16 Days Kilimanjaro - safari -Zanzibar

This is a combined tour which will take you up to the roof of Africa Mount Kilimanjaro for 5 nights, wildlife safari, 2 nights in Ngorongoro, 2 nights in Serengeti, 1 night in Lake Manyara and 5 nights in the spice Island of Zanzibar, with a night in Arusha Town. Accommodation in tents on climb, standard or luxury lodges, luxury tented camp or budget camping on safari with full board and in the resorts in Zanzibar on a half board basis.

16 Days Kilimanjaro climbing:  Tanzania Wildlife Safari: Zanzibar Beach Vacation:

Day 1:
Arrival in Arusha
On your arrival at the Kilimanjaro International Airport you are welcomed by an Africa Joy Tours representative who will usher you into a waiting vehicle and transfer you to the Jacaranda Lodgein Arusha. Our representative will have a short safari briefing session with you at the lodge and leave you to relax and have dinner.

Day 2:
Machame Gate(1490m) - Machame camp (2980m)
Hiking time: 7 hours/Distance: About 18 km's/Habitat: Montane forest
Your day starts early with a briefing, followed by breakfast and a 45-minute drive from Moshi (910m) to the Machame village (1490m). The guides and porters prepare and pack the supplies and your equipment. You will receive a lunch pack and will be able to buy mineral water in the village. Depending on the condition of the road, it is possible to drive from the village to the Machame gate, but if not, the muddy 3 km walk will take about 1 hour to complete. After registering at the gate office, you start your ascent and enter the rain forest almost immediately. There is a strong possibility of rain in the forest, which will transform the trail into a very soggy, muddy and slippery experience. You will have a welcome lunch stop about half way and will reach the Machame camping area in the late afternoon.
Your porters (who would have arrived at the camp site long before you) will have erected your tent. In the evening the porters will boil drinking and washing water, and the cook will prepare dinner before you retire to your tent for the night. Night temperatures can drop to freezing point at this campsite.

Day 3:
Machame Camp (2980m) - Shira Camp (3840m)
Hiking time: 6 hours /Distance: About 9 km's/Habitat: Moorland
You rise early at Machame Camp and after breakfast climb an hour or so to the top of the forest and then for 2 hours at a gentler gradient through the moorland zone. After a short lunch and rest, you continue up a rocky ridge onto the Shira plateau. By now you will be able to see in an easterly direction, the Western Breach with its stunning glaciers. You are now due west of Kibo and after a short hike you will reach the Shira campsite at 3 840m. The porters will boil drinking and washing water, before serving dinner. The night at this exposed camp will be even colder than the previous night, with temperatures dropping to well below freezing.

Day 4:
Hira (3840m) - Lava Tower (4630m)-Barranco camp (3950m)
Hiking time: 7 hours/Distance: About 15 km's/Habitat: Semi desert
The route now turns east into a semi desert and rocky landscape surrounding Lava Tower, where you reach an altitude of 4630m after about a 5 hours walk. Lunch is served in a designated area before ascending the rocky scree path to Lava Tower (4630m). Definitely, the toughest day so far, it is normally around this point, where for the first time, some climbers will start to feel symptoms of breathlessness, irritability and headaches. After lunch you descent again by almost 680m to the Barranco camping area and after reaching the high altitude of 4600m at Lava Tower, the true acclimatisation benefit of this day becomes clear. This descent to Barranco camp takes about 2 hours and offers great opportunities to take some beautiful photographs of the Western Breach and Breach Wall. The camp is situated in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Wall, which should provide you with a memorable sunset while you wait for the preparation of your dinner.

