• Machame Gate to Machame Camp
• Elevation (ft): 5,400ft to 9,400ft
• Distance: 11 km
• Hiking Time: 5-7 hours
• Habitat: Rain Forest

The drive from Moshi to the Mount Kilimanjaro National Park Gate takes about 50 minutes. The journey passes through the village of Machame which is located on the lower slopes of the mountain.

At the park gate we begin by walking through a rainforest on a winding trail and up a ridge. Lower down, the trail can be muddy and slippery. Gaiters and trekking poles are a good idea here. We continue a short distance until we reach Machame Camp.

• meal plan: 
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Machame Campsite

• Machame Camp to Shira Camp
• Elevation (ft): 9,400ft to 12,500ft
• Distance: 5 km
• Hiking Time: 4-6 hours
• Habitat: Moorland

After breakfast, we leave the glades of the rainforest and continue our ascent, crossing a little valley and along a steep rocky ridge, covered with heather, until the ridge ends. The route now turns west onto a river gorge. Time for rest, dinner, and your overnight stay at the Shira campsite.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Shira Campsite

Accordion Content

• Shira Camp to Lava Tower to Barranco Camp
• Elevation (ft): 12,500ft to 13,000ft
• Distance: 10 km
• Hiking Time: 6-8 hours
• Habitat: Semi Desert

From the Shira Plateau, we continue to the east up a ridge, passing the junction towards the peak of Kibo. As we continue, our direction changes towards the South East and the lava tower, called the “Shark’s Tooth.” Just after the tower, we come to another junction which brings us up to Arrow Glacier at an altitude of 16,000ft.

We now continue down to the Barranco Hut at an altitude of 13,000ft. Here we rest, enjoy dinner, and an overnight stay. Although you end the day at the same elevation as when you begun, this day is very important for acclimatization and will help your body prepare for summit day.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Barranco Campsite

     

• Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp
• Elevation (ft): 13,000ft to 13,100ft
• Distance: 5 km
• Hiking Time: 4-5 hours
• Habitat: Alpine Desert

After breakfast, we leave Barranco and continue on a steep ridge passing the barranco wall, to the Karanga Valley campsite. This is a short day meant for acclimatization. Dinner and overnight at Karanga Camp.

• meal plan:
  •  breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Karanga Campsite

• Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp
• Elevation (ft): 13,100ft to 15,300ft
• Distance: 4 km
• Hiking Time: 4-5 hours
• Habitat: Alpine Desert

After breakfast, we leave Karanga to reach the junction which connects with the Mweka Trail. We continue up to the Barafu Hut. At this point, you have completed the South Circuit, which offers views of the summit from many different angles. Here we make camp, rest, enjoy dinner, and prepare for the summit day. The two peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo can be seen from this position.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Barafu Campsite

• Barafu Camp to Summit to Mweka Hut
• Elevation (ft): 15,300ft to 19,345ft (and down to 10,000ft)
• Distance: 5 km ascent / 12 km descent
• Hiking Time: 7-8 hours ascent / 4-6 hours descent
• Habitat: Arctic

Very early in the morning (between midnight and 2am), we continue on our way to the summit between the Rebmann and Ratzel glaciers. We head in a northwesterly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point on the crater rim. This is the most mentally and physically challenging stage of the trek. At Stella Point (18,600 ft), we 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 may encounter snow all the way on the one hour ascent to the summit. At Uhuru Peak, you have reached the highest point on Mount Kilimanjaro and the continent of Africa. Faster hikers will see the sunrise from the summit. From the summit, we now make our descent continuing straight down to the Mweka Hut camp site, stopping at Barafu for lunch. You will want gaiters and trekking poles for the loose gravel going down. Mweka Camp is situated in the upper forest and mist or rain can be expected in the late afternoon. Later in the evening, we enjoy our last dinner on the mountain and a well earned sleep.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Mweka Hut Campsite

• Mweka Camp to Arusha
• Elevation (ft): 10,000ft to 5,400ft
• Distance: 10 km
• Hiking Time: 3-4 hours
• Habitat: Rainforest

