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Kilimanjaro - Tanzania
8 days (10 inc. flights) - from £1325
Description
Climbing Kilimanjaro is not a technical climb. Anyone can do it, as long as you're fit enough, prepared, you don't rush it, and you respect the mountain. Having said that, it should not be underestimated. Tribes had the privilege of planning Sir Ranulph Fiennes' Kilimanjaro climb a few years ago, and afterwards even he said that it should not be attempted lightly.
Why the Machame Route? Why not the cheaper Marangu Route? Well there are a few reasons, and we're happy to share our views with you:
- It's a much more scenic route.
- The standard Machame route is a longer route, and the more time you spend on the mountain over a certain height, the more acclimatised you become, and the greater the chance of you getting to the top.
- On the Marangu route, the trek across the saddle from Mawenzi to Gillman's Point is very exposed and windy, and it's a hard slog with little joy involved.
- We don't like using the huts on the Marangu Route. We find that it is very difficult for people to sleep in the huts as they are cramped, noisy, draughty if you're near the windows or door and airless if you're not! Climbing Kilimanjaro on no sleep is not a good idea.
- The Machame Route ascends from the west and descends on a southern route. Variety is the spice of life!
- We get a far higher rate of success on the Machame Route.
All our guides and porters are local people. Many of the guides have gone up the mountain literally hundreds of times. We work within a porter policy through which we try to ensure that our mountain staff are treated well and paid fairly (see responsible travel section). And so we should! These guys know the mountain, they respect the mountain, and they know how to look after you and encourage you to get to the top. They also know the danger signs of altitude and acute mountain sickness, and they don't take risks with climbers' lives. Your guides and porters are the key to your success.
It takes five days to hike up the mountain. Summit day is the hardest, but also the most rewqarding, day. You have to get up at the seemingly crazy time of midnight to start the final push to the top in the dark (our group departures are timed to be on or very near full moon). There is method in this madness though! You get up to the summit as the sun is rising, and the spectacle is worth all the hard work. Actually though, you don't stay here long. It is too high and too cold to linger, and for your own safety, your guides will now hurry you down the mountain as fast as possible until you get to a more comfortable altitude for your body. With one more night on the mountain, tonight you can sleep well, knowing you've got as high as you can. The next day it's the trek to the bottom, a hot shower and a cold and well-deserved celebratory drink.
Obviously we hope you get to the top (Uhuru) if you want to, but whether you do or not, climbing Kilimanjaro tends to be one of those personal challenges which give a real buzz to your life. Motivating yourself to put one foot in front of the other when your body is telling you not to be so stupid takes strength of character and a real passion to achieve a goal. So stand there and shout “Yeeeeees!” to the African skies before you descend.
By the way, if you're going have a go at this, why not consider raising money for a good cause while you're doing it?
Itinerary Summary
- Day 1: Arrive Moshi and transfer to base hotel.
- Day 2: Begin Machame climb.
- Day 3: Ascend to Shira Hut.
- Day 4: Shira to Barranco.
- Day 5: Barranco to Barafu.
- Day 6: Summit day! Barafu to Uhuru to Mweka.
- Day 7: Mweka to Moshi.
- Day 8: Back to the airport and overnight flight to the UK (if selected).
Detailed Itinerary
- Day 1 (Sat): Arrive in Moshi. On arrival into Kilimanjaro airport you will be met and transferred to your base hotel in Moshi. Relax after your flight and prepare for your climb with a briefing in the afternoon. You'll be climbing the Machame Route - one of which we have a high success rate, and which in our view is one of the more scenic routes on the mountain. Dinner and overnight your base hotel. (B,L,D)
- Day 2 (Sun): Begin your Machame climb. After breakfast you will be driven to the Park Gate (approx 1 hours drive) where you will meet your guide and porters. A five or six hour walk through the spectacular forest will bring you to Machame Hut at 3000m. The camp will be set up by the porters and your meals will be prepared by the guide. (B,L,D)
- Day 3 (Mon): Ascend to Shira Hut, 3800m. A short descent from Machame Hut followed by an hour or so of hard uphill to the top of the forest, then 2 hours at a gentler angle through the lower moorlands brings you to the top of a rocky bluff. After lunch, descend 50ft then start traversing westwards up towards Shira Plateau. Total walking time is about five hours today. (B,L,D)
- Day 4 (Tues): Shire to Barranco. Set off to Barranco (3900m), skirting just below Lave Tower…. A few steep sections and valleys, a small section of scree and rock, and some sand ‘dunes’. You have about 7 hours of walking today. This is part of your acclimatization – walking in height from 3800m up to 4800m, and then overnighting at 3900m. (B,L,D)
- Day 5 (Wed): From Barranco to Barafu. Today you cross the Barranco Wall – it’s a climb over rock – not technical – ending up in Karanga Valley for lunch. Then continue up towards Barafu Hut (4600m). You start to ascend along a ridge and finally reach Barafu. (B,L,D)
- Day 6 (Thurs): Summit Day! Today is a very long and strenuous day. You will be woken about midnight with tea and biscuits for the final ascent. You arrive at Stella Point (5750m), just at the top of the crater. It may have taken you 6 or 7 hours to reach this point. From here continue on a fairly easy path up to Uhuru Peak (5895m), the highest point in Africa. You descend from Stella to Barafu which takes about 3 hours and then, after a short break, you head south east on the Mweka Route. Tonight you’ll overnight at High Camp (Mweka Camp), which is about 3100m above sea level, back on the edge of the forest. It takes about 4 hours from Barafu to walk down to Mweka. (B,L,D)
- Day 7 (Fri): Mweka to Moshi. It takes about 3 to 4 hours to walk down to the park gate and Mweka Village. You will be met on arrival and transferred to your base hotel for a nice hot shower and celebratory drink! (B,L,D)
- Day 8 (Sat): Back to the airport. After breakfast you will be transferred to Kilimanjaro airport for your overnight flight back to the UK (if selected). (B)
Is it for you?
