Northern Circuit
Northern Circuit Route
This route avoids the crowds on the southern routes and over 9 days, you’ve got an incredible journey and an excellent probability of summiting with success.
The climb begins at Londorossi Gate, at an altitude of 2360 metres, with an approach way to the west of the mountain. It follows the Lemosho route, passing through majestic forest where some of the region’s most unique wildlife will typically be seen. The route continues up to the mountain’s third summit at Shira Ridge. From there you’ll cross the famed Shira plateau and see the awe inspiring Shira Cathedral before turning north onto the Northern Circuit correct. The northern slopes of Kilimanjaro are way more remote and have the good thing about less traffic from other climbers. On a transparent day the views stretch over the Amboseli Plains of Kenya. The path then joins the Rongai and Marangu routes within the east for the final summit ascent via Gillmans point. Once reaching the summit, you’ll descend by the Mweka path, instead of retracing your steps on the ascent route.
The Northern Circuit could be a good 9 day hike for those who haven’t trekked much at high altitudes, with a good further day’s acclimatization, giving an improved success rate. Experienced trekkers might pick the harder 8 day ascent on the Northern Circuit.
Trip information
Difficulty
The Northern Circuit is the longest and also the most remote route. The longer itinerary means it’s a good acclimatization profile. You can naturally “walk high, sleep low” that helps with acclimatization.
Even though you don’t have to climb the good Barranco Wall on this route, a tough still have a tough summit night approaching via Gilman’s purpose. You’ll be trekking for long periods of time thus a good level of fitness and stamina is suggested.
Food & drink
staying well-fed on your climb is absolutely very important, particularly when conditions are such you would possibly not wish to eat or drink the maximum amount as you should. because so many climbers experience a loss of appetite at altitude, our head cook has developed special menu plans that are appealing, healthy, and stuffed with all the energy you wish to make it to the summit. By default, our meals embody fresh fruit and vegetables a day. You’ll have fresh meat for the first a part of the trek and on the southern routes wherever it’s possible we tend to resupply the group at Karanga Camp. As a special reward after your summit ascent, we’ll have an “All Day English Breakfast” prepared and waiting for you when you arrive back at Base Camp – just let our cook know how know how your eggs done! And before you leave the mountain, you also get to sample some of the native Tanzanian cuisine like Njegere and Machalari.
BREAKFAST
Breakfast is usually fairly hearty, and includes porridge, sausage, eggs and toast with conserves or jam. Of course, you’ll even have hot drinks, usually an alternative of tea, coffee or potable. Let your guide apprehend if you’re still hungry, or perhaps if you’re thinking that you could ‘pack during a few a lot of bites’. Our cooks always try and offer a lot of food than necessary to ensure everybody gets a good meal.
LUNCH
Lunch is either packed for you, to hold in your bag, or we stop for a hot cooked lunch betting on your itinerary. A typical packed lunch is a boiled egg, sandwiches, a portion of chicken, crisps, snack bar, fresh fruit and a drink.
AFTERNOON TEA
Afternoon Tea is served at the end of the day’s walking, once you get to camp. In addition to tea and other hot drinks, there are plenty of peanuts, popcorn, biscuits and snacks to help restore some of the energy you’ve just burned off.
DINNER
Dinners are quite filling. They usually begin with a pleasant hearty soup, and then a main course like chicken curry, spaghetti bolognese, fresh vegetables, and plenty of rice, food or potatoes, followed by a yummy dessert such as pancakes or banana fritters with syrup or nutella!
Accommodation
your full day by day itinerary shows what is enclosed in terms of hotel accommodation and meal basis. All of our pre- and post- climb accommodation is based in Moshi. If you are going on safari before your climb, we are going to have booked you into a building in Arusha on arrival to reduce your period. Wherever your hotel basis is B&B, you’ll typically purchase snacks or meals at the building, which might be paid in Tanzanian Shillings, or often in USA dollars. When you arrive at the hotel, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the layout and also the procedures in the event of a fire, particularly your escape routes and fire exits.
Please bear in mind that Tanzania remains a 3rd world country and cut offs in each water and electricity provide still happen frequently, and that we cannot guarantee that the hotel can have hot showers throughout your stay. The hotel can facilitate as far as they’ll, but these outages are outside their management.
We use only the best high altitude mountain tents, Mountain Hardware Trango 3, to ensure you stay warm, dry and comfortable on your Kilimanjaro climb. Please bear in mind, these are correct mountain tents, designed to deal with extreme conditions thus don’t expect to be able to stand up and walk around inside! The dry, dusty conditions on Kilimanjaro will play havoc with the zips and that they will simply jam. Our guide’s are armed with WD-40 thus simply raise them for help, instead of making an attempt to force the nothing.
