9 Day Kilimanjaro And Safari

Elephant below snow capped summit from savannah on Mount Kilimanjaro

Destinations: Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater

This climb takes the Machame route up Kilimanjaro to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres, the highest point in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. The days build height slowly through rainforest, moorland and alpine desert to the summit cone, with a midnight start for the final push. After the descent you carry on to the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater to round out the trip.

Day By Day

Day 1 Gate To Machame Camp

You transfer from your Moshi hotel to the trailhead this morning after a kit check and briefing. You drive from Moshi to the Machame Gate at about 1,800 metres and register for the climb. The first day climbs through thick rainforest, often muddy and loud with birds and colobus monkeys. After five or six hours you reach Machame Camp at around 3,000 metres above the forest. Independent trekking is not permitted inside the park, so the climb runs the way every guided ascent is organised, with a lead guide, an assistant, a cook and a team of porters. Layers come on and off through the day as the sun and the cold trade places.

Higher up the air thins and the walking becomes about rhythm rather than speed. Nights are cold and the stars overhead are as thick as you will ever see them. Each camp is a little higher, and the views open wider as the forest falls behind. The guides set a slow pace, pole, pole in Swahili, because going slowly is how you reach the top. Porters carry the camp ahead of you, and hot meals are ready when you reach each night’s stop.

Day 2 Machame Camp To Shira Camp

The forest gives way to open moorland of giant heather and lobelia. You climb to the Shira Plateau at about 3,840 metres, with Kibo’s snow cone ahead. It is a shorter day that builds height steadily. Higher up the air thins and the walking becomes about rhythm rather than speed. Nights are cold and the stars overhead are as thick as you will ever see them. Each camp is a little higher, and the views open wider as the forest falls behind.

The guides set a slow pace, pole, pole in Swahili, because going slowly is how you reach the top. Porters carry the camp ahead of you, and hot meals are ready when you reach each night’s stop. You drink three or four litres of water a day to help your body adjust to the altitude. The crew check your oxygen and pulse each evening to see how you are acclimatising. Layers come on and off through the day as the sun and the cold trade places.

Day 3 Shira To Lava Tower To Barranco Camp

A key acclimatisation day, climbing high to the Lava Tower at 4,600 metres then dropping to sleep low. Climb high, sleep low is the pattern that carries people to the summit. Barranco Camp sits at about 3,960 metres under its great wall. Nights are cold and the stars overhead are as thick as you will ever see them. Each camp is a little higher, and the views open wider as the forest falls behind. The guides set a slow pace, pole, pole in Swahili, because going slowly is how you reach the top.

Porters carry the camp ahead of you, and hot meals are ready when you reach each night’s stop. You drink three or four litres of water a day to help your body adjust to the altitude. The crew check your oxygen and pulse each evening to see how you are acclimatising. Layers come on and off through the day as the sun and the cold trade places. Higher up the air thins and the walking becomes about rhythm rather than speed.

Two trekkers above cloud sea at sunrise on Mount Kilimanjaro — Climbing high to the Lava Tower and dropping back down to sleep is the pattern that carries people to the summit.

Day 4 Barranco Wall To Karanga Camp

The morning begins with the Barranco Wall, a scramble that looks harder than it is. Beyond it the route rolls across ridges to Karanga Camp at around 3,995 metres. A shorter day keeps your legs fresh for the summit. Each camp is a little higher, and the views open wider as the forest falls behind. The guides set a slow pace, pole, pole in Swahili, because going slowly is how you reach the top. Porters carry the camp ahead of you, and hot meals are ready when you reach each night’s stop.

You drink three or four litres of water a day to help your body adjust to the altitude. The crew check your oxygen and pulse each evening to see how you are acclimatising. Layers come on and off through the day as the sun and the cold trade places. Higher up the air thins and the walking becomes about rhythm rather than speed. Nights are cold and the stars overhead are as thick as you will ever see them.

Day 5 Karanga To Barafu Base Camp

You climb the alpine desert to Barafu Camp at 4,673 metres, summit base. The peak looms close above and the crew prepare you for the night ahead. You eat and rest early before a midnight start. The guides set a slow pace, pole, pole in Swahili, because going slowly is how you reach the top. Porters carry the camp ahead of you, and hot meals are ready when you reach each night’s stop. You drink three or four litres of water a day to help your body adjust to the altitude.

The crew check your oxygen and pulse each evening to see how you are acclimatising. Layers come on and off through the day as the sun and the cold trade places. Higher up the air thins and the walking becomes about rhythm rather than speed. Nights are cold and the stars overhead are as thick as you will ever see them. Each camp is a little higher, and the views open wider as the forest falls behind.

Day 6 Summit Night To Uhuru Peak Then Mweka

You set out near midnight, head-torches strung up the dark slope. At sunrise you reach Stella Point at 5,750 metres, then Uhuru Peak, 5,895 metres, the highest point in Africa. After photographs among the glaciers you descend to Mweka Camp in thicker air. Porters carry the camp ahead of you, and hot meals are ready when you reach each night’s stop. You drink three or four litres of water a day to help your body adjust to the altitude. The crew check your oxygen and pulse each evening to see how you are acclimatising.

Layers come on and off through the day as the sun and the cold trade places. Higher up the air thins and the walking becomes about rhythm rather than speed. Nights are cold and the stars overhead are as thick as you will ever see them. Each camp is a little higher, and the views open wider as the forest falls behind. The guides set a slow pace, pole, pole in Swahili, because going slowly is how you reach the top.

