Summit Safari Lodge
Booked with the climb: two nights at the start and one at the end. The second night is the rest day, a full day off after the long flights so the climb starts rested.
Tanzania
Kilimanjaro by the Lemosho Route, Then the Serengeti
Eight days on Kilimanjaro's Lemosho route after a rest day in Arusha, then a four-day private safari that starts with a bush flight into the Serengeti.
Nights14
SeasonJanuary
StyleAdventure
DifficultyStrenuous
Based onA trip I took myself
Where to stay, and why
Tented camps on the Lemosho route
Four nights sleeping between 11,500 and 13,650 feet, then high camp at Kosovo, at 15,978 feet. After the summit we kept going down to Low Mweka Camp instead of stopping higher, which left a short last morning to the gate.
A tented camp inside the park
A simpler, more economical glamping camp, placed right in the park for the game drives. On a Tanzania safari you are out from breakfast to dinner, so here the location mattered more than the amenities.
A luxury lodge outside the Conservation Area
A beautiful lodge for the night after the crater, on the way to Tarangire. The simple camp in the Serengeti and this lodge turned out to be a great combination.
Day by day
- Day 1
Arusha
Land at Kilimanjaro International Airport by way of Addis Ababa and settle in at Summit Safari Lodge.
- Day 2
Arusha
A rest day. No hiking: sleep, food and water after the flights, so the climb starts fresh instead of jet-lagged.
- Days 3 to 7
Lemosho route, Mount Kilimanjaro
Up the Lemosho route from the west side of the mountain. After the first night, four nights sleeping between 11,500 and 13,650 feet. That slow gain in sleeping altitude is the reason to choose this route.
- Day 8
Kosovo Camp
Up to high camp at Kosovo, 15,978 feet, for food and a short sleep before the night-time start.
- Day 9
Uhuru Peak
The summit, from a night-time start. Back at high camp by mid-morning for a nap and lunch, then on down to Low Mweka Camp rather than stopping at the higher camp.
- Day 10
Mweka Gate
A short last morning down through the park to the gate.
- Day 11
Serengeti National Park
A bush flight from Arusha to the Seronera airstrip, about an hour instead of seven to eight on the road, then most of the day on a game drive.
- Day 12
Serengeti National Park
A full day on the plains in a 4x4 with a pop-up roof, looking for lions, elephants and the wildebeest herds.
- Day 13
Ngorongoro Crater
Out of the Serengeti by road and down into Ngorongoro Crater for the day, then the night at a lodge outside the Conservation Area.
- Day 14
Tarangire National Park
Tarangire, known for its baobab trees and big elephant herds, then back to Arusha for the last night.
- Day 15
Kilimanjaro International Airport
The flight home.
What made it work
- The eight-day Lemosho route, for its gradual gain in sleeping altitude. I ruled out the faster itineraries, like the Marangu route or a compressed Machame.
- A rest day in Arusha before the climb: two full nights of sleep after the flights, so the trek started rested and hydrated.
- A private climb, so we kept to our own acclimatization plan whatever the schedule said.
- Going on to Low Mweka Camp on summit day instead of stopping higher, which made the last day to the gate short and easy.
- A one-way bush flight into the Serengeti at the start of the safari. It takes about an hour against seven to eight hours by road, which gave us most of an extra day of game drives: four days that felt like five.
- A safari vehicle whose roof and windows both open, so we could stand for a sighting and close everything against the dust between them.