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Places of Africa Safaris

The snowfields of Kibo, Kilimanjaro's summit cone
Kilimanjaro · Ten Days

Ten days to Uhuru Peak, around the quiet side

A private Northern Circuit climb — one night in Moshi, nine on the mountain, circling the least-walked side of Kilimanjaro before the final push to Uhuru Peak.
10
Days
9
Nights
5,895 m
Summit
Northern Circuit
Route
Overview
Day by day
Rates
Included
Add-ons
Parks
Best time
Flights
Other costs
Why us
Questions
Your trip
Related
I · Overview

The route, and why this shape

One mountain, the long way round. Moshi to Moshi in ten days.
The Northern Circuit is the longest way up Kilimanjaro, and it spends that length on quiet. The first three mountain nights follow the Lemosho approach across the Shira plateau; from the Lava Tower on day five it turns north instead of south, away from the Barranco-Karanga-Barafu line that carries most of the mountain’s traffic, and circles the least-visited side of Kibo for three more nights before rejoining other climbers at School Hut, on the Marangu route’s own summit camp.
Nine nights on the mountain is more acclimatisation time than any other standard route offers, with no single day asking more than about 900 metres of height gain. That is the whole case for it: longer routes summit more often than shorter ones, and this is the longest one there is. It is also, plainly, the most expensive and the most time away from home — two extra park-fee days and a crew paid for two extra days over Lemosho, and the better part of a fortnight including travel.
It is a private climb: your own guide, your own crew, a start date you choose and a pace set for your party alone. If solitude on the mountain matters more to you than the summit night’s distance, or you have the extra days and the extra budget and want the gentlest possible climb, this is the route. If you want the fastest reasonable way up, look at the Machame or Lemosho climbs instead.
Length
10 days / 9 nights
Country
Tanzania
Start / end
Moshi → Moshi
Tour type
Private climb, Northern Circuit route
Group size
Your own party — from 1 climber
Meal plan
Full board, cooked by the crew on the mountain
Best months
January – February, and June – October
Activity level
Strenuous — 11 to 15 hours on summit day
Guides
One guide for every two climbers, plus a lead guide
II · The days

Day by day, all ten

Every day opens. One night in Moshi, nine on the mountain, the summit on day nine. See every lodge and camp we use
Day
01
Kilimanjaro on a clear morning
Arrival

Moshi, and the kit laid out on the bed

03°21′S 37°20′E
Dinner
Kilimanjaro on a clear morning
Moshi, and the kit laid out on the bed
03°21′S 37°20′E
You are met at Kilimanjaro International and driven the forty-five kilometres east to Moshi, about an hour, with the mountain somewhere on your left behind the afternoon cloud. It is usually clear at dawn and hidden by nine, so the first proper look at Kibo is most often from the hotel garden the next morning with a coffee.
This is a private climb, so the briefing is for your party alone and it runs as long as your questions do. The lead guide walks you through the route on a map — the Lemosho approach for the first three nights, then the long swing round the mountain’s quiet north side, and why nine nights buys more than a faster route can. Then the kit check, piece by piece, on the bed. Anything missing is hired in Moshi in the morning before the drive.
Duffel bags for the porters are weighed tonight to the park’s 15-kilogram limit. Moshi sits at about 890 metres. Tomorrow’s bed is nearly 2,000 metres higher, and every night after that higher again until the summit, so sleep well while it is easy.
Meals
Dinner
Travel
Kilimanjaro International to Moshi · ~45 km · about 1 hr
Highlight
Meet your lead guide; every item of kit checked before nine days on the mountain
Private briefing
Kit check
Duffel weighed to 15 kg
Where you sleep
Aerial view of Weruweru River Lodge
COMFORT

Weruweru River Lodge

★★★★☆
Moshi, garden hotel below the mountain
En-suite rooms, a real bed, a hot shower — the last one until day 10. Breakfast is early; the drive west is long.
Kilimanjaro Coffee Lodge: The lodge
LUXURY