Your meals are taken during a separate mess tent where you may be ready to sit well, while you relax and chat to your team mates and enjoy the wholesome food that our cook has freshly ready for you. Inside, you’ll be happy to search out a table (of course) and a correct, comfortable chair with arms. With a full 2 metres of headroom, even the tallest climbers are able to stretch a small amount, and move concerning while not hunching over. They absolutely waterproof, and often withstand the worst weather Kilimanjaro should supply. A toilet tent is given toilet paper.
Transport
we insist on employing a high standard of vehicle and driver for all of our transfers. In Tanzania it’s not a legal demand to own seat belts fitted in the back of vehicles, and while we tend to attempt to use vehicles that do have rear seat belts fitted, this cannot perpetually be guaranteed. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the vehicle or the quality of driving, please speak to the driver or our local office directly. Please note that it’s a standard incidence in Tanzania for vehicles to be stopped by the police to see the driver’s documentation and this may seem quite discouraging when you cannot understand what’s being spoken. If your vehicle is stopped, this can be not a reflection on the state of your vehicle or your driver’s performance.
Luggage
CLIMBING BAG WEIGHT
Kilimanjaro national park operates an absolutely strict limit of 15kg per porter for your main equipment bag. This limit includes your bag, even if it’s rented from us. This can be quite sufficient for your needs on the mountain. Your bag are weighed before you leave the hotel to begin the climb and if it’s overweight you ought to take things out and leave them at the hotel. Extra porters are often employed but they cost $25 per day
PLASTIC BAG BAN
On 1st June 2019, Tanzania introduced a ban on all single-use plastic bags. Please support this fight against plastic by using a lot of sustainable alternatives in your bags, like packing cubes and dry bags. Passengers with plastic bags in their bags is also asked to surrender them on arrival at the airport.
The zip-lock bags required to hold liquids and toiletries in cabin baggage on airplanes can still be permitted.
How do i buy there?
For climbers based in the Britain or the us, it’s best to fly to Kilimanjaro International airport (JRO). KLM flies to JRO from all of the major uk airports, and lots of of the larger United States international airports similarly. Britain flights tend to depart early within the morning, transfer at Luchthaven Schiphol, Amsterdam’s main airport, and arrive at JRO late that very same evening.
All of our tours begin at a city known as Moshi, called the entranceway to Mount Kilimanjaro. Moshi is placed low on the mountain’s south slope, at an altitude of nearly 1000 meters above water level. Moshi is only 25 miles from airport International airport by car, airport can organize transport from the airport to your hotel as a part of your trek. Transport is generally available at any time, as well as the late evening or early morning, and takes approximately 3 quarters of an hour.
Arusha is an excellent choice for hotel accommodation during your stay, but it will fill up quickly throughout the peak season, thus be sure to order your booking with us as early as attainable. It is wise to plan a rest day when such rather than flight to recover and prepare yourself and your kit for the climb, rather than planning on hitting the mountain the next morning.
Some Britain climbers choose to fly into Nairobi via Kenyan Airways or British Airways. These flights ar solely accessible outgoing from Heathrow in London. Climbers incoming in Nairobi generally book a transfer flight to Kilimanjaro international airport via precision Air, Air Kenya, Air Tanzania or Ethiopian Airways.
We don’t advocate flying through Nairobi, as a result of Nairobi airport is often uncomfortable, and transfer times will sometimes be terribly long. It also has a name for poor baggage handling and delays in transferring baggage between flights.
Turkish Airlines, Air Emirates and Qatar also fly into JRO now, however these flights typically involve long delays and flights going away late at night for Britain travelers. However, climbers move from the us typically report better service and experiences flying with Turkish Airlines, Air Emirates and Qatar, thus we do recommend these flights from North America.
Vayama operates excellent flights to East Africa, as well as Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya or Zanzibar from JRO, and may be a good choice if you wish to see a lot of of this stunning region before returning home. Several travelers schedule a beach holiday in exotic Zanzibar to rest up when their climb. we discover the most effective thanks to organize transport for that’s to book your come flight out of Dar atomic number 99 Salaam, then to Zanzibar on an interior flight, and eventually back to Dar es Salaam for your flight home.
Fitness and training
Please take some time to read our Kilimanjaro training Guide that is full of useful recommendations on how to get physically ready for your climb.
Budget & change
The Tanzanian shilling may be a closed currency thus you may not be ready to obtain this before you arrive. It’s suggested to travel with United States dollars, as these ar wide accepted. It’s important that us bills be new (post 2010), crisp and untorn. If you want some native currency to buy snacks or drinks either at your building or on the thanks to the climb then we will take you to an ATM or bank. There’s additionally a currency exchange as you go through to the bags collection space of the airport.
