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Approaching Mount Kilimanjaro from the west, you take the comparatively new Northern Circuit Route, with a total trip time of nine days. The first three days of the ascent follow the Lemosho Route. The route then turns north and follows the northern flank of the mountain proper to where it meets the Rongai Route at Third Caves. Ascend to School Hut, join the Marangu Route and lead up to the summit via Gilman’s Point. After summit you descend back down the mountain via Barafu camp route to Millenium which is the high camp at 3900 meters for the night and in the morning, you proceed to Mweka gate. You will have a private vehicle to take you to and from the mountain. Accommodation on the mountain on this trip will be in tented camps – a true adventure.
Your pre-climb briefing, in the course of which your guide will provide all the details of the upcoming trek, takes place in the evening. A final check of your readiness to tackle Kilimanjaro is the final part of your preparations including gear check.
Accommodation: Hotel
Journey time and Distance: 1 hour, 40 km from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Moshi
After an early breakfast (07.00am), you leave the hotel three hours later to arrive at the Lemosho Gate for registration around 12.00pm, and in time to have your picnic lunch. Today your walk is a distance of 7 km, with an expected 3.5 to 4 hours of walking time.
Your starting altitude is some 2,100 metres and you finish at 2,650 metres. Your approach to the mountain is from the west and some people say this provides the best views of Kilimanjaro. At the start of your walk, you may be lucky enough to spy some colobus or blue monkeys, though an encounter with buffalo, elephant or leopard would be rare nowadays. Your walk, steadily upwards, is a wonderful experience, with fantastic forest and some colourful flowers. Mti Mkubwa Camp (‘Big Tree Camp’) is normally reached by 18.00 and dinner is served at 19.30.
Accommodation: Mti Mkubwa Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Starting Point (2,100 m) to Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m)
You will soon become used to the early, 07.00 breakfast and your departure time is at 08.00. Although your walking distance is similar to yesterday, today you will be ascending from 2,650 metres to 3,610 metres and you expect a longer walking time of between 6.5 and 7 hours. Today, the trees of your first day thin out, you eventually leave the forest environment behind as you move into the moorland and are able to get your first view of the Shira peaks, Shira Plateau and Kibo itself.
As ever, you should concentrate on walking pole pole (slowly slowly) to acclimatise better and reduce the chances of feeling unwell. Walking is steep at first but then flattens as reach the shira plateaus and with the snow-topped Kibo ahead of you, you descend slightly to the Shira 1 Camp. Arriving at around 1.00, a good timing for your hot lunch. you will then have the rest of the day to yourself for resting. Your dinner will be ready at 18.30.
Accommodation: Shira 1 Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 7 hours, from Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m) to Shira 1 Camp (3,610 m)
Compared to yesterday, your climbing today is less (240 metres of ascent) and takes you up to an altitude of 3,850 metres. The distance you cover will be similar, at approximately 7 km. It is a steady, uphill climb and you should expect about 3.5 to 4 hours of walk time in total.
Your breakfast today is at the normal time of 07.00 and your departure one hour later. You set off in a south-eastern direction across the moor and heathland of the Shira Plateau. Buffalo, dik-dik and klipspringer graze here and can occasionally be seen. You intend to reach Shira 2 Camp – which is also known as Shira Huts – by 13.00, in time to be served a hot lunch. Dinner tonight will be at 18.00.
Accommodation: Shira 2 Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Shira 1 Camp (3,610 m) to Shira 2 Camp (3,850 m)
Today you are at your early, 07.00 breakfast time, ready for 08.00 departure. You would expect to spend about 6.5 to 7 hours walking today, covering a distance of 14 km. You will finish your day 350 meters higher than you started it, in between you have to climb to the base of the famous Lava Tower at 4,600 meters. This part of the route is rife with ups and downs and may bring some discomfort. You will spend one or two hours at higher altitude in order to properly acclimatize yourself, so the lunch break will take place at Lava Tower itself. The afternoon part of the route climbs slightly before descending to Moir Hut Camp. Your guide may decide to bypass Lava Tower altogether, taking the porter trail instead, if any of the members of the group do not appear to have acclimatized properly. In this case the highest altitude reached will be 4,400, rather than 4,600 metres.
Accommodation: Moir Hut Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 7 hours, Shira 2 Camp (3,850 m) – Lava Tower – (4,600) – Moir Hut Camp (4,200 m)
You climb out of the Moir Valley and take a short detour to reach the summit of Lent Hills (4,375 m). After admiring the views, you return to the trail and head eastwards around the northern circuit trail. Here the trail passes through a field of rock slabs that clink as they are walked on. The final section of today’s walk undulates until reaching the location of Buffalo Camp (4,020 m). At the camp, there is a huge feeling of space as the Kenyan plains stretch out far below to the north.
Accommodation: Buffalo Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 7 hours, Moir Hut Camp (4,200 m) – Lent Hills (4,375 m) – Buffalo Camp (4,020 m)
From Buffalo Camp, you climb to the top of ‘Buffalo Ridge’ and cross numerous ridges and gullies. The trail continues eastwards through a landscape that has increasingly sparse vegetation to eventually reach Third Cave Camp (3,800 m).