After breakfast, we continue the descent down to the Mweka Park Gate to receive your summit certificates. Shorts and t-shirts will probably be plenty to wear, but keep rain gear and warmer clothing handy. As stated before the lower slopes can be muddy so gaiters or alpine sticks or gaiters may help. From the gate, you continue another hour to Mweka Village. A vehicle will meet you there to transfer you back to your lodgings in Arusha for dinner and an overnight stay.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Premier Palace Hotel 
  • midrange: New Arusha Hotel 
  • luxury: Melia Grand Hotel

After breakfast depart for Lake Manyara via Mto-wa mbu village. A picnic lunch enables a full day game drive in Lake Manyara National Park. This park packs a lot of diversity into a small area. It is the only park in the area that is green all year round. The park also offers a spectacular view of the Great Rift Valley and the fig forest here is a good place to see monkeys and some of the 350 species of birds that have been recorded here. With luck, you may spot the tree climbing lions for which the park is famous.

• meal plan:
  •  breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Jambo Campsite 
  • midrange: Manyara Serena Hotel luxury: Lake Manyara Tree Top Lodge

After breakfast we head towards the Serengeti National Park, via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Leaving the highlands behind, we descend into the heart of wild Africa – the Serengeti National Park, with its endless plains, rolling into the distance as far as the eye can see. You head to the central park area, known as the Seronera area, one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park, featuring the Seronera River. The river provides a valuable water source to this area and therefore attracts wildlife well representative of most of the Serengeti’s many species. You arrive in time for lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive and arrive at your lodgings in the park ready for dinner.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Nyani Campsite 
  • midrange: Kati kati Tented Camp 
  • luxury: Lemala Tented Lodge

You have another full day in this wonderful park, rising early to make the most of your time. Our guides will choose the best spotting locations for the time of year. You can spend time at the hippo pools watching these majestic animals laze about in the cool water, living alongside crocodiles. Or watch a big pride of lions, or be in the middle of the migration, sometimes surrounded by wildebeest and zebra, which migrate alongside the wildebeest. Your journey can take you from the wide open plains to the kopjes. A kopje is a lonely, volcanic, rocky hill that shoots out of the savanna grass. They are not high but they provide protection and shelter for a wide variety of animals.

From the top we can look out across the vast grasslands of the Serengeti. This diverse and interesting landscape will provide us with the ultimate in game viewing. You will hopefully see all of the savanna wildlife, including elephant, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, lion and, if you are lucky, the elusive leopard and cheetah. A vast and interesting bird life too, from the elegant secretary bird to the flightless ostrich, vultures and eagles.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Nyani Campsite 
  • midrange: Kati kati Tented Camp 
  • luxury: Lemala Tented Lodge

After breakfast we depart for the Ngorongoro Conservation area. You will stopover at Olduvai Gorge, which boasts a history dating back to the dawn of time. It was here, that the anthropologists Drs. Lois and Mary Leakey discovered the skulls of the ’Nutcracker Man’ and ‘Handy Man’, both very significant links in the chain of human evolution. You arrive in time for lunch at your lodgings and spend the afternoon at leisure.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
     
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Simba Campsite 
  • midrange: Ngorongoro Serena Lodge
  •  luxury: Lemala Tented Lodge

     

After breakfast you descend 600 metres into this magnificent crater for a full-day game drive. The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most densely crowded wildlife areas in the world. It is home to an estimated 30,000 animals including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhino. Supported by a year round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro Crater Reserve supports a vast variety of animals. Wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, many other antelopes and gazelle, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants.

Another big draw to this picturesque national park is its huge population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-elusive leopard. You will enjoy a picnic lunch on the crater floor. Early afternoon drive to a Kimba Masai Village on the Ngorongoro Crater rim. Visitors meet the village elders, get an insight into the Maasai way of life, visit the bomas, learn about their prized cattle and visit the local school.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Simba Campsite 
  • midrange: Ngorongoro Serena Lodge 
  • luxury: Lemala Tented Lodge

Early in the morning after breakfast, we cross Great Rift Valley and push on to the slopes of Ngorongoro highlands and further on to Lake Eyasi, home to the last remnant of bushman in Tanzania. You will spend much of the day here with a local guide and you can visit a number of simple makeshift homesteads. Spend few hours on Lake Eyasi while enjoying our well packed picnic lunch.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Chem Chem Campsite 
  • midrange: Tindiga Tented Camp

Before dawn you will be woken by your local guide to get ready for a bushman hunting safari. You will join the hadzabe as they track primates and squirrels etc using their traditional bow and arrow. Remember this isn’t inside a national park, it is in the open and sparsley forested bush. Back to your lodgings for breakfast and the preparation of a barbeque. You will share the meal with the Hadzabe who inhabit the region.

