16 Days Mount Kilimanjaro Ascension, Lodge Safari & Culture Tour
Climb to the summit of the legendary Mount Kilimanjaro, visit 3 of Tanzania's most extraordinary wildlife parks and discover mythical tribes on this 16-day journey to the country's most outstanding natural and cultural attractions!
On this sixteen-day adventure you can combine the thrill of climbing Africa's highest peak via the beautiful Machame Route, with the excitement of visiting 3 of Tanzania's most famous wildlife parks : Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park, all of which should be on any safari enthusiast's bucket list !
Your tour package will also include a cultural visit to two of Tanzania's most mythical tribes who still live in respect of their ancient traditions, as well as a trip to the Lake Natron / Ol Doinyo Lengai region to take in the spectacular scenery and witness the thousands of flamingos that call this region their home.
A safari fully adaptable to your needs
As with all of our safari packages, this suggested itinerary can be adapted to suit your own personal preferences. Departure dates are also completely flexible.
Accommodation
On the safari portion of your tour, you will spend your nine nights in mid-range lodges either inside the national parks or on the outskirts, depending on availability.
Please note however that we have something to offer for every budget, from basic campsites with facilities, to mid-range accommodation, to superior and luxury tented camps and lodges.
If you wish to enquire about the price for another accommodation category for this safari package, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Itinerary
Days 1 to 7 : Mount Kilimanjaro - Machame Route
On the Machame Route you will be treated to very diverse untamed landscapes throughout your ascent, starting with dense tropical forests, steppe dotted with giant ragwort, rock deserts and finally the glacial zone, with views of Mount Meru and Shira along the way. This route contains some steep passages and high altitudes but is great for acclimatisation and has a high success rate.
This trek does not involve any technical climbing but it definitely requires a very good level of overall physical fitness. Machame Route is a total of 60 kilometres in length and there will be approximately 6 hours of walking per day, except for the last two days where you will walk 10 hours and 7 hours respectively. The difference in altitude goes from + 730 meters to + 1200 meters per day.
The only downside to choosing the Machame Route to the summit is that it can get quite busy during peak periods. Nonetheless, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro via this route is an extraordinary and unforgettable experience every time!
Day 1 : Transfer from Moshi to Machame Gate / Climb to Machame Camp (3000m)
Early morning welcome at the hotel and drive to Machame Gate where the check-in formalities take about 30 minutes. From this gate, we start our trek on an easy trail through dense forest for the first hour. The trail continues along the ridge, rising steadily with several steep sections along the way. The slope drops slightly as the forest becomes heather-covered ground and we reach Machame camp.
Day 2 : Machame Camp to Shira Camp (3840m)
From Machame Camp, we cross the stream on its western bank and follow an ascending path, crossing the valley along a steep rocky ridge. Later the route turns west and we walk along a river gorge until we arrive at Shira Camp, located at the base of a rock wall.
Day 3 : Shira Camp to Barranco Camp (3950m)
This day is for acclimatisation. After breakfast, we climb to the junction of the Lava Tower (4600 m) and then descend to Baranco Camp (3950 m). This route offers panoramic views of Kibo through the Karanga Valley. Lunch will be eaten along the way, before heading back to the camp for dinner and rest.
Day 4 : Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp (4100m)
From Barranco Camp, we climb through across the edge of the great Barranco Wall. The trail is steep and demanding, but when we reach the top, we will enjoy spectacular panoramic views. After a short break, we will descend through the Karanga Valley to Karanga Camp where we will spend the night.
Day 5 : Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp (4600m)
Today we will gain a little more altitude and acclimatize at Barafu Camp. We will have an early dinner and rest as much as possible before our summit attempt in the early morning.
Day 6 : Barafu Camp to Summit (5895m), then down to Mweka Camp (3200m)
You will wake up around midnight and after a quick breakfast; you will head out into the dark and cold night via Stella Point, towards the summit - Uhuru Peak at 5895m. Once you have reached the summit, the cold and fatigue will set in quickly and you may find it difficult to get moving again. So take a little time to enjoy your victory, take in the view and don’t forget to take some pictures! After this short stop, we will start our descent towards Barafu Camp where a well-deserved lunch and a little rest awaits us, before resuming our descent to Mweka Camp where we will have dinner and spend the night.
Day 7 : Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate
After breakfast, we will walk for 3 hours through the rainforest to Mweka Gate where a vehicle will be waiting for you for to take you back to your hotel in Moshi. But before your departure, you will sign the register to mark the end of your adventure; and to make your achievement official, you will receive a certificate.
Your private vehicle will be waiting for at the gate and will take you to your hotel in Moshi. Here you will be free for the remainder of the day to rest and walk around town before your adventure continues tomorrow.
Day 8 : Moshi - Tarangire National Park
Activities: Travel to Tarangire National Park (3.5 hours) / Half-day game drive in Tarangire
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation: Mid-range lodge or tented lodge
After breakfast at the hotel your safari guide will pick you up and give you a short briefing about your tour before starting your journey in direction of Tarangire National Park. We will arrive at Tarangire around noon and immediately head out on our first game drive in this beautiful reserve.