This trip is for those with a good level of fitness. You should be able to walk up to 8 hours per day comfortably.
Best times to go
December to February and June to October (March to May and November is the rainy season).
Getting there
Fly into Kilimanjaro airport in Northern Tanzania. Our flight inclusive price would be on an overnight flight from London leaving the day before this itinerary. On the way back you would also take an overnight flight getting back to London the day after this itinerary.
Gallery
Responsible Travel
How this holiday helps:
This holiday is run totally by local people. We stay in a locally-owned hotel, and we use excellent local guides and porters. Our Porter Policy (see below) aims to ensure that all guides and porters are treated respectfully and fairly.
Porter Policy:
We do not directly employ any guides or porters, but some of the ground operators that we work with do. We are doing our best to ensure that the staff that host our guests on treks around the world are looked after properly and enjoy the rights that they deserve. We are one of 40 tour operators in the UK with an agreed policy on porters rights. Working together with Tourism Concern and other tour operators, the following guidelines have been put together as a basis for our policy on guides/porters rights:
Our relationship with the destination countries.
The ground agents that we use have been issued with detailed questionnaires on their policies regarding the porters and guides that they employ. A summary of the answers provided is given to all of our guests, who can then see for themselves how these policies come in to action on the ground.
As a company we also make regular visits to the destinations we offer to see for ourselves that the appropriate guidelines are being adhered to.
Our relationship with the porters and guides.
A majority of the guides and head porters that host our clients are permanently employed by the ground agents we use, as opposed to being hired whenever they are needed. This provides them with job security and basic employment rights according to their contract.
Wages
Minimum wages are often set by the government or National Park authorities. Our ground agents always pay the standard rate, and often more.
Training
We only use local guides in the destinations that we offer. Guides receive proper training in first aid, mountain skills and in their attitudes toward the environment.
Equipment
We try to ensure that guides and porters are provided with the appropriate equipment for them to do their job effectively and safely, such as proper footwear, waterproof clothing and tents to sleep in. This is an ongoing effort, beset by problems of porters selling the kit they are given but we are constantly trying to work round such issues to ensure that they are never placed in unnecessarily dangerous situations.
Loads
Maximum loads are often set by the government or National Park Authority. Porters will not carry loads exceeding these limits. Clients are advised the maximum weights that porters will carry for them.
Client awareness and behaviour
All of our clients are provided with detailed pre-trip information upon booking with us. This includes the responsible travel questionnaire that has been completed by the ground agent that will be hosting them. We also have a set of guidelines for general responsible travel. Advice on issues such as recommended/compulsory tipping is given before travel.
Monitoring
All of our clients are issued with a feedback form to complete after their trip. Any comments pertaining to porters/guides are immediately followed up and sorted out. Our UK staff also visit our destinations on a regular basis for first hand observation.
Carbon Offsetting:
For every client we take on holiday we plant 10 indigenous tree saplings. This is used as a poverty alleviation and biodiversity scheme as well as helping with carbon offsetting. Click for more details …
Giving to grassroots projects:
Our registered charity, The Tribes Foundation, is currently raising funds for a project in Tanzania. The kindness of strangers can make a big difference, so if you’re a travel philanthropist considering donating to a worthwhile charity, please consider backing this excellent community project.
Bibi Jann Children’s Care Trust supplies 60 children ages 2-6 (many of them AIDS orphans) with two meals a day and snacks and a pre-school education, including English, which is prompting graduates to excel in primary school. A first grade class opened in January 2006 and a second grade in January 2007.The Trust, oversees the school, adult literacy classes, women's group, AIDS-orphans school sponsorship program, and now GRANDMA-2-GRANDMA (though which people may sponsor a grandmother who is rearing her AIDS-orphaned grandchildren). Some 30 bibis (kiswahili for grandmothers) meet weekly to create and perfect their crafts for sale, with the goal of becoming self-supporting. The trust also sponsors three orphaned girls who live in the school compound.
We will shortly have a page with photos of the project on http://www.the-tribes-foundation.org/.
FOR MORE GENERAL DETAILS ABOUT OUR RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL POLICIES, CLICK HERE.
Add-ons
Make it Yours.
We promise that all our Down to Earth holidays are exciting adventures as they stand. But you are an individual. ("I'm not." ed). So why not add extras to your holiday to make it different and more unique to you?
You can extend your holiday with the following short trips:
These optional extras are available to add to your trip:
Holiday Combinations
Many of our holidays have been designed in relatively short sections which can be added together as a combination. Only those that work together are shown below. If there are none shown then this is not an option for the particular holiday you have chosen.
When you click on any of these holiday combination options you will be taken to the relevant holiday details. You can return to this holiday by selecting it from the menu in the left hand column. If you add more than one holiday to your basket there may potentially be a gap between the two sections. You can fill this gap by adding the handy overnight extensions we offer in the relevant city.
Tanzanian Wildlife Adventure
Something a bit different in Northern Tanzania with some incredible wildlife viewing.Using lightweight tents, this safari enables you to travel lighter and get back to basics but still enjoy the services of professional staff and see the main parks of the region.
Duration: 7 days , From £1575pp
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