Arrive Kilimanjaro Airport (International flights - tba). You will be met on arrival by a driver and transfer to a special private luxury camp inside Arusha National Park. The camp is large canvas style tents with on-suite toilet and shower. Both the dinning and lounge tent are heated with “bio brick” burning stove, very comfortable and well-staffed. Your campsite provides you with the opportunity to spend your first two nights in the Equatorial Montane Forest on the slopes of Mt. Meru. This camp is at 6,000 ft, helping you acclimatize in preparation for climbing Kili. The walking from the camp is exciting and provides great opportunity to see animals and tropical birds while on foot.
Your exclusive camp looks out onto Kilimanjaro, Meru, and the Ngurdoto Crater. You will spend the morning enjoying the spectacular setting and relaxing after the long flight. After lunch, you gather for a briefing and a gear check for the Kilimanjaro climb. You will separate your Kili gear from any items you want to store in Arusha during your climb (your extra baggage not needed for the climb is transported to the first lodge we stay in after the Kili climb). An afternoon hike takes you into the lush cedar and podocarpus forests of Mount Meru, set within Arusha National Park. The hike is a great way to acclimatize to the altitude and you’ll also have a good chance of seeing the unique black-and-white colobus monkeys of the park and perhaps bushbuck or giraffe, along with a host of avian life. Your hike also offers impressive views of the dramatic ash cone of Mt. Meru’s summit.
A morning drive of about three hours takes you across a rough dirt road through Kilimanjaro National Forest Reserve, with its plantations of pine and cedar. You will meet your porters and guides at the trailhead, and your climb of Kili begins at an altitude of about 7,500 feet. Ascending through the dense montane forest, you may see black-and-white colobus and Sykes monkeys, possibly evidence of Cape buffalo and forest elephant, as well as a colorful array of birds, including turacos and sunbirds. Your first camp is in a forest at about 9,300 feet. The hiking time today is three to four hours.
Waking to the sound of the resident colobus monkeys around camp, you begin the day by hiking through thick forest festooned with “the old man’s beard,” a hanging lichen. As you leave the montane forest, you move through a transition zone and then enter the heath zone, where Kili’s old lava flows are visible. After lunch, you hike to the rim of the Shira Plateau, an immense ancient crater and a World Heritage Site, and on to a camp by a stream on the plateau. Your campsite, at 11,500 feet, has a dramatic view of Kilimanjaro and its glaciers that climbers on the Marangu “Tourist Route” cannot see. (Hiking time is about seven or eight hours)
Today is an easy-paced acclimatization day that takes you a little higher on the Shira Plateau. You hike through heath and moorland zones and view the giant senecios, lobelias, groundsels, and helichrysums that grow at this altitude as you make your way to Moir Camp. Camp is set on a bluff at 13,100 feet with views over the Shira Plateau and up to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Hiking time is five to six hours. There is an optional hike in the afternoon
Today you will hike approximately 6 hours to camp just under Lava Tower, a 300 foot high volcanic lava plug that juts out of the side of the mountain. This will be your first introduction to the alpine zone, with the only plant life being the hardiest of grasses and lichens. You will have a spectacular view of your final ascent route up the Western Breach.
A full day at 14,300 feet to rest, acclimatize, do a day hike and prepare physically and mentally for the harder few days ahead
With the Western Breach ascent route in full view you will spend 2 hours climbing to the base of the route where you will camp near Arrow Glacier. An afternoon hike further up the route before relaxing in camp will help your acclimatization and improve your performance the following day.
You will wind your way up the Western Breach non-technical climbing route for about six hours to the crater rim of the main Kilimanjaro summit massif. Those who still have the energy on top can explore the inner crater and the ash pit before moving to your highest camp on the crater floor. This spectacular high camp is next to the Furtwrangler Glacier with stunning views westward toward Mount Meru and the setting African sun.
You will start our ascent to the summit (19,340') early enough in the morning to be on the summit by 10:00am or earlier. This final ascent is only 800 feet and can be undertaken after sunrise and a leisurely breakfast. This is quite a contrast to the 3,000 foot slog required to summit via all the other ascent routes on Kilimanjaro. After taking in the view from Uhuru Peak we will begin the long descent to Barafu Hut and down to our final camp near Mweka Hut.
It takes about 3 to 5 hours to make the 4,500 foot descent to the Park Gate and pick-up. You will have your lunch at the gate and say goodbye to your mountain staff before transferring by road to Arusha Coffee Lodge.
After breakfast you will be collected by a driver and transfer to Arusha airport for the schedule flight to t airstrip. You will be met on arrival by your guide from Lamai Serengeti and game drive to the lodge.
After breakfast (exact timing tab by camp management) you will transfer to the airstrip for the schedule flight to Arusha. You will be met on arrival by a driver who will be at your disposal for the afternoon to take you to do any last minute shopping you may wish to do and to lunch. You will then be transferred to Kilimanjaro for check-in 3 hours prior to departure (International flights - own arrangements).
