| Kilimanjaro and Safari Packages |
Combine your Kilimanjaro climb with a Safari for the ultimate African holiday!
Use our forum to meet fellow travellers for this package group trip!
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| Package #3 (Marangu/Serengeti - 11 days) |
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| Summary |
- 11 days total; 5-day Kilimanjaro climb; 5-day Safari
- Day 1: Arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport, overnight at Springlands Hotel
- Days 2-6: 5-day Kilimanjaro climb via the Marangu Route
- Days 7-11: 5-day Safari - Lake Manyara, Rift Valley, Olduvai Gorge, Serengeti (2 days), Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park
- Day 11: Depart from Kilimanjaro Airport
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| Price |
- Basic Camping: US $2,005 per person (2009)
Single Supplement: US $60 per person
- Highview Hotel: US$ 2,300 per person (2009)
Single Supplement: US $245 per person
- Extra hotel nights in Moshi: US $60 per room per night
- Note: The minimum group size for this tour is 2 people and the maximum size is 16 people.
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| Price includes: |
- 2 nights at the Springlands Hotel (Days 1 and 6)
- Meals listed below (B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner)
- Olduvai Gorge visit
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Price excludes:
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- Transfers from Kilimanjaro Airport are 10 USD one way; please contact
us for prices for travel from Dar-es-Salaam Airport to Moshi
- Tips for your Kilimanjaro guides and porters
- Tips for your safari guide and cook
- Lunches, dinners, and drinks at the Springlands Hotel
- Bottled water, drinks on safari
- Extra nights at the Springlands Hotel
- Optional Masai Village visit
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| Arrival dates for 2009 |
Start of this package is every Friday. Below you can see these dates ("Day 1”) for the following months of 2009. We can arrange extra nights at the Springlands Hotel if you are arriving early or staying longer.
- 2009: April 24
- 2009: May 1
- 2009: May 8
- 2009: May 15
- 2009: May 22
- 2009: May 29
- 2009: June 5
- 2009: June 12
- 2009: June 19
- 2009: June 26
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- 2009: Julyl 3
- 2009: July 10
- 2009: July 17
- 2009: July 24
- 2009: July 31
- 2009: August 7
- 2009: August 14
- 2009: August 21
- and so on every Friday
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| Map of climb |
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Day 1 - Moshi
(915 m/3,000 ft) |
Arrive at the Kilimanjaro or Dar es Salaam International Airport.
You will be met at the airport and transferred to the Springlands Hotel or similar hotel in Moshi
for your overnight. |
Day 2
Moshi (915 m/3,000 ft)
to Marangu Gate
(1,830 m/6,000 ft)
to Mandara Huts
(2,740 m/9,000 ft)
7 km, 4-5 hours
Montane Forest |
After breakfast and a briefing from your guide, leave Moshi at 9 AM, drive for 45 minutes
to the Marangu Gate on the eastern side of Kilimanjaro, register with the national park, and
begin hiking at 10:30 AM. In the rainforest, look for towering Eucalyptus trees, bird life, and Colubus monkeys.
At these lower elevations, it can be wet and muddy, so gaiters and trekking poles will help.
Shorts and t-shirts should be sufficient, but keep your rain gear and warmer clothing handy.
Stop halfway for lunch, and reach the Mandara Huts at 2 or 3 PM. Unpack, rest, and have some tea or coffee.
A 15 minute side trip to Maundi Crater is a good way to see the surroundings including Northern Tanzania and Kenya.
Dinner is served during the early evening at 7 PM. Bathrooms with running water are available. |
Day 3
Mandara Huts
(2,740 m/9,000 ft)
to Horombo Huts
(3,690 m/12,100 ft)
11 km, 6-8 hours
Heathland |
Wake to a 7:30 AM breakfast, and pack for your next trek. Break camp by
8:30 AM, hike for an hour through rainforest glades, then follow an ascending path through heathland
where you can look for giant lobelias and groundsels. Continue up into open moorlands where small shrubs are the main vegetation.
Stop halfway for lunch, where you can enjoy amazing views of Mawenzi. Arrive at the Horombo Huts by 3 PM,
where you can see Kibo’s summit. Rest, unpack, and prepare for dinner. Bathrooms with running water are available.
You may start to feel the effects of altitude here, and to aid your acclimatization,
you can choose to spend an extra day resting at Horombo or climbing to a basecamp below Kibo’s sub peak Mawenzi. |
Day 4
Horombo Huts
(3,690 m/12,100 ft)
to Kibo Huts
(4,695 m/15,400 ft)
10 km, 6-8 hours
Alpine Desert |
Wake to breakfast as usual, but if you wake early you
can get some great photos of the sunrise. The first part of the day’s hike climbs through the dwindling heathland
that blends into a moonscape as you enter the sweeping saddle connecting Mawenzi and Kibo.
When you stop for lunch, and later when you cross this surprisingly large saddle, you can examine the summit climb up Kibo
that you will be starting in just a few hours. Be careful to notice any signs of altitude sickness.
