Ultimate Kilimanjaro Tour Package: 7-Day Machame Climb & 5-Day Tanzania Safari

Arrive in Tanzania via Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) Lindo travel staff will pick you up and transfer to Moshi town where you will spend the first night at Panama Garden resort, For those who will arrive through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Kenya, we will pick them and transfer by Riverside Shuttle to Moshi.

Panama Garden Resort or Similar Hotel

Your day starts early with a briefing, followed by breakfast and a 50-minute drive from Moshi to Machame gate where your guides and porters prepare and pack your equipment and supplies. After registering at the park office; you start an ascent and enter the rain forest immediately. So from here good footgear, trekking poles, and gaiters are useful. You will enjoy a welcome lunch stop halfway up and will reach the Machame camping area in the late afternoon. Your porters will arrive at camp before you and will erect your tent before you arrive. In the evening, the porters boil drinking and washing water while the cook prepares your dinner.

Approx hiking hours: 5-6 hours.

Distance: 11 Km or 7 miles.

Zone: Rainforest

Accommodation: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Machame Camp

You will wake up early in the morning at Machame camp and after breakfast climb for an hour to the top of the forest, then for 2 hours through a gentle moorland.

After a short lunch and rest, you continue up a rocky ridge onto the Shira Plateau where you will be able to see Kilimanjaro's great Western Breach with its stunning glaciers. Sometimes the walls of the Western Breach are draped with extensive ice curtains. You are now west of Kibo on the opposite side of the mountain from the Marangu Route.

After a short hike, you will reach the Shira campsite. Porters will boil drinking and washing water before serving dinner. The night at this exposed camp will be colder, with temperatures dropping below freezing.

Approx hiking hours: 5-6 hrs.

Distance: 5 Km or 3 miles.

Zone: Low Alpine Zone

Accommodation: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Shira Camp 2

After breakfast, you will hike east up a steepening path above the highest vegetation toward Kilimanjaro's looming mass. After several hours, you walk through a rocky landscape to reach the prominent landmark called Lava Tower at 4,630 m/15,190 ft. This chunky remnant of Kilimanjaro's earlier volcanic activity is several hundred feet high, and the trail passes right below it. After a lunch stop near Lava Tower, descend for 2 hours below the lower cliffs of the Western Breach and Breach Wall to Barranco Camp at 3,976 m/13,044 ft.

There are numerous photo opportunities on this hike, especially if the walls are festooned with ice. Barranco Camp is in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Walls. On this day be careful to notice any signs of altitude sickness.

Approx hiking hours: 8- 9 hours.

Distance: 10 Km or 6 miles.

Zone: Low alpine zone to High alpine zone.

Accommodation: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Barranco Camp

After breakfast, you will continue up a steep ridge to the great Barranco Wall, and then you climb this imposing obstacle which turns out to be easier than it looks. you can now appreciate just how beautiful Kilimanjaro really is. With Kibo’s glaciers soaring overhead, you descend into the lush Karanga Valley to the Karanga Valley campsite. From the camp, you can look east and see the jagged peaks of Mawenzi. After a hot lunch at the camp, your afternoon is at leisure for resting or exploring. After two long days, this short day is very important for your acclimatization.

Approx hiking hours: 4- 5 hours.

Distance: 4 Km or 2 miles.

Zone: High alpine zone

Accommodation: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Karanga Valley Camp

Early in the morning after breakfast, you will hike east over intervening ridges and valleys to join the Mweka Route, which will be your descent route. Turn left toward the mountain and hike up the ridge through a sparse landscape for another hour to Barafu Hut where you will receive a hot lunch. The famous snows of Kilimanjaro are far above Barafu Camp near the summit of the mountain, so make sure that you familiarize yourself with the terrain before dark to avoid any accidents. Prepare your equipment and warm clothing for your summit climb and drink a lot of fluids.

Approx hiking hours: 4 hours.

Distance: 4 Km or 2 miles.

