Northern Circuit Route

11 day Northern Circuit Route on Kilimanjaro

Day 1: Arusha National Park — Luxury Tented Camp (6,400 ft) – Arrival Night
Your driver will meet you at Kilimanjaro International Airport and take you on the 1.5 hour drive to your private luxury camp inside Arusha National Park. En route, you'll complete your first game drive through the park.

Set at 6,400 feet on the slopes of Mt. Meru, the camp sits deep within Equatorial Montane Forest — an ideal environment to begin acclimatizing before your Kilimanjaro climb. Spacious canvas tents each feature an en-suite bathroom with toilet and shower, while the dining and lounge tents are heated by bio-brick stoves and attended by attentive, experienced staff. It is a remarkably comfortable first taste of the wilderness.

Day 2: LUXURY TENTED CAMP Our exclusive camp looks out onto Kilimanjaro, Meru, and the Ngurdoto Crater. We spend the morning enjoying the spectacular setting and relaxing after the long flight. After lunch, we 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 us 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 we’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. Our hike also offers impressive views of the dramatic ash cone of Mt. Meru’s summit. We gather for a Welcome Dinner at camp in the evening.

Day 3: MONTANE FOREST (9,000') Drive approximately one hour to the Kilimanjaro National Park forest edge. From there we walk about 3 hours through the undisturbed forest to our camp for the night. With luck you will be able to see Colobus monkeys and signs of elephant and other forest wildlife on your walk to camp. 4-6 hours, 4.5 miles, 1,750 feet ascent

Day 4: SHIRA PLATEAU WEST SIDE (11,600') Taking our time walking through the forest will help us spot some of the plentiful game and bird life. The day's hike will take us up through the Montane Forest and the Hagenia forest zone. You will see the unique environmental differences that characterize these equatorial zones.  7.2 miles 3100 foot ascent.

Day 5: SHIRA PLATEAU EAST SIDE - MOIR CAMP (13,600’) Our hike today will be about 4 hours across the Shira Plateau, a World Heritage Site, and one hour up the western slope of the Kibo Massif. Camp will be in the upper heath zone in full view of the Western Breach.      6-mile hike 2,000 foot ascent

Day 6: POFU CAMP (13,200’)

Starting the day at 13,600 you ascend out of the Moir valley to 14,200 where a short detour to Little Lent Hill is an option for those who want more hiking and a nice view.  From here you continue to climb a couple hundred feet before descending to 13,400 then traverse at this level to Pofu camp.  The hike offers awesome views across the West Kilimanjaro and Amboseli National Park plains, home land to the well-known elephant population that has been long studied by Cynthia Moss and Joyce Poole for many years.  6.2 mile hike.  1,071 foot climb and 1,623 foot descent. 5 – 7 hrs hiking

Day 7:  THIRD CAVE  (13,000’)  A welcome shorter hiking day today following mostly along the vegetation ecotone between the classic moorland and alpine desert vegetation zones.  Stunning views of massive volcanic formations. Camp is in a beautiful and remote area with views of the interesting lunar landscape.  3.6 mile hike 232 foot ascent and 457 foot descent 3 – 5  hrs hiking. 

Day 8: SCHOOL CAMP (15,600)  Reaching camp you are less then 3,000 vertical feet from the summit and you are truly in the rock and ice alpine zone of Africa’s highest mountain.  This camp is often described at the “quietest, least used camp” on Kilimanjaro.  Today you will see a demonstration of our high-altitude safety equipment and experiment a bit with the hyperbaric chamber and the supplemental oxygen system.  Today is short mileage but a continuous climb.   3 miles 2600 foot ascent  5 – 7  hrs hiking

Day 9: SUMMIT CRATER CAMP (18,800') We will wind our way up the ascent route above School Camp to the summit crater rim at Stella point.  From Stella’s point you will descend into the summit crater and on to the Crater Camp.   Those who still have the energy on top can explore the inner crater and the ash pit before moving to our 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.  6 -8 hrs hiking. 

Day 10: SUMMIT DAY and MWEKA CAMP (10,000') We will start our ascent to the summit (19,340') early enough in the morning to be on the summit near dawn. This final ascent is only 800 feet. 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.  8 – 10 hrs, 8 miles

Day 11: ARUSHA hotel overnight.   It takes about 3 to 5 hours to make the 4,500 foot descent to the Park Gate and pick-up. We will have our lunch at the gate and say goodbye to our mountain staff before heading to the hotel near Arusha. Farewell dinner, overnight and one airport transfer per 5 clients are provided.  3 – 5 hrs, 4 miles

NOTE: 

Flying Doctors is included in the above cost: This is an emergency and evacuation insurance we buy in Arusha for a service that we can call on that will help us facilitate the most efficient emergency evacuation possible. https://flydoc.org/air-ambulance

Tips and Carbon offset, described below, are optional.. 

Additional services optional description:

Ø  Tip fund. This is a tip for the support staff and is included in the cost listed above. We still ask that you tip your leader and driver additionally.

Ø  Carbon Offset is a service provided by Carbon Tanzania a non-profit we support here in TZ. http://www.carbontanzania.com/

Ø  Wow Factor fund. This is for the trip leader to purchase gifts, drinks and any extras that he can use to create a WOW moment for the guests. 

Included:  Everything else..  Full board, beer and wine at Itikoni camp, all transfers, licensed WFR certified guide for each 3 clients.  Full porter assistance, minimum of 5 porters per person. 

Provided equipment:

·       Three person all season tents

·       Complete kitchen with all food preparation equipment for climbers and staff

·       Complete mess tent with tables, chairs with back, solar lights, all eating and serving equipment for the whole team.

·       Katadyn commercial water filter

·       Hyperbaric chamber

·       Supplemental oxygen system

·       HF radio or satellite phone

·       pulse oximeter

·       Repair kit for tents, packs, zippers

·       First aid kits with limited drugs like diamox, dexamethazone, compozine, epinephrine, and aspirin.

Trip Cost Does Not Include:

International airfare, any meals not specified after each itinerary day, transfers for independent arrival or departure, airport departure taxes, optional tipping or gratuities to leaders, additional hotel nights made necessary by airline schedule changes or other factors, pre-trip expenses such as medical immunizations (if any), travel insurance, or passports and visas. and other expenses of a personal nature (alcoholic beverages, laundry, etc.).