Well, its all sorted! Given the current economic climate, we have decided not to climb the mountain for charity, so have booked a private trek. The whole trip looks something like this:
21st January - Fly to Kilimanjaro from Birmingham via Amsterdam - lets hope that this time we have enough time to walk between the two gates!
21st - 24th January - Exploring Arusha, Moshi and the Kilimanjaro and Arusha National Parks. Might do a bit of Mt Meru for a bit of acclimatisation. We'll be staying at the Songota Falls Lodge a very modest and simple lodge away from the hustle and bustle of Arusha run by a local family. We were particularly keen to see as much of local life as possible during this trip and Songota has some great reviews - and the falls sounds so much more appealing than a lodge pool!! We've booked a whole day walking safari on 23rd January in the Arusha National Park that will take us up around Ngurdoto Crater, with our own private armed ranger.
25th - 31st January - 7 nights Trekking and camping on Kilimanjaro via the northern Rongai route (Kenyan side of the mountain). Hopefully summiting 30th January the day before the full moon. We are trekking with a company called Climb Mount Kilimanjaro (oddly enough!). There are so many companies offering the Kili trek, it's hard to choose but I figured I was more comfortable handing my hard earned money to a company associated with the author Henry Stedman.
1st - 9th February - Safari, including the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti and Tarangire national parks, travelling with The East African Safari & Touring Company on a private safari. As with the Kili trek, there are hundreds of companies to choose from but liked the 'off the beaten track' nature of what they were offering and the fact that their main lodge at Boundary Hill is part owned by the local masai village, is in a great location and only has a few rooms. We'll also be staying at their tented camps. More here.
9th February - Fly to Zanzibar
9th - 19th February - The Echo Beach Hotel in Zanzibar, snorkelling, swimming, relaxing etc. with a trip to Stonetown in there somewhere. The location and size of this hotel sold it to us. Its right on the beach and the two storey bandas offer lovely views from lovely rooms with huge furnished terraces. It also has a great pool and its own dive centre and we hear the food is terrific!
20th February - Come home :(
I can't tell you how long it took to research everything and choose but thank heaven for the internet!! Time will tell if we made the right choices but I am confident that we'll have a great time.
The Kilimanjaro Route
I changed my mind on the route in the end. I detailed earlier the Lemosho Route as our preferred route. However, its not very well travelled. Although we wanted a quiet route, we wanted other trekkers with us in case one of us had to come down before the summit. We figured it would be difficult for the other one to keep going if there was only a guide and the porters. We have an extra day for acclimatisation so hopefully we'll do well but if either of us doesn't we both want the other to continue. The route is also drier than the southern routes and there is more wildlife.
It's going to go so fast but is going to be the first of many more 'adventurous' trips, now the children have left home and we have more time to ourselves. We are already talking about trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal if we deal well with the altitude on Kilimanjaro.
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