Tarangire National Park runs along the Tarangire River and is made up of low-lying hills on the Great Rift Valley floor. The park is defined by lush grasslands studded with giant baobab trees and sun-baked termite hills. Tourists who prefer to visit its more famous neighbours often ignore this lesser-known game reserve; yet during the dry season, it has a greater concentration of wildlife per square kilometre than any other park in Tanzania.
The huge swamp areas in the south attract large numbers of animals such as zebras, wildebeest, buffalos and giraffes, to name just a few. Moreover, the reserve is not only notorious for having some of the largest elephant herds in Africa, but also for being home to three very rare species that are almost impossible to find in other Tanzanian parks – the Oryx, the Elk and the Greater Kudu.
We will have a late lunch at a picnic area inside the park before our exploration of Tarangire continues. Our game drive will end at sundown when we retire to our lodge for dinner and overnight stay.
Day 9 : Tarangire National Park - Lake Eyasi
Activities: Half-day game drive in Tarangire / Travel (3 hours) to Lake Eyasi
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation: Mid-range lodge or tented lodge
This morning we will wake up very early in order to get a taste of the Tarangire at sunrise. Capturing the sun rising over the baobab and acacia trees is an extraordinary sight and one not to be missed while on safari. After all, Africa is famous for her spectacular sunrises and sunsets so get your camera ready, sit back, relax and enjoy! The early morning is also a time when many big cats go hunting, so with a little luck, we could witness some action in the bush…
After the early morning excitement, we will stop for a bush breakfast inside the park before continuing on our journey through the beautiful and diverse landscapes of Tarangire until lunchtime, after which we will leave the park and move on to the Lake Eyasi region.
We will arrive at our lodge just before sunset for dinner and an overnight stay.
Day 10 : Lake Eyasi
Activities: Guided visit to the Hadzabe and Datoga tribes
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation: Mid-range lodge or tented lodge
After an early breakfast at the lodge you will be heading out to meet the Hadzabe Bushmen – Africa’s last remaining hunter-gatherers who live solely off the land. Here, you will visit the village and interact with the people, as well as take part in a hunting expedition with the Hadzabe men as your guides, watching how they skilfully catch their prey using traditional methods. Once back at the village, you can watch as the daily catch is cooked over an open fire and shared among the villagers.
After this intriguing encounter, we will head back to the lodge for lunch and some well-deserved rest after our early morning departure, before heading out on our second visit of the day. We will take a short drive to visit the Datoga community – a semi-nomadic pastoralist tribe.
The Datoga have upheld their traditional way of life, as well as the worship cults of their ancient ancestors with their rainmaking rituals and healing magic. The extent to which their customs and traditions have been maintained is simply astonishing. Here, you will be able to see their stunning woodcrafts as well as learn how the blacksmiths still continue to work to this day.
We will retire to our lodge in the early evening for dinner and an overnight stay.
Day 11 : Lake Eyasi - Ngorongoro Crater
Activities: Travel (2 hours) to Ngorongoro Crater / Game drive in Ngorongoro Crater
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation: Mid-range lodge or tented lodge
After an early breakfast, we hit the road for the drive to the astounding Ngorongoro Crater for the next leg or our safari.
Upon arrival at the gate, we will enter the misty rainforest and drive on the rim of the crater for approximately 45 minutes. Here, we may already get a chance to see some wildlife, depending on the season, as well as have great views of the crater from above. We then enter the majestic Ngorongoro Crater - the world’s largest intact and unfilled caldera - for an incredible adventure!
The crater alone is home to approximately 25,000 game animals, all of which live together in this natural enclosure including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhinos. Here you will spot the Big Five (elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo and rhinoceros) as well as a multitude of other wild animals, from the pink flamingos of Lake Makat, to large herds of wildebeest, zebras, buffaloes, elands, and warthogs. Another big attraction in this picturesque national park is its dense population of predators, which include hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and leopards, although the latter often requires a trained eye to spot.
After an event-filled day, we will head to our lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Day 12 : Ngorongoro - Serengeti National Park
Activities: Travel (4 hours) to Serengeti National Park with en-route game drive / Game drive in Serengeti
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation: Mid-range lodge or tented lodge
This morning after breakfast, we embark on a beautiful drive through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area as we make our way to Serengeti National Park.
As we descend into the heart of wild Africa, we will see the endless plains rolling into the distance, as well as varied landscapes such as swamps, lakes, savannahs, and mountains as we drive through the region. These sublime landscapes are home to the Maasai herdsmen who live in relative harmony alongside the region’s abundant wildlife. You will also see animals here, as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to an incredible abundance of wildlife, including Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, giraffes, wildebeest, zebra and large herds of buffalo.
We will arrive at Serengeti National Park's Nabi Gate at lunchtime. Here we will fill our stomachs before embarking on our first game drive that will take us to the Seronera region (home of big cats!) in the central Serengeti area. Seronera is one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park. Here, the Seronera River provides a valuable water source to the area and therefore attracts an abundance of wildlife, well representative of most of the species common to Serengeti.
