Kilimanjaro + Safari

You land at Kilimanjaro Airport, where the transfer to the hotel in Moshi is waiting. The rest of the day is free, to rest after the flight. In the evening we meet the guide for the climb briefing and check the gear together.

After breakfast we drive to Marangu Gate, register with the park and set off on the trail. The first day runs through the montane rainforest, damp and shaded, with wild flowers and tall trees. With a bit of luck you see black-and-white colobus monkeys. Once at the hut, you can take a short walk to the Maundi crater.

The forest falls behind and we enter the alpine moorland. The trail opens towards the peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi, and the giant plants of the mountain appear along the way, giant groundsels and lobelias. We reach Horombo in the late afternoon, usually above the clouds, in time for sunset.

We stay a second night at Horombo. In the morning we walk towards the foot of Mawenzi, up to Zebra Rocks, a volcanic outcrop with black and white stripes. We come back to the hut for lunch, and the afternoon is for rest. Climb high by day, sleep lower at night, and the body gets used to the thin air more easily.

We pass the last water source and enter the alpine desert. We cross the Saddle, the wide plateau between Kibo and Mawenzi: stone, dust, wind and strong sun. We reach Kibo early, have a hot meal and go to bed early, because we leave for the summit around midnight.

We leave at midnight, by headlamp, up the frozen scree of the final cone. Around sunrise we reach Gilman’s Point (5,685 m), on the crater rim. From there it is about an hour and a half past the glaciers to Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa. We go down to Kibo for a hot soup and a rest, then carry on to Horombo. It is the longest and hardest day of the route.

We walk down through the moorland and then the forest to Marangu Gate, where you receive the official certificate of Kilimanjaro National Park. We say goodbye to the crew and transfer to the hotel in Moshi, for the first hot shower in six days.

Breakfast at the hotel in Moshi, then the transfer to Arusha, about an hour and a half by road. The rest of the day is free, to rest after the mountain. The night of 19 September and the transfer are included in the price of the combined trip.

The day is free, to rest and pack for the safari. In the evening we hold the safari briefing: we go over the route, check the camera gear and have dinner together, before heading into the parks.

We leave early for Tarangire, the park with one of the largest concentrations of elephants in northern Tanzania. Among the old baobabs and dry riverbeds you see elephant families digging for water in the sand. In the afternoon we drive up to Karatu, in the highlands near Ngorongoro.

We cross the Ngorongoro highlands and drop down onto the Serengeti plains. In the centre of the park we look for lions resting on the kopjes, the granite outcrops of the savanna, leopards in the acacias and cheetahs stalking gazelles. The day ends with a sunset game drive before camp.

We head north through the Lobo Valley. The plain gives way to hills, and along the way we see the animals that live in the area all year round and, if the migration is passing through, the wildebeest herds moving towards the Kenyan border. We reach the Mara river area in the late afternoon, a river full of hippos and crocodiles.

We have the whole day for the Mara river area and the plains of the northern Serengeti. If the wildebeest herds are nearby, we wait on the bank for the moment they start to cross, through the current, steep banks and Nile crocodiles. If not, the guide takes us wherever the animals are that day. This is the day worth the patience and a good telephoto lens.

We take a last morning game drive in the northern Serengeti, then set off south towards the higher, cooler Ngorongoro highlands. It is the day with the most hours on the road in the programme. We reach the lodge on the crater rim in the late afternoon, where at sunset you watch the clouds roll down the walls of the caldera.

We descend about 610 m to the floor of the crater, the largest intact, unflooded volcanic caldera in the world. Its roughly 260 km² are home to more than 25,000 large animals, among them the black rhino, a rare and protected species. In the afternoon we transfer back to Arusha, Moshi or Kilimanjaro Airport.