Kilimanjaro Coffee Lodge

★★★★★
Moshi, lodge on the coffee slopes above town
Higher and cooler, with Kibo visible from the terrace on a clear morning. Same guide, same briefing, more quiet.
Sunlight through green forest
Londorossi Gate to Mti Mkubwa
03°00′S 37°11′E
The day begins with a drive, and it is a long one: west around the mountain’s southern and western flanks, through Boma Ng’ombe and up to Londorossi Gate at 2,100 metres, about three hours. Registration here is unhurried compared with Machame Gate — a handful of parties rather than a car park of them. The porters’ loads are weighed, you sign in, and a vehicle carries everyone the further few kilometres of rough track up to the Lemosho trailhead at about 2,360 metres.
The Northern Circuit shares this western approach with the Lemosho route for its first three nights, and the walk on day one is short — that is the point. Six kilometres and some 400 metres of climbing through montane forest, three to four hours, on a path that is muddy in every month. Colobus and blue monkeys are common; this western forest is also the part of the park where elephant and buffalo still wander, which is why a ranger sometimes walks with parties on the first day.
Mti Mkubwa — Big Tree Camp — sits in the forest at 2,750 metres, quiet and enclosed, with a first night that is deliberately low. The evening health check begins here: oxygen saturation and pulse, taken every evening from now to the summit.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Moshi → Londorossi Gate 2,100 m · ~3 hrs drive; trailhead → Mti Mkubwa 2,750 m · 6 km · 3–4 hrs
Highlight
The long drive round to the quiet side, then a short first walk in the forest
Western approach
Forest zone
First health check
Where you sleep
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
COMFORT

Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree Camp)

★★★★☆
Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree Camp), 2,750 m — public campsite
Three-season tent shared by two, a foam mat, a mess tent for meals. Sheltered under the canopy; the warmest night on the mountain.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
LUXURY

Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree Camp)

★★★★★
Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree Camp), 2,750 m — public campsite
The same forest clearing with a private toilet tent, a thicker sleeping mat and a camp chair with a back.
Climbers crossing heath and moorland below the peak
Out of the trees and onto the Shira plateau
03°01′S 37°14′E
The forest thins within the first hour and gives way to giant heather and then open moorland, and the path steepens onto a ridge that climbs to the western rim of the Shira plateau. The plateau is what remains of the oldest of Kilimanjaro’s three volcanic cones, which collapsed long before Kibo grew beside it, and stepping onto its edge is the moment the mountain opens up: the whole shallow bowl ahead, and the summit cone away to the east, still two and a half thousand metres higher.
Eight kilometres and 750 metres of gain over five to six hours, which is a full day at this altitude and the biggest single jump in sleeping height on the route. The guide walks it slower than you want to. That is the arrangement all week and it is not negotiable; the body adjusts to altitude at its own pace, and walking fast does not hurry it.
Shira 1 Camp is on the open plateau at 3,500 metres, beside a stream, exposed and cold once the sun goes. Frost on the tent is normal here in any month. It is a camp the Machame route never sees, and on most nights you will share it with only a few other parties.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Mti Mkubwa 2,750 m → Shira 1 Camp 3,500 m · 8 km · 5–6 hrs
Highlight
750 metres up through heather to the rim of the collapsed Shira volcano
Shira plateau
First view of Kibo
Camp the Machame route misses
Where you sleep
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
COMFORT

Shira 1 Camp

★★★★☆
Shira 1 Camp, 3,500 m — public campsite
Open moorland camp with the summit in view at dawn. Hot water in a bowl for washing morning and evening.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
LUXURY

Shira 1 Camp

★★★★★
Shira 1 Camp, 3,500 m — public campsite
Private toilet tent, thicker mat, and the mess tent kept warm for the evening briefing when the plateau wind gets up.
Moorland and cloud on the high slopes
Across the plateau to Shira 2
03°03′S 37°17′E
The walk is easy — seven kilometres east across the plateau, a gradual 350 metres of gain, three to four hours on open moorland among giant groundsel and lobelia with Kibo growing larger ahead the whole way. You are in camp by early afternoon and you will feel as though you could have gone further. That feeling is the acclimatisation working, and going further would spend it.
For anyone with energy to burn, the guide can take the longer line past the Shira Cathedral, a jagged outcrop on the plateau’s southern rim, which adds a couple of hours and a little height. Either way the afternoon is for sitting still at altitude, and a short walk uphill after tea — a hundred metres of height for the body to notice before sleeping lower.
Shira 2 sits at 3,850 metres. This is the last camp the Northern Circuit shares with Lemosho and Machame. From tomorrow the routes part company: they drop south to Barranco after the Lava Tower; you turn north instead, onto ground that most Kilimanjaro climbers never walk.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Shira 1 Camp 3,500 m → Shira 2 Camp 3,850 m · 7 km · 3–4 hrs
Highlight
A short, gentle day whose whole purpose is the second night near 3,800 m
Short day by design
Second night near 3,800 m
Last camp shared with other routes
Where you sleep
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
COMFORT

