12-Day Kilimanjaro Hike & Safari

We will pick you up from the airport & take you to your hotel in Moshi – Chanya lodge or in Arusha – Tulia spa & boutique, later on will brief you on the tour with the guide who will also check on your hike gears & make all preparations for the big hiek tomorrow.

After breakfast at your hotel, you will be picked up from Arusha (1400m) and driven to Machame Village. In the village, you can buy mineral water and will receive a packed lunch. From the village, depending on the road conditions, you will either continue to drive from the village to the Machame gate, but if not, the muddy 3 km walk will take about 1 hour to complete. After registering at the gate office, you immediately start your ascent and enter the rainforest. You will have a welcome lunch stop about halfway and will reach the Machame camping area in the late afternoon.

Your porters (arriving at the campsite long before you) will have erected your tent on your arrival. In the evening the porters will boil drinking and washing water and the cook will prepare dinner before you retire to your tent for the night. Night temperatures can already drop to freezing point at this campsite.

Hiking time: 7 hours
Distance: Approximately 18 kilometers
Habitat: Montane forest.

You rise early at Machame camp and after breakfast, you climb an hour or so to the top of the forest and then for 2 hours at a gentler gradient through the moorland zone. After a short lunch and rest, you continue up a rocky ridge onto the Shira plateau. By now you will be able to see in an easterly direction, the Western Breach with its stunning glaciers. You are now due west of Kibo and after a short hike, you will reach the Shira campsite at 3 840m. The porters will boil drinking and washing water, before serving dinner. The night at this exposed camp will be colder than the previous night, with temperatures dropping to below freezing.

The route now turns east into a semi-desert and rocky landscape surrounding Lava Tower, where you reach an altitude of 4630m after about a 5 hours walk. Lunch is served in a designated area before ascending the rocky scree path to Lava Tower (4630m). This is the toughest day so far. It is normally around this point, where for the first time, some climbers will start to feel symptoms of breathlessness, irritability, and headaches. After lunch, you descend again by almost 680m to the Barranco camping area and after reaching the high altitude of 4600m at Lava Tower, the true acclimatization benefit of this day becomes clear. This descent to Barranco camp takes about 2 hours. The camp is situated in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Wall, which should provide you with a memorable sunset while you wait the preparation of your dinner.

Hiking time: 7h
Distance: Approximately 15 km
Habitat: Semi-desert.

After an early morning breakfast, it is now time to conquer the Great Barranco Wall! Although it may look intimidating at first glance, hikers state that this Class 2 hike is usually much easier than anticipated. At the top of the Wall, you will have a Heim Glacier view above the clouds. The trail then winds up and down in the Karanga Valley. This is an ideal hiking day for acclimatization.

Hiking time: 4-5 hours
Distance: Approximately 5 kilometers
Habitat: Alpine desert.

Following breakfast, you will leave Karanga Camp (3959m). The trail intersects with the Mweka Route, which is the trail used to descend on the final two days. As you continue hiking for an hour, you will reach Barafu Hut. This is the last water stop for the porters because there is no accessible water at Barafu Camp (4550m). The word “bara” in Swahili means “ice” and this camp is located on a rocky, exposed ridge. Tents will be exposed to wind and rocks so hikers need to familiarize themselves with the campsite before dark. An early dinner will be served so hikers can rest before attempting the summit the same night. Your guide will brief you in detail on hiking time: 2-3 hours

Distance: Approximately 4 kilometers
Habitat: Alpine desert
Prepare for summit night. Get to sleep by 19:00!

You will rise around 23h30 and after some tea. You will head in a north-westerly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point on the crater rim. This 6-hour walk to Stella Point is mentally and physically the most challenging on the route. At Stella Point (5685m) you will stop for a short rest and will be rewarded with the most magnificent sunrise you are ever likely to see (weather permitting). From Stella Point, you will normally encounter snow on your 2-hour ascent to Uhuru Peak. The time you will spend on the summit will depend on the weather conditions. The walk back to Barafu from the summit takes about 3 hours. Here you will have a well-earned but short rest and collect the rest of your gear. The camp is situated in the upper forest and mist or rain can be expected in the late afternoon.

Hiking time: 8h to reach Uhuru Peak, 7 – 8h to descend to Mweka
Distance: Approximately 7 km ascent – 23 km descent
Habitat: Stone scree and ice-capped summit.

Following a well-deserved breakfast, your staff will have a big celebration full of dancing and singing. It is here on the mountain that you will present your tips to the guide, assistant guides, chef(s), and porters. After celebrating, you will descend for three hours back to Mweka Gate. The National Park requires all hikers to sign their names to receive certificates of completion. Hikers who reached Stella Point (5685m) receive green certificates and hikers who reached Uhuru Peak (5895m) receive gold certificates. After receiving certificates, hikers will descend into the Mweka village for 1 hour (3 kilometers). You will be served a hot lunch then you will drive back to Arusha for long overdue showers and more celebrations.

Hiking time: 3h
Distance: Approximately 15 km
Habitat: Forest.

We will pick you up from your hotel at 7:30 am and after being familiar with the guide, & chef.  we will drive to Tarangire national park (2hr drive) famous for its diverse landscape. The park is particularly known for the abundance of Ancient Baobab trees & having the largest concentration of elephants in the whole country and provides unique chances to observe the interaction between elephant families. We will do a game drive through the park depending on where they are reported sightings of animals (mostly predators, lions, cheetahs & leopards as they are harder to spot) as herbivores (giraffes, wildebeest, zebras, etc. are plenty to see through the park.
Later on, will go to the Tarangire river picnic site and enjoy the beautiful view of the river & animals while having lunch, small monkeys & baboons will try to scare you off your lunch but there is nothing to worry about. After lunch will proceed with the game drive and will later head to our accommodation for dinner and sleep.

After breakfast, you will do an early game drive in Tarangire as you exit and proceed to Serengeti which takes 6 hours (including all stops) as it transits through the Ngorongoro Conservation area

Stop at: Ngorongoro Crater, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Arusha Region
Will briefly stop at the gate and viewpoint to look at the breathtaking view of the crater. Duration: 20 minutes

Stop at: Ngorongoro Crater, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Arusha Region
Visit Maasai village, it's optional to visit and explore the culture of the great Maasai tribe. Duration: 20-45 minutes. This is an optional visit not included in the price and many clients opt against it, Entrance is 10 - 20usd

Serengeti National Park
Arrive in the late afternoon and do a game drive in Seronera (center of Serengeti) to late evening and experience the sunset in Serengeti while having a close view of wild animals lucky enough to see a predator hunting or on a kill, later heading to your accommodation in the campsite.

Seronera, Serengeti National Park
After an early breakfast will go on an early game drive seeing a lot of animals till afternoon where will head to camp for lunch and packing doing a game drive while we exit the Serengeti heading to  (2hrs drive) Ngorongoro crater on your campsite for dinner and sleep.

After an early breakfast will descend the crater (6:15 am) on a journey to find the black rhino, rhinos are the hardest to spot in the beautiful crater as most animals will be easier to spot from this park due to it being floor crater. After lunch will do a game drive ascend the crater to camp and pack for driving back to Arusha.