The Hadzabe are among the few tribes in the world which continue to practice a semi nomadic life in the bush. They also still practice primitive customs in their communal lifestyle. You will have time to interact with them and learn their daily activities. You will walk along Lake Eyasi which is home to an amazing variety of birds. After lunch we drive to Tarangire where you will be glad to have a good shower.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast,
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Tarangire Campsite 
  • midrange: Burunge Tented Camp 
  • luxury: Lemala Mpingo Ridge

An early breakfast, after which we set off for a full day game drive. Tarangire National park is famous for huge herds of elephants, we might even follow a family of elephants across the savanna plateau and down to the river (see the photo on our home page). We usually have a picnic lunch on the view point, high above the Tarangire River, which at that point, teems with animals at all times. Then we take a full afternoon game drive before heading out to Arusha-

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • budget: Premier Palace 
  • midrange: Mount Meru Hotel 
  • luxury: Arusha Coffee Lodge

After breakfast we transfer you to the Arusha airstrip, ready to catch your flight to Zanzibar. On arrival in Zanzibar you will be met by our staff and transferred to your lodgings. Your afternoon is free to look around town.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
  • accommodation: 
    • midrange: Tembo House 
    • luxury: Zanzibar Hilton Hotel

Rest and relax at the beach near your hotel.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • midrange: Palumbo Reef 
  • luxury: Melia Zanzibar Hotel

     

on this day you head out to Kizimbani Village for a spice tour. You will have the opportunity to see many spices such as cloves, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, turmeric root, and others growing in the plantations. Other tropical fruits, for example jack fruit, custard fruit, apple, rambutan and carambola can also be seen and tasted. Furthermore you will see plants like the henna bush, lipstick tree and lemongrass. Finally you visit the Kidichi Persian Baths that were built by Said Said bin Sultan, the first Sultan of Zanzibar, in 1850. Also Maruhubi Palace Ruins built by Sultan Said Baraghash Bin Said, the third Sultan of Zanzibar, in 1880. The palace was built especially for housing 99 of his harem.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • midrange: Palumbo Reef 
  • luxury: Melia Zanzibar Hotel

     

Rest and relax at the hotel beach side.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • midrange: Palumbo Reef 
  • luxury: Melia Zanzibar Hotel

Breakfast and then relax at the beach. After lunch you will go for a dolphin tour to Kizimkazi on the southern part of the Island. This place is a home to bottle-nosed dolphins and humpback dolphins, you may even be able to swim with them.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • midrange: Palumbo Reef 
  • luxury: Melia Zanzibar Hotel

Rest and relax at the hotel beach side. Dinner and overnight at Arabian Night Suite Hotel.

• meal plan:
  •  breakfast
  • lunch
  • dinner
• accommodation: 
  • midrange: Palumbo Reef 
  • luxury: Melia Zanzibar Hotel

     

On your last day you have time for a guided town safari. This safari takes you through the narrow streets and passageways of old Stone Town, where history appears to stand still. With visits to the House of Wonders, the Palace Museum (People’s Palace), Dr Livingstone’s House and the Arab Fort amongst others. On this fascinating tour of Zanzibar you will feel as if you have stepped out of a time machine, to the slave trading days.

You will see Zanzibar’s bustling market, winding alleyways, ornately carved and studded doors, cathedrals and mosques. You will have free time in the afternoon for you to explore further on your own or to relax. Lunch will be served at a restaurant in town. After lunch transfer to Zanzibar airport to catch your flight to Dar es Salaam and, subsequently, your flight back home.

• meal plan: 
  • breakfast
  • lunch
• accommodation: no accommodation on this day.