Shira 2 Camp

★★★★☆
Shira 2 Camp, 3,850 m — public campsite
Higher, colder and windier than Shira 1. The sleeping bag you bring or hire needs to be rated to minus ten at least.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
LUXURY

Shira 2 Camp

★★★★★
Shira 2 Camp, 3,850 m — public campsite
Private toilet tent pitched beside yours, the warmer mat, and a pulse-oximeter reading recorded for each climber at the evening check.
Trekkers on a mountain path above the clouds
Lava Tower, then north to Moir Hut
03°03′S 37°18′E
The plateau ends and the alpine desert begins: bare scree and rock, no plants above knee height, and a steady climb east to the Lava Tower, a 90-metre volcanic plug standing at 4,630 metres. Lunch is eaten in its lee. This is the highest most people have ever been, and the first time on this route that many feel it — a headache, no appetite, a pace that has become a shuffle. That is expected, and it is exactly why the day exists.
Where Lemosho and Machame turn south here and drop to Barranco, the Northern Circuit turns north. Seven kilometres over rolling alpine desert, two to three hours, down to Moir Hut at roughly 4,200 metres on the mountain’s quiet northern side. The net change for the day is a modest loss from the Tower, and the value is the same as it is on every other route: hours spent high, a bed lower down.
Moir Hut is a small public campsite in a valley below the Lent Hills, used by only a handful of parties a night — this is where the extra days start paying for themselves. There is no queue for the toilets here, and no camp noise after dark. It is also markedly colder than Barranco, with nothing between the tent and the wind coming off the northern slopes.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Shira 2 Camp 3,850 m → Lava Tower 4,630 m · 7 km · 3–4 hrs; Lava Tower → Moir Hut ~4,200 m · 7 km · 2–3 hrs
Highlight
The day the route breaks away — climb to the Lava Tower, then turn north instead of south
Lava Tower 4,630 m
Route splits from Lemosho/Machame
First quiet northern camp
Where you sleep
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
COMFORT

Moir Hut Camp — public campsite

★★★★☆
Moir Hut, ~4,200 m — public campsite
A small valley camp on the north side, sheltered from the worst of the wind by the Lent Hills. Shared by very few other parties.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
LUXURY

Moir Hut Camp — public campsite

★★★★★
Moir Hut, ~4,200 m — public campsite
Private toilet tent, thicker mat and a warmed mess tent — the cold here is drier and sharper than at Barranco.
Climbers' tents above the clouds on Kilimanjaro
Under Kibo’s north face to Buffalo Camp
03°01′S 37°20′E
This is the day that gives the Northern Circuit its name. Twelve kilometres, five to seven hours, tracing the contour beneath Kibo’s northern glaciers and across open alpine desert that no other standard route touches. There is little to shelter behind and the path undulates rather than climbs steadily, which makes the distance feel longer than the net height change suggests — the day loses only about 180 metres overall.
The reward is the view and the emptiness. On a clear day the northern icefields are close overhead and Kenya’s plains are visible to the north; the mountain’s shadow falls the other way from every photograph taken on the Machame side. Most days you will meet no other party at all on this stretch.
Buffalo Camp — shown as Pofu Camp on some older maps — sits at about 4,020 metres in open country below the Kibo massif’s northern flank. It is exposed to wind rather than cold rain, and the sunsets here are usually clearer than anything seen from the busier southern camps.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Moir Hut ~4,200 m → Buffalo Camp ~4,020 m · 12 km · 5–7 hrs
Highlight
The longest single day on the route — a wide traverse around the mountain’s least-visited side
Longest day on the route
Kibo’s north face
Least-visited stretch of the mountain
Where you sleep
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
COMFORT

Buffalo Camp — public campsite

★★★★☆
Buffalo Camp, ~4,020 m — public campsite
Open, windswept camp on the north side. Water carried in by the crew; a long, quiet evening with almost no other tents in sight.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
LUXURY

Buffalo Camp — public campsite

★★★★★
Buffalo Camp, ~4,020 m — public campsite
Private toilet tent and the thicker mat, useful against the wind that comes off the plains to the north rather than off the summit.
A line of climbers on the trail below Kibo
Buffalo Camp to Third Cave, and the Rongai climbers
03°03′S 37°25′E
The path swings east now, tracking below Mawenzi’s jagged north-western ridge, eight kilometres over five to seven hours across moorland and broken heath. The going is easier underfoot than yesterday but the day is still long by the standards of the rest of the route — one of the costs of the extra distance this route covers to stay away from the crowds for as long as it does.
Third Cave Camp sits a little lower, at about 3,870 metres, and is where the Northern Circuit meets the Rongai route coming up from the Kenyan border side. After three days of near-solitude this is the first camp where you will reliably see other climbers again — still a fraction of the numbers at Barranco, but company all the same, which some parties are glad of after the quiet.
Mawenzi’s cliffs are close overhead here and catch the last light well. From Third Cave the route to the summit is the same one the Rongai climbers use: on to School Hut tomorrow, then Gilman’s Point the night after.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Buffalo Camp ~4,020 m → Third Cave Camp ~3,870 m · 8 km · 5–7 hrs
Highlight
The route curls east under Mawenzi and rejoins other climbers for the first time in three days
Under Mawenzi
Meets the Rongai route
First other climbers in three days
Where you sleep
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
COMFORT

