9 DAYS NORTHERN CIRCUIT ROUTE

After an early breakfast (07.00), you leave the hotel one hour later to arrive at the Londorosi Gate for registration around 11.00, and in time to have your picnic lunch. After Londorosi, you have a short drive to the start-point of today’s walk. Today your walk is a distance of 7 km, with an expected 3.5 to 4 hours of walking time. Your starting altitude is some 2,100 metres and you finish at 2,650 metres. Your approach to the mountain is from the west and some people say this provides the best views of Kilimanjaro. At the start of your walk, you may be lucky enough to spy some colobus or blue monkeys, though an encounter with buffalo, elephant or leopard would be rare nowadays. Your walk, steadily upwards, is a wonderful experience, with fantastic forest and some colourful flowers. Mti Mkubwa Camp (‘Big Tree Camp’) is normally reached by 18.00 and dinner is served at 19.30.

• Accommodation: Mti Mkubwa Camp
• Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Starting Point (2,100 m) to Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m)

You will soon become used to the early, 07.00 breakfast and your departure time is at 08.00. Although your walking distance is similar to yesterday, today you will ascend from 2,650 meters to 3,610 meters and expect a longer walking time of between 6.5 and 7 hours. Today, the trees of your first day thin out, and you eventually leave the forest environment behind as you move onto the moorland and can get your first view of both the Shira Plateau and Kibo itself. As ever, you should concentrate on walking 'pole-pole' (slowly) to reduce the chances of feeling unwell. Your direction is largely eastwards, picnic lunch is taken around 13.00. Walking is steep at first after lunch but then flattens, and with the snow-topped Kibo ahead of you, you descend slightly to the Shira 1 Camp. Arriving at around 16.00, your dinner will be ready at 18.30.

• Accommodation: Shira 1 Camp
• Hiking time and Elevation: 7 hours, from Mti Mkubwa (2,650 m) to Shira 1 Camp (3,610 m)

Compared to yesterday, your climbing today is less (240 metres of ascent) and takes you up to an altitude of 3,850 metres. The distance you cover will be similar, at approximately 7 km. It is a steady, uphill climb and you should expect about 3.5 to 4 hours of walk time in total. Your breakfast today is at the civilized hour of 08.00 and your departure one hour later. You set off in a south-eastern direction across the moor and heathland of the Shira Plateau. Buffalo, dik-dik and klipspringer graze here and can occasionally be seen. You intend to reach Shira 2 Camp – which is also known as Shira Huts – by 13.00, in time to be served a hot lunch. Dinner tonight will be at 18.00.

• Accommodation: Shira 2 Camp
• Hiking time and Elevation: 4 hours, from Shira 1 Camp (3,610 m) to Shira 2 Camp (3,850 m)

Today you are back to your early, 07.00 breakfast time, ready for 08.30 departure. You would expect to spend about 6.5 to 7 hours walking today, covering a distance of 14 km. You will finish your day 350 metres higher than you started it, in between you have to climb to the base of the famous Lava Tower at 4,600 metres. This part of the route is rife with ups and downs and may bring some discomfort. You will spend one or two hours at a higher altitude in order to properly acclimatize yourself, so the lunch break will take place at Lava Tower itself. The afternoon part of the route climbs slightly before descending to Moir Hut Camp. Your guide may decide to bypass Lava Tower altogether, taking the porter trail instead, if any of the members of the group do not appear to have acclimatized properly. In this case, the highest altitude reached will be 4,400, rather than 4,600 meters.

• Accommodation: Moir Hut Camp
• Hiking time and Elevation: 7 hours, Shira 2 Camp (3,850 m) – Lava Tower – (4,600) – Moir Hut Camp (4,200 m)

You climb out of the Moir Valley and take a short detour to reach the summit of Lent Hills (4,375 m). After admiring the views, you return to the trail and head eastwards around the northern circuit trail. Here the trail passes through a field of rock slabs that clink as they are walked on. The final section of today’s walk undulates until reaching the location of Buffalo Camp (4,020 m). At the camp, there is a huge feeling of space as the Kenyan plains stretch out far below to the north.

• Accommodation: Buffalo Camp
• Hiking time and Elevation: 7 hours, Moir Hut Camp (4,200 m) – Lent Hills (4,375 m) – Buffalo Camp (4,020 m)

From Buffalo Camp, you climb to the top of ‘Buffalo Ridge’ and cross numerous ridges and gullies. The trail continues eastwards through a landscape that has increasingly sparse vegetation to eventually reach Third Cave Camp (3,800 m).

• Accommodation: Third Cave Camp
• Hiking time and Elevation: 6 hours, Buffalo Camp (4,020 m) – Third Cave Camp (3,800 m)

On a relatively easy path, today’s leg takes you over the so called “saddle”. This piece of rock is actually a lava-flow formed when Kili was still young. It has now solidified and connects two of Mount Kilimanjaro’s three peaks, Mawenzi and Kibo. You will arrive at the School Hut in about 4.5 to 5 hours and go to bed straight after dinner as the summit calls for an early start, at approximately 11 p.m.

• Accommodation: School Hut
• Hiking time and Elevation: 5 hours, from Third Cave Camp (3,800 m) to School Hut (4,800 m)

Today is the most challenging day, but hopefully with the great sense of achievement of reaching your goal – the summit of Kilimanjaro! Your schedule for your ‘Summit Day’ is of course very different. Rising at 23.00, you take your tea and biscuits (23.30) before a midnight departure. The day starts with the long, tough climb from School Hut at 4,800 metres to Gilman’s Point at 5,685 metres; for some of this you will be walking on scree, making your trek more difficult. From there it is another 210 metres of ascent and 1 hour’ walk to the summit. Your goal is to reach the summit by around 07.00 then celebrate reaching the top, take your precious photos and enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience. After the summit, you return to Barafu, where you rest for a couple of hours, take a hot lunch and then leave again at 13.30 to continue to descend to Mweka Camp (3,100 metres) where you spend the night. You would expect to arrive at 17.00 and take your dinner at 19.00. (In total, you cover around 17 km today with about 13 hours of walking.)

• Accommodation: Mweka Camp
• Hiking time and Elevation: 13 hours, School Hut (4,800 m) – Uhuru Peak (5,895 m) to Mweka Camp (3,100 m)

Still thrilled by your achievement, breakfast is taken at 07.00 and at 08.00 you can take the chance to reward your trekking team at the ‘Tipping Celebration.’ Departure is at 09.00 and you descend down to Mweka Gate at an altitude of 1,640 metres, where you will be served a hot lunch at midday and be presented with your hard-earned certificate. Your transport will be waiting to bring you back to your hotel in Moshi, where you can choose to relax – or celebrate!

• Hiking time and Elevation: 3 hours, from Mweka Camp (3,100 m) to Mweka Gate (1,640 m)

After a good night’s rest at your hotel, you will take breakfast ready for the scheduled check-out by 11.00.(In case you need a late check-out because of an evening flight, please advise us of this when you book your trip and we will inform you of the cost for the day room which ends at 18:00hrs, and then make the booking on your behalf.