Accommodation: Third Cave Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 6 hours, Buffalo Camp (4,020 m) – Third Cave Camp (3,800 m)
On a relatively easy path, today’s leg takes you over the so called “saddle”. This piece of rock is actually a lava-flow formed when Kili was still young. It has now solidified and connects two of Mount Kilimanjaro’s three peaks, Mawenzi and Kibo. You will arrive at the School Hut in about 4.5 to 5 hours and go to bed straight after dinner as the summit calls for an early start, at approximately 11 p.m.
Accommodation: School Hut
Hiking time and Elevation: 5 hours, from Third Cave Camp (3,800 m) to School Hut (4,800 m)
Today is the most challenging day, but hopefully with the great sense of achievement of reaching your goal – the summit of Kilimanjaro! Your schedule for your ‘Summit Day’ is of course very different. Rising at 23.00, you take your tea and biscuits (23.30) before a midnight departure.
The day starts with the long, tough climb from School Hut at 4,800 meters to Gilman’s Point at 5,685 metres; for some of this you will be walking on scree, making your trek more difficult. From there it is another 210 meters of ascent and 1 hour’ walk to the summit. Your goal is to reach the summit by around 07.00 then celebrate reaching the top, take your precious photos and enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience. After the summit, you return to Barafu, where you rest for a couple of hours, take a hot lunch and then leave again at 13.30 to continue to descend to Mweka Camp (3,100 meters) where you spend the night. You would expect to arrive at 17.00 and take your dinner at 19.00. (In total, you cover around 17 km today with about 13 hours of walking.)
Accommodation: Mweka Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 13 hours, School Hut (4,800 m) – Uhuru Peak (5,895 m) to Mweka Camp (3,100 m)
Still thrilled by your achievement, breakfast is taken at 07.00 and at 08.00 you can take the chance to reward your trekking team at the ‘Tipping Celebration.’
Departure is at 09.00 and you descend down to Mweka Gate at an altitude of 1,640 metres, where you will be served a hot lunch at midday and be presented with your hard-earned certificate. Your transport will be waiting to bring you back to your hotel in Moshi, where you can choose to relax – or celebrate!
Accommodation: Hotel
Hiking time and Elevation: 3 hours, from Mweka Camp (3,100 m) to Mweka Gate (1,640 m)
After a good night’s rest at your hotel, you will take breakfast ready for the scheduled check-out by 11.00.(In case you need a late check-out because of an evening flight, please advise us of this when you book your trip and we will inform you of the cost for day room which ends at 18:00hrs, and then make the booking on your behalf.)
Accommodation: Hotel
Journey time and Distance: 1 hour, 40 km from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Moshi
After an early breakfast (07.00), you leave the hotel one hour later to arrive at the Londorosi Gate for registration around 11.00, and in time to have your picnic lunch. After Londorosi, you have a short drive to the start-point of today’s walk. Today your walk is a distance of 7 km, with an expected 3.5 to 4 hours of walking time.
Your starting altitude is some 2,100 metres and you finish at 2,650 metres. Your approach to the mountain is from the west and some people say this provides the best views of Kilimanjaro. At the start of your walk, you may be lucky enough to spy some colobus or blue monkeys, though an encounter with buffalo, elephant or leopard would be rare nowadays. Your walk, steadily upwards, is a wonderful experience, with fantastic forest and some colourful flowers. Mti Mkubwa Camp (‘Big Tree Camp’) is normally reached by 18.00 and dinner is served at 19.30.
Accommodation: Mti Mkubwa Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Starting Point (2,100 m) to Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m)
You will soon become used to the early, 07.00 breakfast and your departure time is at 08.00. Although your walking distance is similar to yesterday, today you will be ascending from 2,650 metres to 3,610 metres and you expect a longer walking time of between 4.5 and 5 hours. Today, the trees of your first day thin out, you eventually leave the forest environment behind as you move onto the moorland and are able to get your first view of both the Shira Plateau and Kibo itself.
As ever, you should concentrate on walking pole pole (slowly) to reduce the chances of feeling unwell. Your direction is largely eastwards, picnic lunch is taken around 13.00. Walking is steep at first after lunch, but then flattens and with the snow-topped Kibo ahead of you, you descend slightly to the Shira 1 Camp. Arriving at around 16.00, your dinner will be ready at 18.30.
Accommodation: Shira 1 Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 5 hours, from Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m) to Shira 1 Camp (3,610 m)
Compared to yesterday, your climbing today is less (240 metres of ascent) and takes you up to an altitude of 3,850 metres. The distance you cover will be similar, at approximately 7 km. It is a steady, uphill climb and you should expect about 3.5 to 4 hours of walk time in total.
Your breakfast today is at the civilized hour of 08.00 and your departure one hour later. You set off in a south-eastern direction across the moor and heathland of the Shira Plateau. Buffalo, dik-dik and klipspringer graze here and can occasionally be seen. You intend to reach Shira 2 Camp – which is also known as Shira Huts – by 13.00, in time to be served a hot lunch. Dinner tonight will be at 18.00.