Third Cave Camp — public campsite

★★★★☆
Third Cave Camp, ~3,870 m — public campsite
A sheltered camp under Mawenzi’s north-western flank, shared with Rongai-route parties for the first time this week.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
LUXURY

Third Cave Camp — public campsite

★★★★★
Third Cave Camp, ~3,870 m — public campsite
Private toilet tent and the warmer mat, worth having again now that camps are less empty than the last three nights.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
Third Cave to School Hut, and an early night
03°04′S 37°23′E
A shorter day on paper — five kilometres, four to five hours — but a real jump in height, close to 900 metres, up bare moorland and scree to School Hut at about 4,750 metres. This is the summit camp used by the Marangu route, the mountain’s oldest, and it is where the Northern Circuit’s approach finally rejoins the busiest of Kilimanjaro’s paths, on the night that matters least for crowding and most for rest.
The summit briefing follows an early dinner: layers laid out in the order you will put them on, water bottles filled warm and stowed inside jackets so they do not freeze, headtorch batteries checked, snacks in an outside pocket where gloved hands can reach them. On a private climb the departure time is set for your party alone, weighed against what the guide has seen at eight evenings of health checks so far.
Sleep at 4,750 metres is poor and you will get three or four hours at best. That is enough. Wake-up is around half past ten with tea and biscuits, and you leave camp before midnight for Gilman’s Point.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
Third Cave Camp ~3,870 m → School Hut ~4,750 m · 5 km · 4–5 hrs
Highlight
A short climb to the Marangu route’s summit camp, then bed straight after dinner
School Hut 4,750 m
Marangu route’s summit camp
Summit briefing
Where you sleep
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
COMFORT

School Hut Camp — public campsite

★★★★☆
School Hut, ~4,750 m — public campsite
A few hours in the tent rather than a night. The crew wake you with hot drinks and the tents stay standing for your return.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
LUXURY

School Hut Camp — public campsite

★★★★★
School Hut, ~4,750 m — public campsite
Private toilet tent, which at this altitude at this hour is the upgrade climbers say they were most glad of.
Tents beside the glacier in the summit crater
Gilman’s Point to Uhuru Peak, and down to Mweka
03°05′S 37°21′E
You leave School Hut before midnight in a line of headtorches, climbing scree and volcanic ash on the north-eastern face for six hours or more to Gilman’s Point on the crater rim, at about 5,681 metres — the point where the Marangu and Rongai routes also reach the top. The guide sets a pace that feels absurdly slow at the bottom and exactly right near the rim. Stops are short because stopping means getting cold.
From Gilman’s Point the path runs a further hour and a half around the crater rim, past Stella Point and the Southern Icefield, to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres, the highest point in Africa. Nobody can promise you the summit. The guides carry oxygen and a pulse oximeter and will turn a climber round if the readings or the signs say so; a climber who turns at Gilman’s Point has still stood on the crater rim of Kilimanjaro.
Ten minutes on top, then down — the same way you came up as far as School Hut, then onto the separate Mweka trail. The scree descends fast; four to six hours further through the moorland and the forest edge brings you to Mweka Camp at about 3,100 metres, where the air feels thick and the tents feel like a hotel.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
Travel
School Hut 4,750 m → Uhuru Peak 5,895 m · 6 km · 7–9 hrs; Uhuru Peak → Mweka Camp ~3,100 m · 12 km · 4–6 hrs
Highlight
1,145 metres up in the dark to Gilman’s Point, then 2,800 metres down by daylight
Gilman’s Point 5,681 m
Uhuru Peak 5,895 m
Down to Mweka 3,100 m
Where you sleep
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
COMFORT

Mweka Camp — public campsite

★★★★☆
Mweka Camp, ~3,100 m — public campsite
Back among the heather and the first trees. The crew have carried camp down ahead of you; dinner is early and long.
Tents in the rocky alpine desert
LUXURY