Day 5:
Barranco Camp (3950m) - Barafu Camp (4550m)
Hiking time: 7 hours/Distance: About 13 km's/Habitat: Alpine desert
After spending a night at the Great Barranco Wall (a very imposing sight at first), you make your way up this awesome looking obstacle, which in the end normally turns out easier than what you anticipated. Topping out just below the Heim Glacier, you now appreciate just how beautiful Kilimanjaro really is. The route then heads down through the Karanga Valley over intervening ridges and valleys, and joins up with the Mweka route. This is the preferred route down from the summit, so remember it. Turn left up the ridge and after another hour or so, you reach Barafu Hut.
The last water stop on the route is the Karranga Valley, as there is no water at Barafu camp. Barafu is the Swahili word for "ice" and it is a bleak and inhospitable camping area to spend the night. Totally exposed to the ever-present gales the tents are pitched on a narrow, stony, and dangerous ridge. Make sure that you familiarise yourself with the terrain before dark to avoid any accidents. The summit is now a further 1345m up and you will make the final ascent the same night. Prepare your equipment, ski stick and thermal clothing for your summit attempt. This should include the replacement of your headlamp and camera batteries and make sure you have a spare set available as well. To prevent freezing it will be wise to carry your water in a thermal flask and it is advisable to go to bed at round 19:00 and try to get some precious rest and sleep.

Day 6:
Summit Attempt, Barafu Camp (4550m) - Uhuru Peak (5895m)-Mweka (3100m)
Hiking time: 8 hours to reach Uhuru Peak, 7/8 hours to descend to Mweka/Distance: About 7 km's ascent - 23 km's descent/Habitat: Stone scree and ice-capped summit.
You will rise around 23:30 and after some tea and biscuits you shuffle off into the night. You will head in a north-westerly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point on the crater rim. This 6-hour walks to Stella Point is for many climbers, mentally and physically the most challenging on the route. At Stella Point (5685m) you will stop for a short rest and will be rewarded with the most magnificent sunrise you are ever likely to see (weather permitting). From Stella Point you will normally encounter snow all the way on your 2-hour ascent to Uhuru Peak. The time you will spend on the summit will depend on the weather conditions. Do not stop here for too long, as it will be extremely difficult to start again due to cold and fatigue. Enjoy your accomplishment, something you will remember for the rest of your life. The walk back to Barafu from the summit, takes about 3 hours. Here you will have a well earned but short rest and collect the rest of your gear, before heading down to Mweka Hut (3100m). The route is not difficult and will take you down the rock and scree path into the moorland and eventually into the forest. The camp is situated in the upper forest and mist or rain can be expected in the late afternoon. Dinner and washing water will be prepared.

Day 7:
Mweka Camp (3100m) - Mweka Gate (1980m)
Hiking time: 3 hours/Distance: About 15 km's/Habitat: Forest.
After an early and well-deserved breakfast, it is a short 3-hour and scenic hike back to the park gate. At the Mweka Gate you sign your name and details in a register and if you were a successful climber you will receive your summit certificate. Those climbers who reached Stella Point (5685m) are issued with green certificates and those who reached Uhuru Peak (5895m) receive gold certificates. From the Mweka Gate you will continue down into the Mweka village, normally a muddy 3 km (1 hour) hike. In the Mweka village you will be served a delicious hot lunch. You now drive back to Arusha for a long overdue hot shower, dinner and celebration. Overnight is at a hotel.

Day 8:                                                                                                                              Arusha – Lake Manyara National Park
You depart Arusha in the morning for Lake Manyara. This is followed by an afternoon game drive, dinner and an overnight stay at the Lake Manyara Hotel located beneath the cliffs of the Manyara Escarpment, on the edge of the Rift Valley. Lake Manyara National Park offers varied ecosystems, incredible bird life, and breathtaking views. Lake Manyara’s famous tree-climbing lions are another reason to pay this park a visit. The only kind of their species in the world, they make the ancient mahogany and elegant acacias their home during the rainy season, and are a well-known, but rather rare feature of the northern park. In addition to the lions, the national park is also home to the largest concentration of baboons anywhere in the world. This fact makes for interesting game viewing of large families of these primates.

