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IMG Kilimanjaro Climb and Safari Itinerary
For more details on the day by day 2012 schedule, please see our:
Expanded 2012 Kilimanjaro Itinerary PDF »
For details on daily elevation gain and distances traveled, please see the: Machame Route Daily Stats »
| DAY | Itinerary (Our Itinerary is by day, NOT date) |
| Day 1 | Depart USA on Delta/KLM to Amsterdam. Arrive in Amsterdam early on the morning of Day 2 in Amsterdam. (Some team members may choose to depart a day or two earlier than the group in order to explore Amsterdam and to avoid jet lag.) |
| Day 2 | Transfer in Amsterdam to flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO). Flight leaves at 10:35 am, arrives JRO at 8:20 pm. We will meet in the arrival area at JRO and arrange group pickup at the airport and vehicle transfer to Keys Hotel in Moshi. Overnight at Keys Hotel. |
| Day 3 | Free morning to relax, stroll around Moshi and explore a bit. Group meeting in afternoon. Pack personal gear into duffel bag for porters (up to 30 pounds or so). Leave one bag with travel and safari clothes, etc. at the hotel in storage. Dinner / overnight at Keys Hotel. |
| Day 4 | After breakfast, we'll drive by 4WD vehicles to the Machame Gate, where the climb begins. The first day is a nice hike through the rain forest to Machame Hut (10,000'). |
| Day 5 | We climb out of the forest to the Shira Plateau (12,000') in the zone of "weird plants" native to high mountains of Africa, ie. Lobelia and Groundsel. Wild! |
| Day 6 | We climb to over 14,500' and then drop back to 13,000' on the Machame route. We'll camp at Baranco Hut (13,000'). This is really neat hiking. |
| Day 7 | Cross the Baranco Wall (a bit of pretty steep scrambling in a few places, sporty!) and traverse below the Southern Glaciers. This is our favorite day on the approach, with great scenery and rugged hiking. Overnight at Karanga Valley (13,000'). |
| Day 8 | By now we're well acclimatized and we move up to High Camp at Barafu Hut (15,000'). |
| Day 9 | Summit Day! Start climbing around Midnight with about 8 hours to the true summit (Uhuru Peak at 19,340'). Descend to Mweka Hut in the forest. A long and rewarding day. |
| Day 10 | Continue descent via the Mweka route to Mweka Gate. 4WD vehicle pickup and transfer to Keys Hotel. Shower and celebrate our climb! Overnight at Keys Hotel. |
| Day 11-14 | Depending on seasonal itinerary, safari participants will either fly out to Serengeti and drive back to Arusha via Ngorongoro OR will drive the first day to Ngorongoro, then travel to Serengeti the next day, and fly back to Arusha. The food and service is excellent and the game viewing is world-class. Regardless of itinerary, we will spend two nights at Serengeti, one night near Ngorongoro, and visit Olduvai Gorge (which is in between Serengeti and Ngorongoro). |
| Day 14 | Return back to Arusha in the afternoon in time for some final shopping, re-packing, and dinner. Transfer to JRO airport for evening flight to Amsterdam. |
| Day 15 | Connect in Amsterdam for flights back to USA. |
I had a great time on the Kilimanjaro trip. It went just as planned, we all made the summit, and the safari was great fun too. Thanks also for pre-arranging everything so perfectly...
