The trip runs ten nights in northern Tanzania and turns on a single climb. It opens with two nights at Ngare Sero, on the forested slopes of Mount Meru near Arusha, then takes the Lemosho route up Kilimanjaro: forest, the Shira Plateau, the Barranco and Karanga valleys, and Barafu below the summit. From Barafu you reach Uhuru Peak and descend to Mweka.
You climb on foot with a supported team, moving camp each stage and gaining height gradually to acclimatise. The days build from forest to plateau and high ground, then the summit and the long descent. On the mountain you sleep in camps set up and struck as you go; Ngare Sero, a small 1905 farmhouse the Leach family has run since 1974, bookends it.
You land at Kilimanjaro International, about half an hour away, and wake beneath Mount Meru before the climb begins. These two days are for settling in and sorting kit, with time to walk the private forest with a guide, ride the estate's horses, or take a boat out on the spring-fed lake. Colobus and Sykes' monkeys move through the canopy, and more than 200 bird species have been recorded on the grounds. Ngare Sero is a small 1905 farmhouse on Meru's forested lower slopes, run by the Leach family since 1974, with meals from the organic garden and trout pond. On clear mornings the glaciers of Kilimanjaro come into view.
The climb starts on Kilimanjaro's western side, walking uphill through dense forest to the first camp. This is the gentlest day of the route, used to find a steady pace before the ground opens out higher up. The mountain's lower slopes are wet and green, closed in by trees. You spend the night at Forest Camp, a temporary camp set up on the climb and struck once you move on, with tents, meals and a supported team carrying the loads.
You leave the forest behind and climb onto the open Shira Plateau, where the trees give way to low, exposed ground and the summit stands ahead. The walking is steadier and the air noticeably thinner, part of the slow gain in height that lets your body adjust. Views stretch back across the plateau as you go. The night is at Shira Camp, another temporary camp on the climb, pitched for the evening and taken down as you continue.
A second day on the high plateau, walking to gain height and help acclimatisation before the harder stages ahead. The ground is open and rocky, with the summit in view for much of the day and the plateau falling away behind you. Days like this one, climbing higher then sleeping lower, are what make the summit possible. You overnight at Moir Camp, set up on the mountain and moved on with you the next morning.
The route crosses high, bare ground before dropping into the Barranco Valley, a steep-sided cleft on the mountain's southern side. Losing and regaining height across the day is deliberate, part of acclimatising for the summit. The valley walls close in around the camp by evening. Barranco Camp is a temporary camp on the climb, tents and a mess set up for the night and struck when you leave.
The day begins with a steep climb out of the Barranco Valley, then works across a series of ridges and dips to the Karanga Valley. It is a short stage by distance but a demanding one, kept deliberately steady to protect the summit push to come. You are now high on the mountain, with the air thin and the vegetation sparse. Karanga Camp is a temporary camp set up on the climb, the last stop before Barafu, the summit base.
A shorter walk brings you up to Barafu, the base for the summit attempt, set on exposed high ground. The afternoon is for eating, drinking and resting, because the summit push begins in the dark of the early hours. This is the highest and coldest camp of the route, with the peak now directly above. Barafu Camp is a temporary camp on the climb, and you settle in early to sleep before the night start.
You set out in the dark for the summit, climbing steadily to reach Uhuru Peak, the top of Kilimanjaro, around sunrise. After time at the summit you turn and begin the long descent, dropping through the high ground and back below the tree line to Mweka. It is a very long day, up in the cold and then down through changing terrain. The night is at Mweka Camp, the final temporary camp on the climb, set among forest on the way down.
You come off the mountain at Mweka and drive back to Ngare Sero for a last night, with the climb behind you. The day is for rest: a slow walk in the forest, a boat on the lake, or a chair on the long veranda looking across the water to Mount Meru. Ngare Sero is the same 1905 farmhouse where the trip began, run by the Leach family, with meals from the estate's garden and trout pond served in the historic dining room or on the terrace above the lake.
Ed Charles, BBC Producer
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