12 Days Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar vacation

Breakfast will be served in this early morning and embark on a 45minutes drive through a remote village to Machame gate where you will get your hiking equipment ready as a hiking guide takes you through a briefing. You will immediately set off to hike through a relatively steep slope while observing the naturally beautified rainforests as your local guide explains the wildlife and flora that you will encounter. It will take you 5 to 6 hours to arrive at Machame camp that stands at 2,835 meters above sea level to have your dinner and an overnight.

After your hearty breakfast you will proceed with your hike from Machame camp that is dominated by rainforests where you will ascend crossing a valley along a rocky ridge. You will start experiencing the moorlands as you turn into a junction to the west to a river gorge arriving at Shira camp for your dinner and overnight. At this camp you will be standing at an elevation of 3845 meters above sea level where you will start experiencing a drop in temperatures.

Have your breakfast and proceed as you start to experience new climate conditions which is a day of acclimatization arriving at Shira plateau. Proceeding with your hike, you will encounter a ridge and move upwards to a junction to a lava tower also known as the Shark’s tooth. At this point you will be standing at an elevation of 4,650 meters above sea level where you will encounter a second junction that leads you to the Arrow glacier. You will have an experience of a semi-desert area as you descend to Barranco camp for an overnight.

You will wake up to a breakfast and proceed with your hike to a steep ridge where you will have to make a climb to the Barranco wall and cross the Karanga valley arriving at a junction that connects you to the Mweka trail. Your ability and strength will be tested here as you experience the alpine desert that freezes more so in the night at Karanga camp for your overnight standing at an elevation of 4,050meters.

Wakeup to grab your breakfast and proceed to Barafu camp as you are excited to complete a south circuit that offers breathtaking views of the summit and its surroundings. Arriving at the Barafu camp takes to about 3 to 4 hours where you will have an early dinner to rest as you prepare for the summit night.

Wake up as early as midnight and proceed with your hike to the summit with a stopover at the Stella point on the crater rim where you will relax while you enjoy the sunrise from the summit. At this point, expect to hike further for an hour arriving at the summit for celebrations as you take photos and enjoy this incredible moment of accomplishment. You will then descend back to Mweka camp with a stop-over at Barafu for relaxation and lunch. You will have your last night in the mountain at Mweka camp waiting to descend back to the gate in the next morning.

Have your breakfast in the early morning and continue descending backward to Mweka gate where you will be issued your hiking certificate. Your driver guide will be waiting to receive you at the gate and immediately set off to Moshi town arriving to check-in at a hotel for relaxation as you wait to have dinner and an overnight.

Have your hefty breakfast and proceed with your 1 and a half hours’ drive to Arusha to catch your flight to Abeid Amani Karume International airport in Zanzibar arriving to be transferred to your pre-arranged hotel for relaxation, meals and an overnight waiting to relax your muscles and minds at the Zanzibar white sand beaches.

Wakeup to a scrumptious breakfast and proceed for a 30minutes cruise on the Indian Ocean blue waters to the Prison Island. You will have the opportunity to spot large land tortoises that call this island a haven, have a chance to swim in these waters and sunbathe. Have your lunch and return to the island’s beautiful beaches where you will relax in the white sand as you sunbathe while fascinating history of this island is being told to you since it was a yellow fever quarantine station in the past years. Depart the island in the late afternoon to be dropped off to your hotel for dinner and an overnight.

You will have your breakfast served in the early morning and proceed to explore the stone town also regarded as the cultural heart of Zanzibar on foot. This city is made up of multistory buildings constructed with corals and mortals that all you will get to spot. You will get to know about the slave history of this city as you see the auctioning place for slaves, visit museums like the National museum of Zanzibar also known as the Peace memorial Museum and make a visit to the Forondhani gardens after which you will retire to have lunch. After lunch you will continue with your exploration to the Old fort, House of wonders and Dr. Livingstone House and then return to your hotel to have dinner and an overnight.

Have breakfast in the morning and be driven southwards for a dolphin excursion in a fishing village where these dolphins live happily in a natural setting. You will watch them closely while you differentiate them for example the bottle-nosed dolphins and humpback dolphins. You will have lunch after which you will be driven to Dar-es Salam to catch your international flight back home.