After our wonderful afternoon exploring East Africa's most beautiful wildlife park, we will head to our lodge after sunset for dinner and an overnight stay.
Day 13 : Serengeti
Activities: Full day game drive in Serengeti
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation: Mid-range lodge or tented lodge
Today we will embark on a sunrise game drive in the central Serengeti area. After approximately 2 hours, we will head back to our lodge for a late breakfast before continuing our explorations along the Sogore River Circuit, which loops into the plains south of the Seronera River. This area is good for spotting lions, Thomson gazelle, topis, ostriches and cheetahs among other animals.
We will also discover the Kopjes Circuit which goes anti-clockwise around the Maasai Kopjes. Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops scattered around the plains, most of which are miniature ecosystems, providing shade and drinking water in pools left in the rocks after the rains. This makes the kopjes particularly good for spotting wildlife as the animals come here to drink - while the lions wait for their unsuspecting prey...
In the afternoon, our game drive will continue as we explore regions we didn't previously see. Just after sunset, we will head back to the same lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Day 14 : Serengeti - Lake Natron
Activities: Morning game drive in Serengeti / Travel (6 hours) to Lake Natron
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation: Mid-range lodge or tented lodge
After breakfast at the lodge, we will embark on our last morning game drive in Serengeti (approximately 2 hours) as we head towards the exit of the park. Once outside we will have relatively long drive to the Lake Natron region, but the extraordinary landscape along the way will definitely make up for the long hours. We will also stop along the way for lunch, allowing us to stretch our legs and relax before continuing our journey.
We will arrive at our lodge in the late afternoon for dinner and some well-deserved rest.
Day 15 : Lake Natron region
Activities: Guided tour of Lake Natron region and Kemakia Waterfalls
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation: Mid-range lodge or tented lodge
After an early breakfast, we will meet with our local Maasai guide who will take us on a hike to the remote and very sparsely populated Lake Natron region; an area known for its spectacular and seemingly unreal scenery.
Lake Natron is like no other lake you have ever seen or heard of before. Apart from the fact that it sometimes turns bright red, the lake is also extremely caustic from the nearby volcano. This makes it poisonous to most animals, which is why you will find many bird and animal corpses in the area, and why we sometimes refer to Lake Natron as Tanzania’s beautiful but deadly lake.
The region surrounding Lake Natron is not a place you would normally visit for game viewing. The neighbouring national parks are much better adapted for that. Nonetheless, some wildlife species are occasionally spotted here such as zebras, giraffes, gazelles, wildebeest, golden jackals, lesser kudus, fringe-eared oryxes and even a few camel.
The main attraction and reason for visiting Lake Natron is the amazing and unusual landscape, the strangely coloured water and of course, the tens of thousands of lesser flamingo who have turned Lake Natron into their largest breeding ground in the world!
Some of the other birds to look for while visiting the area include ostriches, marabou storks, kori bustards, secretary birds, bateleurs, white-back vultures and chestnut-banded plovers.
After our beautiful walk, we will return to our campsite for lunch before heading back out to explore the region. This afternoon we will go on a guided walk to the lovely Kamakia Waterfalls where we can rest, swim and take in the beautiful scenery.
In the late afternoon, we will return to our lodge for dinner and our final night.
Day 16 : Lake Natron region - Arusha or Moshi
Activities: Travel back to Arusha (5 hours) or Moshi (7 hours)
Meals: Breakfast & lunch
This morning we can stay in bed a little longer than usual and have a late breakfast while enjoying the lodge and its surroundings before our long drive back to town.
We will stop along the way for lunch and say our goodbyes in the late afternoon when you are dropped off at your hotel in Arusha or Moshi.
Included in package
- Professional English-speaking mountain guides
- Team of porters to carry your luggage and other supplies for the group
- All park fees
- Rescue fees
- All camping equipment
- Government taxes, VAT and all related service charges
- Emergency oxygen
- Professional English speaking driver/guide while an safari and other day trips/cultural tours
- Pick-up at Kilimanjaro Airport if arriving on the day before the start of your tour
- Pick-up at your hotel in Moshi on Day 8 (beginning of your safari)
- Drop-off at your hotel in Moshi or Arusha on Day 16
- All meals except breakfast on Day 1 & dinner on Day 16
- Bottled water
- Mid-range lodge or tented lodge accommodation while on safari or in town
Not included in package
- Flight tickets
- Visa fees for entry into Tanzania
- Travel insurance
- Personal expenses (laundry, telephone, beverages or any other items of a personal nature)
- Your personal clothing, footwear and climbing gear while trekking on Kilimanjaro (warm clothing and other mountain gear can be rented in Moshi the day before your departure)
- Additional nights requested by traveller for acclimatisation purposes while trekking on Kilimanjaro
- Tips for your climbing crew - Suggested amount: Guide: $25/day, Assistant Guide: $15/day, Cook: $15/day, Porters $10/day
- Tip for your safari guide - Suggested amount : $30 per day per vehicle
- Your hotel accommodation in Moshi on the day before the start of your Kilimanjaro trek and on Day 16 (although we can add these 2 hotel nights to your tour package at an extra cost)