Day 9:
Lake Manyara - Serengeti National Park
After breakfast you depart for Serengeti passing through the Olduvai Gorge, the site of Leakey’s family discovery of fossils of human and animal ancestors dating back to almost two million years. Meals and your overnight stay is at the Serengeti Wildlife Lodge.

Day 10:
Serengeti
Full day in Serengeti plains in search for wild game with both morning and afternoon game drives. Meals and overnight is at the Serengeti Wildlife Lodge. Serengeti is easily Tanzania’s most famous national park, and it’s also the largest, at 14,763 square kilometres of protected area that borders Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Park. It is the migration of wildebeest for which Serengeti is perhaps most famous. Over a million wildebeest and about 200,000 zebras flow south from the northern hills to the southern plains for the short rains every October and November, and then swirl west and north after the long rains in April, May and June. So strong is the ancient instinct to move that no drought, gorge or crocodile infested river can hold them back. The wildebeest travel through a variety of parks, reserves and protected areas and through a variety of habitats. Join us to explore the different forms of vegetation and landscapes of the Serengeti ecosystem and meet some of their most fascinating inhabitants.

Day 11:
Ngorongoro Crater                                                                                                              After breakfast a 4wheel drive vehicle will take you 2000ft down to the crater. Enjoy a picnic lunch at the crater and ascend to Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge for dinner and your overnight stay. The Ngorongoro Crater is often called ‘Africa’s Eden’ and the ‘8th Natural Wonder of the World,’ a visit to the crater is a main draw card for tourists coming to Tanzania and a definite world class attraction. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is home of Ngorongoro Crater. It was formed some 2.5 million years ago from a volcanic mountain sinking due to inactivity and was initially thought to be higher than Tanzania’s famous Kilimanjaro. The crater has evolved into a unique and integral part of Tanzania’s eco-system. The crater is actually a caldera, measures 22.5 km’s across and the rim walls stand 600m high. Views from within and from the rim are breathtaking (as can be seen from the picture). The Ngorongoro Crater is home to about 30,000 animals and a large variety of birds, which rarely move from the area due to the availability of water throughout the wet and dry seasons.   

Day 12:
Arusha - Zanzibar
After breakfast you drive to Arusha Town arriving in good time for lunch. You then transfer to Kilimanjaro airport to board an afternoon flight to Zanzibar. On arriving in Zanzibar, our representative will meet you and transfer you to the Ocean paradise to start your beach vacation.  
 
Days 13, 14 & 15:
Zanzibar
These days are spent sunbathing and relaxing at the beach resort. Here there are a lot of in-house activities that you can partake in and that can be arranged.

Day 16
Zanzibar
Transfer to Arusha airport to board your flight to Nairobi arriving in good time for your connecting  home bound flight.

Contact us for current pricing

Tour price includes:
Transfer to and from the base of the mountain
Machame route trek as itinerary depicts
Full board accommodation whilst on the trek
Accommodations at Kibo Palace Hotel, Arusha for 2 nights and huts on the mountain as per the itinerary
All park entrance fees to include government taxes
Service of an English speaking professional mountain guide on the mountain, porters and skilled cook
All services begin and end at Kilimanjaro Airport as per the itinerary
Treated water on the trek
Mountain rescue fees
Use of our 2 man sharing tents /camping gear
3 meals per day prepared by our safari cook
Game drives as detailed in the itinerary
camping fees/park entry fees/crater fees
Ngorongoro Crater tour
Service of a professional English speaking driver/guide
4 nights’ accommodations at a beach resort on half board basis i.e. breakfast and dinner
Return airport transfers in Zanzibar

Excludes:
Tips, laundry, sleeping bags, drinks and climbing gears
Medical evacuation, USD $ 30 per person
International flights and taxes
Zanzibar airport departure taxes USD $ 25 per person payable directly
Water sports and Zanzibar excursions – Can be arranged on request.
JRO – Zanzibar- NBO flights
Visas
Items of a personal nature and any other extras not detailed in the above itinerary.