Days 1 & 2
London - Moshi, Tanzania

Our adventure starts at the airport in London, where we meet for the first time and catch our overnight flight to the amazing country of Tanzania in Africa, arriving in Moshi on Day 2.

Our ground handler welcomes us at the airport and we transfer by coach to our hotel. Once settled and freshened up, you have some free time to relax before we meet back up for our first group dinner and challenge briefing. This is a fantastic opportunity to gather more details from our experienced challenge guides and ask any questions you may have about the challenge that lies ahead of us.

Day 3
Moshi – Londrossi Gate – Big Tree Camp (Mti Mkubwa) | approx. 6km/ 4-5 hours (2,360m – 2,895m)

Ready and raring to go after our challenge briefing yesterday, we get ready to start our trek today. Waking up to breakfast at the hotel, we spend the morning transferring to the western side of Mount Kilimanjaro, first to the Londrossi Gate of the National Park for registration and then to our starting point at the Lemosho Trailhead.

Here, we fuel up with a spot of lunch and meet our experienced mountain guides and support crew. Then we commence our trek up the tallest free-standing mountain in the world! As it’s our first day, we take it easy, hiking for about four to five hours, through the gorgeous and unspoiled rainforest, teeming with a wonderful range of the local wildlife, including blue monkeys.

Tonight will be our first night camping on the mountain, in the comfortable and professional twin tents provided by the Dream Team.

These will be set up for us by the time we arrive, so there’s no need to panic about pegging a tent down yourself! Instead, you can kick back and enjoy the amazing sounds and scenery of the forest.

Day 4
Big Tree Camp – Shira 1 Camp (Shira Caldera) | approx. 8km/ 6 hours (2,895m – 3,505m)

We have a slightly more difficult trek today as we head into an altitude of 3,500m trekking across the Shira Plateau, with a height gain of around 2,000ft/ 610m.

Our route takes us to a beautiful wilderness camp just outside the Shira crater, unvisited by the majority of trekkers, where we overnight at around 11,500ft/ 3,500m.

Here, we kick back, have dinner together and enjoy the amazing vistas of the nearby volcano cone, Kibo, which we can see from our camp.

Day 5
Shira 1 Camp – Moir Hut | approx. 10km (3,560m – 4,100m)

After a good breakfast, we continue our trek over the fantastic Shira Plateau and the landscape once again changes, keeping our eyes constantly enthralled.

We’ll pass loads of wild, yellow flowers, called Senecios, which can grow to an astonishing height of about nine meters!

When we reach Fischer Camp, we’ll enjoy our lunch, before hiking on to Moir Camp, where we’ll be staying the night, at 4,175m above sea level.

We have a short rest here and then we have the option to take on a further hike up to the ridgeline (approx. 2km from our camp).

As the ridge lies about 130m higher up than our camp, this walk will allow us to acclimatise better to the altitude. After arriving back at camp, dinner will be served.

Day 6
Moir Hut – Pofu Camp | approx. 10km (4,100m – 4,025m)

Yesterday has prepped us for some tough trekking and changes in altitude, but you’ll be pleased to know that today is a little easier.

We start the day with a steep hike out of the valley and then hike along Kilimanjaro’s Northern slopes and we even come close to Kenya!

We’ll notice our proximity to the neighbouring country when the beautiful Tsavo and Amboselli Valleys come into view. As you can expect from being this high up on the planet, we’re treated to awesome panoramas and mountain scenery throughout the trek and arrive at last at Pofu Camp, where we stop for the night.

Day 7
Pofu Camp – Cave Three Camp | approx. 6km (4,025m – 3,915m)

Continuing our exploration of the mountain’s Northern Slopes, we have the same length trek today, but the terrain means it’s likely to take us less time, so we can further adjust to the environment.

We can also expect to see other courageous people today, as our route (the Northern Circuit) meets the Rongai Trail.

Our day’s hiking ends when we reach the Cave Three Camp to settle down for the evening.

Day 8
Cave Three Camp - Kibo Hut | approx. 4.5km (3,915m – 4,750m)

Day 8 marks our last day before the final summit stretch tomorrow! This means we take it a little slower so that we can allow for sufficient rest in preparation.

As we’re coming closer to “the roof of Africa,” we hike higher than we have so far on this challenge and we’ll notice that vegetation grows sparser up here.

Reaching the Kibo Hut relatively early, we enjoy a hot lunch, rest as much as possible and drink plenty of water. We have dinner in the evening and go to bed early for a very early start.

One of the best mottos in life is "hydration is key" and this is particularly important as we get ourselves ready for our push to the peak.

Day 9
Summit Day | Kibo Hut – Summit Bid – Horombo Hut | approx. 21km (4,750m - 5,895m summit – 3,915m)

We rise at midnight for the toughest, but most rewarding day of our challenge and after breakfast, we follow a long and winding path up to the wonderful rim of the volcano’s crater.

As we trek higher, the slope becomes steeper and rockier with boulders here and there, which signals that we’re drawing close to the Gilman’s Point, at a whopping 5,712m.

This is a check point of sorts and thankfully, from here, our route gets a little gentler all the way to the summit.

Of course, we take a bit of a break here to take in the staggering vistas, enjoy the mountainous sense of achievement of having reached 5,895 metres above sea level and get some fabulous photos, so we can remember the moment forever!

Then it’s back down we go, descending carefully to Kibo Hut for a rest and some hot lunch. This refreshes us sufficiently, so that we can finish off our day’s tough feat by trekking to our night’s camp, the Horombo Hut, which sits at 3,915m.

By now, we’ve jolly well earned ourselves a big dinner, which we tuck into before retiring to bed.

Day 10
Horombo Hut – Marangu Gate – Impala Hotel, Arusha | approx. 20km (3,706m – 1,962m)

We’re so ready for our final day of trekking and after our last breakfast at a campsite, we embark on a beautiful descent back down the mountain, stopping at Mandara for lunch.

Our stunning route takes us through rainforests full of colourful plants and wildlife and we can enjoy the exotic birdsong as we walk, a wonderful soundtrack to spur us on to our finishing point at the gate of the National park.

Triumphant and trekked out, we check out of the park and rest our legs on a coach transfer (approx. 3 hours) to our hotel for a freshen up, before we meet again for our delicious celebration dinner.

Day 11
Free Day | Arusha

Our last day in Tanzania is free for you to spend as you like, relaxing at the comfortable hotel or wandering the local area. Arusha is a hugely popular, multicultural city, which lies on the Northern Safari Circuit, close to many of Africa’s greatest National Parks.

Why not finish your adventure with an awesome optional excursion?

We're delighted to offer you three optional excursions at the end of this challenge.

You can visit the stunning Kikuletwa Hot Springs, jump on a safari in the amazing Arusha National Park or even extend your stay in Tanzania on a 3-day safari in the incredible Serengeti National Park!

Please get in touch with us for more information and/or if you'd like to take part in one. Simply email us directly at events@dream-challenges.com or call us during office hours (9am - 5pm Monday to Friday) on 01590 646410.

Days 12 & 13
Arusha – UK

We bid a fond farewell to Tanzania and transfer to Arusha airport for our overnight flight back to the UK, arriving in London on Day 13.

Alternatively, you can jump on the awesome chance to extend your stay in Tanzania and embark on an optional three-day safari in the Serengeti National Park.

If you choose to take part in the optional three-day safari extension, you won’t fly home with the main group, but there will be an optional later flight back to the UK after your safari.

Please let us know if you’d like to take part at least 14 weeks before the challenge.