northern circuit route

Day 1 Airport Pick-Up - Drop Off At Hotel

A member of Jerry Tanzania Tours hospitality team greets you upon your arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport. He will drive you to Panama Garden Resort, where you will have all the essentials for a comfortable stay after a long flight, such as: pleasant rooms with hot showers, a restaurant with delicious choices, genial service team and access to the Internet. Your briefing, in the course of which your guides will provide all the details of the forthcoming trek, takes place at the appointed time. They will answer your questions and make sure you are properly equipped for the trek, providing rental gear when necessary.

Accommodation: Panama Garden Resort

Journey time and Distance: 1 hour’s drive, 40 km from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Moshi

Day 2 Moshi – Londorosi Gate & Starting Point – Mti Mkubwa

After an early breakfast (07.00hrs), you leave the hotel one hour later to arrive at the Londorosi Gate to complete formalities around 11.00hrs, 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/4 miles, 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 using the Northern Circuit Route 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 – while possible – would be rare nowadays. Your walk, steadily upwards, is a wonderful experience, with fantastic forest and some really colourful flowers. Mti Mkubwa Camp (‘Big Tree Camp’) is normally reached by 18.00hrs and dinner is served at 19.30hrs.

Accommodation: In Tents At Mti Mkubwa Camp

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

Day 3 From Mti Mkubwa To Shira 1 Camp

You will soon become used to the early, 07.00hrs breakfast and your departure time today is at 08.00hrs. Although your walking distance is only slightly longer than yesterday, today you will be ascending from 2,650 metres to 3,610 metres and you expect a longer walking time of between 4.5 and 5 hours. Indeed, you start climbing straightaway, to the top of a ridge as you head eastwards and upwards. Today, the trees of your first day thin out, you eventually leave the forest environment behind as you move onto the moorland. From here, you are able to get your first view of both the Shira Plateau and mighty 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 13.00hrs. 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 16.00hrs, there will be some welcome resting time before dinner, which will be served at 18.30hrs.

Accommodation: In Tents At Shira 1 Camp

Hiking time and Elevation: 4.5 – 5 hours’ walking, from Mti Mkubwa at 2,650 m to Shira 1 Camp at 3,610 m

Day 4 From Shira 1 Camp To Shira 2 Camp

Today you potentially have less climbing to do than yesterday, so you celebrate (!) with a later breakfast, at the leisurely hour of 08.00 and a departure about one hour later. We say ‘potentially’ as your guide will explain that today you have the option of trekking via the Shira Cathedral, depending on how you are feeling (see below).

The standard walking distance you cover today will be about 7 km/4 miles. It is a steady, uphill climb and you should expect about 3.5 to 4 hours of walk time in total. You set off first 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. By this standard route, you intend to reach Shira 2 Camp 3,850 metres – which is also known as Shira Huts – by 13.00hrs, in time to be served a cooked lunch. Dinner tonight will be at 18.00hrs.

(As we mentioned above, you will be given the option today of diverting via the Shira Cathedral (3,872 metres, or 12703 feet). This involves more walking, but your extra hours of trekking will be rewarded with stunning panoramic views of the plateau and beyond. Your guide will discuss this option with you in detail).

Accommodation: In Tents At Shira 2 Camp

Hiking time and Elevation: 3.5 – 4 hours’ walking, from Shira 1 Camp at 3,610 m to Shira 2 Camp at 3,850 m

Day 5 From Shira 2 Camp To Moir Hut Camp Via Lava Tower

Today you are back to your early, 07.00hrs breakfast time, ready for 08.30hrs departure. You would expect to spend about 6.5 to 7 hours walking today, covering a distance of 14 km/9 miles. 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 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 down to Moir Hut Camp. Your guide may decide to bypass Lava Tower altogether, taking the porter trail instead, if any of the members of a party do not appear to have acclimatized properly. In this case the highest altitude you will reach, will be 4,400 metres, rather than 4,600 metres.

Accommodation: In Tents At Moir Hut Camp

Hiking time and Elevation: 6.5 – 7 hours ’walking, from Shira 2 Camp at 3,850 m to Moir Hut Camp at 4,200 m

Day 6 From Moir Hut Camp To Buffalo Camp

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: In Tents At Buffalo Camp

Hiking time and Elevation: 6.5 – 7 hours’ walking, from Moir Hut Camp at 4,200 m to Buffalo Camp at 4,020 m

Day 7 From Buffalo Camp To Third Cave Camp

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’s 3,800 metres.

Accommodation: In Tents At Third Cave Camp

Hiking time and Elevation: 5.5 – 6 hours’ walking, from Buffalo Camp at 4,020 m to Third Cave Camp at 3,800 m

Day 8 From Third Cave Camp To School Hut

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 23.00hrs.

Accommodation: In Tents At School Hut

Hiking time and Elevation: 4.5 – 5 hours’ walking, from Third Cave Camp at 3,800 m to School Hut at 4,800 m

Day 9 Ascent To Uhuru Peak And Descent To Mweka Camp

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 necessarily very different to your other days on the mountain. Rising at 23.00hrs, you take your tea and biscuits (23.30hrs) before a midnight departure.

The day starts with the long, tough climb from School Hut (4,800 metres) to Gilman’s Point (5,685 metres) for some of this you will be walking on scree, making your trek more difficult. From Gilman’s Point (5,685 metres), there is still another 210 metres of ascent and 1 hour’ walk to the summit. Your goal is to reach the top by around 07.00hrs then celebrate (of course!) take your precious photos and enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience. After the summit, you descend to an altitude of 4,673 metres at Barafu Camp, where you rest for a couple of hours, take a brunch and then leave again at 13.30hrs to continue to descend to Mweka Camp (3,100 metres) where you spend the night. You would expect to arrive there at 17.00hrs and take your dinner at 19.00hrs. (In total, you cover around 17 km today with about 11-14 hours of walking – tough going, but with your objective hopefully achieved!)

Accommodation: in tents at Mweka Camp

Hiking time and Elevation: 11-14 hours’ walking, from 4,800 m at School Hut to the summit at 5,895 m, then down to 3,100 m at Mweka Camp

Day 10 Descent From Mweka Camp To Mweka Gate – Moshi

Still thrilled by your achievement, breakfast is taken at 07.00hrs and at 08.00hrs you can take the chance to reward your trekking team at the ‘Tipping Celebration.’

Although you still have 10 km/6 miles to walk, departure is at a leisurely 09.00hrs and you descend down to the Mweka Gate which sits at an altitude of 1,640 metres. There, you will be served a cooked 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, if you have any energy left, to celebrate!

Accommodation: Panama Garden Resort

Hiking time and Elevation: 3 hours’ walking, from Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate, descending from 3,100 m to 1,640 m, then return by vehicle from Mweka Gate to your hotel 0.8 hours’ drive.

Day 11 Departure - Kilimanjaro International Airport

After a good night’s rest at your hotel, you will take breakfast ready for the scheduled check-out by 10.00hrs.(If you wish to remain in the hotel during the day, please advise us of this when you book your trip and we will inform you of the cost for a ‘day room’ which allows you to stay until 18:00hrs, and then make the booking on your behalf.)

As the transfer services have been already included in this package, you will be collected from your hotel and dropped off at the airport. For those travellers who have booked to go on safari, our Jerry Tanzania Tours guide will be meeting you in the afternoon to provide you with a pre-safari briefing.