There is no running water at the Kibo Huts. |
Day 5 - Summit Day!
Kibo Huts
(4,695 m/15,400 ft)
to Uhuru Peak
(5,895 m/19,340 ft)
to Horombo Huts
(3,690 m/12,100 ft)
4 km up, 14 km down
10-15 hours
Alpine Desert |
Wake at midnight to a light breakfast, then prepare for your summit ascent.
The goal is to climb before dawn so that you can reach Uhuru Peak shortly after sunrise.
Leave at 1 AM, switchback up steep scree or possibly snow, and reach Gilman’s Point on the crater rim at 5,861 m/18,640 ft between 5 and 7 AM.
Here, views of the fabled crater and its icecaps greet you. Another 2 hours of hiking along the crater rim near the celebrated snows
takes you to Kilimanjaro’s true summit, Uhuru Peak, by 9 AM. This is Africa’s highest point,
and you would have to travel more than 3,000 miles toward the Himalayas to find a higher peak!
Be sure to have your picture taken at the summit to show your friends.
After your summit stay, descend back to the Kibo Huts, have lunch, rest, collect your things, and re cross the saddle to the Horombo Huts.
Eat dinner and get some well-deserved sleep!
You do the beginning of this climb in the dark with headlamps or flashlights.
It will be very cold until you start descending, so you will need all of your warm layers.
This is, by far, the most difficult part of the trek. Slowly slowly, or, “pole pole,” and an optimistic attitude will get you there! |
Day 6
Horombo Huts
(3,690 m/12,100 ft)
to Marangu Gate
(1,830 m/6,000 ft)
to Moshi
(890 m/2,920 ft)
18 km, 5-7 hours |
Wake as usual, pack, and descend through the moorland to the Mandara Huts.
Have lunch there then continue your triumphant recessional down through lush forest to the park gate, which you should reach around 2 or 3 PM.
Remember to tip your guides, cooks, and porters since you will be leaving them here.
A vehicle will take you back to the Springlands Hotel in Moshi, where it is definitely time for celebration! |
Day 7
Springlands Hotel
to Lake Manyara NP
to Rift Valley
to Highview Hotel |
The drive from the Springlands Hotel to Lake Manyara National Park takes
about 4 hours. After having a picnic lunch in Manyara, you start a late afternoon game drive, which is the best
time to view animals in this park. When you approach it from the east, the Rift Valley escarpment looms on the horizon forming
an impressive backdrop to the lake. In the tall trees of the ground water forest, monkeys leap from branch to branch,
and on the escarpment, elephants stand in the shade. Other animals frequently seen are zebras, impalas, monkeys, giraffes, buffalos,
hippos, and others. Overnight at the Highview Hotel or the Twiga Camp - full board. |
Day 8
Highview Hotel
to Olduvai Gorge
to Serengeti Natl Park
to Serengeti Wild Camp |
The drive to Serengeti National Park
via Olduvai Gorge takes 3 to 4 hours. Olduvai Gorge
is an archaeological site located in the eastern Serengeti plains, in which early human fossils were first discovered.
It has an amazing landscape that resulted from the same tectonic forces that created the Great Rift Valley millions of years ago.
Then in the late evening, drive to and overnight at either the Serengeti Wild Camp or Ikoma Gorge Camp - full board. |
Day 9
Serengeti Wild Camp
to Serengeti Natl Park
to Serengeti Wild Camp |
After breakfast, venture into the Serengeti’s wilderness corners for a full day of game viewing
in the park. With a picnic lunch beside you, take your leisure while exploring this world heritage site, where earth’s
largest concentration of plain game still roams free! In the late evening,
go to either the Serengeti Wild Camp or Ikoma Gorge Camp for rest, dinner, and overnight - full board. |
Day 10
Serengeti Wild Camp
to Ngorongoro Crater
to Highview Hotel |
After breakfast, drive to Ngorongoro Crater for a game drive inside the crater. This is the best place in Tanzania to see black rhino as well as prides of lion that include the magnificent black-manned males. There are lots of colorful flamingoes and a variety of water birds. Other game that you can see includes leopard, cheetah, hyena, other members of the antelope family, and small mammals. In the late afternoon drive to Highview Hotel or Kudu Campsite for Dinner and overnight - full board.
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Day 11
Highview Hotel
to Ngorongoro Crater
to Springlands Hotel
or Kilimanjaro Airport |
The drive from the Highview Hotel to
Tarangire National Park
takes three hours. This park is spectacular in the dry season when many
of the migratory wildlife species come back to the permanent waters of
the Tarangire River. Huge herds of wildebeest, zebras, elephants,
elands and oryx gather to stay in Tarangire until the onset of the rain
when they migrate again to good grazing areas. Then in the late evening
drive back to the Springlands Hotel in Moshi or the Kilimanjaro Airport
to catch your flight home. |
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