Luxury Kilimanjaro Lemosho Climb

After jetting into Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will be met and driven to Legendary Lodge, a charming collection of cottages amid manicured gardens on the outskirts of Arusha.

Its laidback atmosphere is perfect to unwind from your journey and to prepare for tackling Africa’s highest peak.Depending on your schedule, you could mountain bike through aromatic coffee plantations, take game drives to nearby Arusha National Park and Ngurdoto Crater or work off some steam on the squash or tennis courts of a neighbouring country club.

The day you have been training for an eagerly anticipating has finally arrived. You will meet your guides and logistics team in Arusha and set out to the starting point of the Lemosho route. The first day takes you through cool and humid afromontane forest – look out for black-and-white colobus monkeys – until you reach Forest Camp, your home for the night, in the mid-afternoon.

The crew will quickly assemble camp, including your private tent, and begin dinner. Take the time to freshen up, enjoy the views and absorb the privilege of being in such a pristine setting.

After breakfast, leave the afromontane forest of Lemosho behind as you gradually ascend past podocarpus and juniper trees to the heather zone on the Shira Plateau. The scenery changes dramatically as the trees are left behind and the heath opens out before you. As before, lunch is a picnic taken on the trail and you will arrive at Shira 1 Camp in the mid afternoon.

After two relatively easy-going days, today sees a significant gain in altitude as you ascend a steeper area of the Shira Plateau. With a steady pace, however, you should reach Shira 2 Camp in time for lunch, leaving you with plenty of time to acclimatize to the reduced oxygen levels. It is worth accompanying your guides on the optional afternoon walk to a slightly higher point and then back down again as this will help your body adapt even more.

From heath to alpine desert – unlike conventional deserts, alpine deserts have little rain, fauna or flora but can be very cold during the day and it may be time to haul out your warmer gear. Lunch will be in the camp’s mess tent and, if weather conditions permit, you have the option of scrambling to the summit of Lava Tower in the afternoon.

While days 4 and 5 have been short hiking days, today will be longer as you walk to Karanga camp and it will likely be late afternoon when you get to your tent. Karanga is renowned for spectacular sunsets and views of the southern glacial valleys and ice fields that loom majestically more than a thousand metres (about 3 000ft) above you.

You are now nearing the summit and may encounter strong winds. Today is a half-day hike to ensure maximum acclimatization time at Barafu Camp, from where you can enjoy astounding evening views of craggy and jagged Mount Mawenzi.

Today you tackle the first half of your bid for the summit. The thin air makes for slow going but your experienced team will monitor your progress and ensure that you are keeping pace. By midday you should reach the rim of Kibo Crater, allowing you plenty of time to descend a short way into the caldera and to take acclimatization walks in the afternoon. Your home for the evening will be Kibo Crater Camp.

Today is when you truly understand the benefit of an extended route with plenty of acclimatization time. After a night at significant altitude in Kibo Crater, you need only cover a short distance in about an hour to make it to the summit before the incredible sunrise above the cloud line.

The thrill of standing on the highest point in the continent is compounded when you finally begin your descend to Mweka Camp; as the oxygen levels increase, you will likely feel intense euphoria and a sense of enormous wellbeing.What has taken you seven days to cover now takes you less than a day as you descend back to the heath zone and come across endemic proteas and flittering malachite sunbirds. Your final night on Kilimanjaro will probably be filled with reminiscing about the past week: the literal and figurative ‘ups and downs’ of taking on the world’s highest free-standing mountain!

Enjoy your final ‘mountain breakfast’ and then pick your way through the verdant afromontane forest to your starting point, eight days ago. Farewells to the crew can be very emotional and are also a good time to dole out tips and special thanks. Then it is back aboard your transfer vehicle to the very welcome soft bed and warm showers at Legendary Lodge for a blissful overnight stay.

After drinking your fill of delectable Tanzanian coffee at breakfast, bid the staff at Legendary Lodge farewell as you are collected for your trip back to Kilimanjaro International Airport. Many hikers now head to the island paradise of Zanzibar to rest after the rigours of hiking for nine days; sun, sand and sea can be the perfect antidote to Killi’s much chillier weather!