Two trekkers selfie at uhuru peak sign on Mount Kilimanjaro — Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres, roughly six hours above Barafu.

Day 7 Descend Kilimanjaro And Drive To Serengeti

You come off the mountain in the morning and sign out at the exit gate, then transfer on for the move to Serengeti National Park. The country changes on the way, and you reach the Serengeti in the afternoon. You head out on game drives as the light softens, a first look at the new ground. The Grumeti and Mara rivers hold crocodile and stage the migration’s river crossings in season. Dawn balloon flights drift over the herds where operators offer them. Back at camp after dark, dinner is under the stars. Serengeti park fees sit outside the Kilimanjaro charges, which is one of the lines worth checking against what an all-inclusive package normally covers.

It carries the great wildebeest migration, well over a million animals moving in a yearly loop. Big cats are the draw, lion on the kopjes, cheetah on the plains, leopard in the riverine trees. The Serengeti runs to nearly 15,000 square kilometres of open plains and scattered kopjes. The guide reads the tracks and the birds, and there is no rush to be anywhere. Late in the afternoon the light turns gold and the game comes back to the open ground.

Three giraffes below the snowcapped peak on Mount Kilimanjaro — The plains below the mountain, where the second half of this trip begins.

Day 8 In Serengeti

A full day in Serengeti National Park. You are out on game drives, out early while the light is low and the country is at its best, with the guide working the ground slowly and time to stop for whatever the day turns up. Dawn balloon flights drift over the herds where operators offer them. The Serengeti runs to nearly 15,000 square kilometres of open plains and scattered kopjes. It carries the great wildebeest migration, well over a million animals moving in a yearly loop. You rest through the midday heat and head out again as it cools. Adding the Ngorongoro Crater and a few days on the coast turns this into the twelve-day climb, safari and Zanzibar trip.

Big cats are the draw, lion on the kopjes, cheetah on the plains, leopard in the riverine trees. The Grumeti and Mara rivers hold crocodile and stage the migration’s river crossings in season. Late in the afternoon the light turns gold and the game comes back to the open ground. With a drink in hand you watch the day close over the bush. Back at camp, dinner is served under a sky thick with stars.

Male lion resting in green grass on Mount Kilimanjaro — Full days of game driving in the Serengeti, with none of the altitude of the week before.

Day 9 Departure

A final morning out on game drives before you leave, the best window of the trip for anything still on your list. You make the most of the early light, then you drive back toward Arusha. Its walls hold around 25,000 large animals, so game viewing is concentrated and reliable. It is one of the best places in Africa to see black rhino, completing the Big Five in a day. You finish the trip having stood on the roof of Africa and seen the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. Lion, elephant, buffalo and flamingo-lined soda lakes share the crater floor. A fourteen-day version of the same idea adds Tarangire, a longer climb and a week that finishes on the coast.

The rim sits at 2,300 metres and mornings are cold before the sun clears the wall. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest intact volcanic caldera in the world, about 260 square kilometres of floor. With a drink in hand you watch the day close over the bush. Back at camp, dinner is served under a sky thick with stars. Each time out turns up something new, and the pace is yours to set.

What’s Included

Kilimanjaro park, camping or hut, rescue and guide fees
All meals on the mountain and a full mountain crew (guides, cook, porters)
Transfers between Moshi and the trailheads
Full-board safari and park fees on the days shown

What’s Not Included

International flights and Tanzania visa
Personal trekking gear (hire available in Moshi)
Travel insurance covering high-altitude trekking
Tips for the crew, drinks and personal items

Why Should You Add This Kilimanjaro Trip to Your Trip?

Standing on the roof of Africa is the draw, and the Machame route is a sound way up. Longer routes give your body more time to adjust, and time on the mountain is the single biggest factor in reaching the top. You climb through five climate zones in a week, rainforest, heath, moorland, alpine desert and the arctic summit, watching the country change under your boots. No technical climbing is needed, only fitness, warm kit and a slow, steady pace, while the crew carry the camp, cook the meals and watch your health each evening. Coming down to the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater afterwards means you go home having done the mountain and the wildlife both. Nothing here is sold from this site, which is an independent guide to what these trips involve rather than an operator’s brochure.

What Can You See on a 9 Day Kilimanjaro Trip?

On Kilimanjaro, days equal success. Six of these nine days are spent on the mountain, and a six-day Machame ascent reports between 50 and 73 percent, so it is the climbing half of the trip that decides whether you reach the summit rather than the total day count. Shorter climbs cost less but summit rates fall as the days drop. This length suits a reasonably fit walker who has trained with hills and long days on foot. What no itinerary can promise is the summit, weather and altitude decide on the night, and a good crew will turn you around if your body says so. Adding the safari and beach after the climb is the right call if you have come this far, since the rest of Tanzania is close.

How Much Is This Kilimanjaro Trip Package?

A Kilimanjaro climb is priced by the day, because park, camping and rescue fees run well over USD 100 per day before the crew and food. Operators who pay and equip their crews properly are not the cheapest, and cutting corners on Kilimanjaro is a false economy. As a guide, this trip runs from around USD 3,200 to 5,350 per person, with group size and hotel level the main variables, plus the safari and beach portion. Tell an operator your dates and group size for a firm quote. Quotes come from licensed Tanzanian operators rather than from this site, and there is a short guide to what belongs in a first enquiry and what to ask before you pay.