Zone: High alpine zone

Accommodation: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Barafu Camp

You will rise around 11:30 PM and after some steaming tea and biscuits followed by 6-hour climb northwest up through heavy scree between the Rebmann and Ratzel glaciers to Stella Point on the crater rim, this is the most challenging part of the route for most climbers. At Stella Point (5,685 m/18,650 ft) you stop for a short rest.

On the summit, you can enjoy your accomplishment and know that you are creating a day that you will remember for the rest of your life. After your 3-hour descent from the summit back to Barafu Camp, you will have a well-earned but short rest, collect your gear, and hike down a rock and scree path into the moorland and eventually into the forest to Mweka Camp (3,100 m/10,170 ft). This camp is in the upper forest, so you can expect mist or rain in the late afternoon. Dinner and washing water will be prepared.

Approx hiking hours: 4-6 hours.

Distance 12 Km or 7 Miles.

Zone: Glacial zone and all preceding zones.

Accommodation: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Mweka Camp

Descend from Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate (1,640 meters or 5,340 feet) 3 – 4 hours and a distance of 10 Km or 6 Miles. Transfer to the hotel for the summit certificate and get prepared for your 3 days safari.

Zone: Rainforest.

Total distance covered: 62 Km or 37 miles.

Accommodation: Bed and Breakfast

Panama Garden Resort

On this day your safari will start at 7:15 AM in the morning with your guide and drive to Lake Manyara National Park which takes about 1 hour. The park offers a mosaic of vegetation habitats that can sustain a high density of wildlife. Its groundwater forest which acts like a giant filtering sponge that gradually releases water so it can flow gently into streams, instead of running off, prevents the soil from eroding.

From its high concentrations of animals such as elephants, buffalo, and antelopes to its dense forests of Trichilia, ficus, and Acacia species, the park is diverse with both wildlife and vegetation. With its location at the base of the East African rift valley along the Gregory rift, it offers spectacular viewing of the escarpment.

Lake Manyara is one of those national parks which offer rich and diverse game viewing within a reasonably small area. It is one of the best areas for elephant viewing and tree climbing lion, after a game in Lake Manyara national park then drive to overnight at Kirurumu Manyara Lodge

Heart & Soul Lodge

After breakfast, you will drive towards the Serengeti National Park, via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Serengeti National Park is the endless plains, rolling into the distance as far as the eye can see. You will continue with a game drive to the central park area, known as the Seronera area, one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park, featuring the Seronera River, which provides a valuable water source to this area and therefore attracts wildlife well representative of most of the Serengeti’s species.

You will have lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive in Serengeti national park.

Serengeti Acacia Camps

You will leave early in the morning around 8:00 AM after breakfast for a full day game drive along the Sogore River circuit which loops into the plains south of the Seronera River which is good for viewing lion, Thomson gazelle, topi, ostrich, and cheetah sightings.

After having a picnic lunch you will follow the kopjes circuit which usually attracts a number of lions and some formidable large cobras, Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops scattered around the plains that provide drinking in pools left in the lock after the rain, these make the kopjes particularly good for spotting wildlife in the dry seasons including lions, which like to lie and wait for animals coming to drink water.

Serengeti Acacia Camps

You will wake early in the morning and have breakfast then start a game drive at 7:00 AM to see nocturnal predators returning from hunting. Continue with the game routine towards the Ngorongoro conservation area and pass through Naabi Hill Gate. Proceed with a game drive and visit the Maasai village where you will experience the Maasai traditions and culture and later in the evening will drive overnight at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge.

Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge

After breakfast around 7:30 AM, you will descend into the crater for a wonderful game drive with picnic lunch. The Crater (World Heritage site) holds a permanent population of more than 30,000 animals, with its 2000 ft, high walls, you can expect to see lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, flamingos, jackals, rhinos, antelopes, many birds, and other species. The crater is also home of the rare black rhino almost extinct in Tanzania. With a bit of luck, you will see the “Big Five” during the game drive. After the game in Ngorongoro crater, you will drive back and overnight at African Tulip.

African Tulip Hotel

After breakfast, you will be picked up from the hotel and drive to the Airport, you will be there 2 hours before your flight time.

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