... so we were really happy to have booked with Focus in Africa! And we would recommend other tourists to also do seven days, not six. You pay a little more obviously, but it was the perfect mix for us between experiencing the nature, having a demanding-but-not-exhausting physical effort every day, and being proud of ourselves at the end. 6 out of 5 stars ;-) Shubham Goyal2022-01-30Verified Wonderful Experience I went to Tarangire and Ngorongoro with Focus in Africa and had a really wonderful trip. The whole trip was professionally organised with everything and I didn't face any issues. My safari guides were very friendly and helpful and the vehicle was great as well. Their camp site is beautiful and have good food. I would definitely recommend Focus in Africa and would not think twice before booking with them Fa2022-01-28Verified 4 Days Safari Great experience! We went on a 4 day Safari trip, organized by Nelson and Ayubu was our super fun Guide. Peta, also called the food engineer made our breakfast, lunches and Diner. Everything was well planned and the food was just the best. Especially the fresh bread and the different flavors of soup. The tents where also an adventure. I loved this experience! Thank you all for making it possible. sonia2022-01-23Verified Big 5 seen. Big experience lived! All was incredible. Super nice experience. Nelson organised all perfectly. The driver Abby and the chef Pita did their best to make us have the best experience we could. melou28112022-01-21Verified Amazing experience I've made the a 4 days safari with Focus in Africa. The experience was amazing, we saw a lot of animals during the four days. We went to Ngorongonro crater, serengeti and also tarangire. Bryson my guide was very good, we saw a lot of animals thanks to him. We had also a cooker during the trip. It was a very good safari. I've made also the kilimandjaro climbing with focus in africa with the guide Babalu. Babalu was amazing with us. Always taking care of us and asking if we were doing well. We made the marangu road. We had porters and cooker during the trip. Everybody was very very nice with us. I highly recommend FOCUS IN AFRICA. Also the prices are very correct. I compared with a lot of different companies here in Arusha and they were the less expensive ! So for the price and also the experience I highly recommend them. Thank you again sandyrom72022-01-11Verified Cool atmosphere and guide 4 days Safari with Focus in Africa was an interesting adventure for us . Especially cool and big thanks for meeting us from the airport and accommodation in the hostel the day before and day after . Big thanks to our guide George for all this 4 days -he did his best, tried to show as much as possible. But the other side of the trip - food. All meals were included in our safari , so we didn’t take any snacks with us and it was not possible to take smth from the restaurant, we tried it the first day in Arusha( not camp dinner) and got stomach poisoning.. First day we had good , balanced meals , but ijtger 3 days was always rice and meat for lunch and dinner . If the cuisine had been more thoughtful, I’d put all stars