Accommodation: Shira 2 Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Shira 1 Camp (3,610 m) to Shira 2 Camp (3,850 m)
Today you are back to your early, 07.00 breakfast time, ready for 08.30 departure. You have around 10 km to cover, but although you will finish your day only 50 metres higher than you started it, in between you have to climb to the foot of the Lava Tower (4,600 metres) before you then descend once more, down to Baranco for your overnight stop.
You can expect around 6.5 to 7 hours of walking, during which time you leave the Shira Ridge and the Lemosho Route joins up with the more popular Machame trail. The scenery today changes to predominantly Alpine desert. Your picnic lunch will be at 13.00, arrival at Baranco around 16.00 and dinner at about 19.00.
Accommodation: Baranco Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 7 hours, Shira 2 Camp (3,850 m) – Lava Tower – (4,600) – Baranco Camp (3,900 m)
Today you breakfast slightly later (07.30) and your walk is short, being only 4 km but still taking between 3.5 and 4 hours of walking time. Your departure time today will be 08.30 and you will enjoy a hot lunch at 13.00 at Karanga and have the afternoon to enjoy the views before dinner at 18.00. Your altitude gain today is only 95 metres.
At the beginning, you encounter the hardest part of today’s stage as you have to scramble up the near-vertical face of the Baranco Wall (also commonly referred to as the ‘Breakfast Wall’ as you tackle it right after your breakfast!). At the top of this climb, you will be rewarded with views of the Heim Glacier. After this, the rest of today’s walk becomes a bit easier as you first descend to the gully below, and into the cold but beautiful Karanga Valley. You then continue and finally climb up a steep series of zig-zags until reaching the Karanga Camp.
Accommodation: Karanga Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Baranco Camp (3,900 m) to Karanga Camp (3,995 m)
Another short day -in terms of distance – begins with your breakfast at the camp at 07.30 and another 08.30 departure. Today you will ascend about 670 metres in a distance of around 5 km and walking time once again is between 3.5 and 4 hours.
You will be aiming to arrive the Barafu Camp by 13.00, when you will be rewarded with a hot lunch. (With tomorrow being the summit day, it will be important to relax and prepare for the hard work ahead.) Dinner tonight is served at 17.30, giving you time to get to bed early. After leaving Karanga, today’s stage climbs steadily, passing through barren, rocky landscape, with the Decken and Kersten glaciers visible away to your left. At the top of the climb, the landscape remains bleak as you descend into a valley and you get your first sight of another glacier, Rebmann. At the end of this valley is today’s goal, the Barafu Camp, at which you arrive after a short, steep scramble and a walk.
Accommodation: Barafu Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Karanga Camp (3,995 m) to Barafu Camp (4,673 m)
Today is the most challenging day, but hopefully with the great sense of achievement of reaching your goal – the summit of Kilimanjaro! Your schedule for your ‘Summit Day’ is of course very different. Rising at 23.00, you take your tea and biscuits (23.30) before a midnight departure.
The day starts with the long, tough climb from Barafu at 4,673 metres to Stella Point at 5,756 metres; for some of this you will be walking on scree, making your trek more difficult. From there it is another 139 metres of ascent and 45 minutes’ walk to the summit. Your goal is to reach the summit by around 07.00 then celebrate reaching the top, take your precious photos and enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience. After the summit, you return to Barafu, where you rest for a couple of hours, take a hot lunch and then leave again at 13.30 to continue to descend to Mweka Camp (3,100 metres) where you spend the night. You would expect to arrive at 17.00 and take your dinner at 19.00. (In total, you cover around 17 km today with about 13 hours of walking.)
Accommodation: Mweka Camp
Hiking time and Elevation: 13 hours, Barafu Camp (4,673 m) – Uhuru Peak (5,895 m) to Mweka Camp (3,100 m)
Still thrilled by your achievement, breakfast is taken at 07.00 and at 08.00 you can take the chance to reward your trekking team at the ‘Tipping Celebration.’
Departure is at 09.00 and you descend down to Mweka Gate at an altitude of 1,640 metres, where you will be served a hot lunch at midday and be presented with your hard-earned certificate. Your transport will be waiting to bring you back to your hotel in Moshi, where you can choose to relax – or celebrate!
Accommodation: Panama Garden Resort
Hiking time and Elevation: 3 hours, from Mweka Camp (3,100 m) to Mweka Gate (1,640 m)
After a good night’s rest at your hotel, you will take breakfast ready for the scheduled check-out by 11.00.(In case you need a late check-out because of an evening flight, please advise us of this when you book your trip and we will inform you of the cost for day room which ends at 18:00hrs, and then make the booking on your behalf.)
As a transfer to the airport is included on this trip, you will be collected from your hotel and dropped off at the airport. For those travellers who have booked to go on safari, our Engida Tanzania Tours guide will be meeting you in the evening to provide you with a briefing.
Our team of experienced travel experts will mentor you from start to finish as you embark on safari
Our team is standing by 24/7 to assist from the time you inquire. Our goal is to ensure everyone has a great service experience.
We will make your bucket-list wishes come true.
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