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MOUNT KILIMANJARO (Machame route)
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LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK
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NGORONGORO CRATER
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LAKE EYASI
DAY 1:
FLIGHT TO AFRICA
Kilimanjaro International Airport (Tanzania) – Arusha, 1 hour, 50km
Our agent will be waiting for you at KIA arrivals. You will be transferred to the hotel in Arusha for resting and preparing for trekking. A briefing will be held by our main guide in late afternoon hours.
DAY 2:
TREKKING TO KILIMANJARO (DAY 1)
Arusha – Machame Gate (1800 m/5,905 ft.) – Machame Hut (3000 m/9,907 ft.) 5-7 hours, 10km
We eat breakfast early in the morning and drive to Machame Gate (1,800m) one of the entry gate to Mount Kilimanjaro National Park for registration, repacking and grouping porters weight to make sure no porter overweighted. This is the begin of our outdoor experience for summit attempt to the highest free standing mountain in the world (5895m) through montane rain forest or thick woods for 10km in 5-7 hours, we will reach Machame Hut (3000m).
All nights on route will be spend on mountain camps in 2 persons tents. Three meals a day, prepared by our cook and all your stuffs and equipment will be carried by porters.
DAY 3:
TREKKING TO KILIMANJARO (DAY 2)
Machame Hut (3,000m / 9,900ft) – Shira cave Camp (3,840m / 12,672ft)
4-6 hours, 7km
On the second day of trekking our distance is two times shorter, as it amounts to 7km in total. Hike is harder as the oxygen in the air become thin as we climb. For 4 to 6 hours we go through Shira plateau to Shira Camp (3840m) laying between Shira and Kibo craters, close to the spring. Night in tents or in the cave.
DAY 4:
TREKKING TO KILIMANJARO (DAY 3)
Shira Camp (3840m / 12,672ft) – Barranco Camp (3,895m / 12,853ft) via Lava Tower (4,630m) 6 hours, 11km
Third day of trekking is acclimation day, where after 5 hour climb from Shira Camp to the Lava Tower (4630m) we decline to scenic Barranco Camp (3,895m). Trekking from Lava Tower to Barranco Camp laying at the foot of Kibo crater lasts 2 hours and provides marvelous views!
DAY 5:
TREKKING TO KILIMANJARO (DAY 4)
Barranco Hut (3,895m / 12,853ft)– Karanga Camp (4040m) – Barafu Hut (4,600m / 15,180ft) 5-6 hours, 9km
The hardest climb of the day is in the morning, as we will face the 300m Great Barranco Wall (aka Breach Wall), which is so steep that you will need to use your hands to climb! Than we move down to Karanga valley, which is an acclimation reserve, allowing us to change plans depending on our state of being. It is also last stop where we can supply our water. On 4600m, where we will stay for a night, the water freezes and word “Barafu” in Swahili stands for “ice”.
DAY 6:
TREKKING TO KILIMANJARO (DAY 5)
Barafu Hut ((4,600m / 15,180ft) – Uhuru Peak (5,895m / 19,453ft) – Mweka Camp (3,100m / 10,230ft) 8-9 hours, 9km up; 7-8 hours, 8km down
What awaits us, is the hardest part of our expedition, because only after 4-5 hours of sleeping, 16 hours of walking is ahead. After the meal, we depart at 1 am at latest. Minimum 5 hours will take us very hard and steep climb to the Uhuru Peak (5895m), but the prize for this effort is not only pride of battling own weaknesses but also a marvelous and incredible sunrise. After 3 hours of marching, we go down for resting and breakfast to Barrafu Hut, and then we head to Mweka Camp (3100m), where we spend last night on the trail.
DAY 7:
TREKKING TO KILIMANJARO (DAY 6)
Mweka Camp (3,100m / 10,230ft) – Mweka Gate (1,600m / 5,280ft) 3-4 hours, 8km
Last day of trekking is a walk in thick, moss-covered humid forest. After 3-4 hours we reach Kilimanjaro National Park’s gate – Mweka Exit gate – where we receive diplomas of summiting the Africa’s Roof and we come back to the hotel in Arusha for quick shower then get in our special safari vehicle, 4×4 with hatched roof for maximum game viewing drive to the hotel / campsite in Mto wa Mbu town close to Lake Manyara National Park, mostly inhabited by Maasais and peoples of Ranga in a mixed cultures where you can easily find at least largest number of individual tribes found in Tanzania among 120 tribes.
DAY 8:
SAFARI AROUND LAKE MANYARA
Mto wa Mbu – Lake Manyara – Karatu
After an early breakfast we drive to begin our safari in Manyara Lake National Park which is found at the foot of wiggly scarp of Great Rift Valley. You will see giraffes, elephants, antelopes, lions, hippos, baboons, warthogs and many species of birds and butterflies. We will take food to the safari. In the evening we go to the Karatu town to the hotel / camp for dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 9:
SAFARI IN NGORONGORO CRATER
Karatu – Ngorongoro Crater – Eyasi Lake
Preserved Area Ngorongoro is an obligatory stop for every tourist’s plan coming to Tanzania. Area spreading over 8292 km2 is named after Ngorongoro crater, which is the biggest caldera in the world created around 2-3 million years ago as an effect of volcano mountain implosion of an alike height to Kilimanjaro mountain. It is land of wild animals and untouched and unspoiled nature by civilization. In the afternoon we head to a beautiful and vast Eyasi lake, which in years of heavy rainfalls has a diameter of 80km north to south, and in dry years extinct almost entirely. We spend night in one of the tent camps in the neighborhood.
DAY 10:
PAYING VISIT TO THE LAST HUNTER-GATHERERS
Eyasi Lake – Arusha
We are visiting last Tanzanian hunter-gatherers – Hadza tribe, living in the proximity of Eyasi Lake. We observe how the members of this nomad tribe live and (if we are lucky) we will go hunting with them. In the afternoon we drive to Arusha, where we spend our last night in Tanzania.