Mweka Camp — public campsite

★★★★★
Mweka Camp, ~3,100 m — public campsite
Last night on the mountain, private toilet tent, and the evening the crew sing — tradition, not a show.
An elephant on the plains below Kilimanjaro
Mweka Gate, certificates, and Moshi
03°13′S 37°20′E
Breakfast at Mweka, then the tipping ceremony, held on the mountain rather than at the gate because the porters go straight from the gate to their next climb. You hand the pooled tips to the lead guide in front of the whole crew, who reads out what each person receives. A nine-night climb carries the crew for longer than the shorter routes, and the per-crew-member figures reflect that; they are under Other costs, and worth reading before you climb, not after.
The path to Mweka Gate is 10 kilometres of forest trail, muddy and slippery, and hard on knees that came down 2,800 metres yesterday. Trekking poles matter more today than on any other day. At the gate you sign out of the park and summit certificates are issued — green for Gilman’s Point, gold for Uhuru Peak.
A vehicle takes you the hour back to Moshi for lunch and, at last, a shower. Those flying out tonight are driven to Kilimanjaro International in the evening; those going on safari or to Zanzibar stay in Moshi and leave rested in the morning.
Meals
Breakfast · Lunch
Travel
Mweka Camp ~3,100 m → Mweka Gate 1,640 m · 10 km · 3–4 hrs, then ~1 hr drive to Moshi
Highlight
Out through the forest, tips to the crew, and a shower
Tipping ceremony
Summit certificate
Onward to safari or Zanzibar
Where you sleep
Departure day — no overnight
III · Rates

What it costs, by group size

Per-person pricing that falls as the party grows — choose a tier to see the table.
Per person, costed September 2026 at high-season rates. Tell us your dates and group size and we will quote them, rather than show you a range.
Standard rates by group size, per person and group total
Group sizeRoomsPer personGroup total
1 climberown tent$3,870$3,870
2 climbers1 tent$3,250$6,500
3 climbers2 tents$3,170$9,510
4 climbers2 tents$3,030$12,120
5 climbers3 tents$3,030$15,150
6+ climbers3 tents$2,960$17,760
Single tent supplement
$50
Added when a climber does not share a tent
Sleeping bag hire
USD 45 per climb
Minus-ten-rated bag, hired in Moshi for the climb
Peak-date uplift
None
Full-moon summit nights, and the festive weeks
All figures in US dollars, per person sharing unless stated. Valid for travel until 30 June 2027. Park fees, guiding, vehicle, accommodation and full board are included — see what is and is not covered below.
IV · Included

What is in the price, and what is not

Stated in full, both ways. Park, camping and rescue fees are in; crew tips are not.

What is included

  • Kilimanjaro National Park entry, camping and rescue fees for all nine days
  • One night in Moshi before the climb, bed and breakfast
  • Transfers Moshi → Londorossi Gate and Mweka Gate → Moshi
  • A lead guide and assistant guides — one guide for every two climbers
  • Porters, a cook, and all camp crew for the full nine days
  • All meals on the mountain, cooked fresh, with boiled drinking water
  • Sleeping tents, mess tent, sleeping mats, and camp furniture as listed
  • Pulse oximeter checks every evening, and emergency oxygen carried by the guides
  • Emergency evacuation plan with the Kilimanjaro National Park rescue team and, when needed, helicopter evacuation for insured climbers

What is not

  • International flights to and from Tanzania
  • Tanzania visa — USD 50, or USD 100 for United States passports
  • Travel insurance covering trekking to 6,000 metres, which every climber must hold
  • Tips for the mountain crew — see Other costs
  • Sleeping bag, trekking poles and clothing hire
  • Airport transfers to and from Kilimanjaro International
  • Lunch and dinner in Moshi on days 1 and 10, and any extra hotel nights
  • Personal spending, and anything listed under optional extras below
V · Add-ons

Worth adding, if you have the days

Priced separately and arranged on request.
Two guests relaxing by a lodge plunge pool
After day 10

A rest night in Moshi after the climb

The descent day finishes early afternoon and most flights leave in the evening. A night in Moshi means a full sleep in a bed before the aircraft, and a margin if you come off the mountain later than planned.
USD 170 per person, for 2 guests
Two guests relaxing by a lodge plunge pool
Day 1

Kit hire in Moshi

A minus-ten sleeping bag, poles, a down jacket, gaiters — anything you would rather not buy for one climb. Hired the evening you arrive so the kit check happens with the real kit.
USD 130 per person
Two guests relaxing by a lodge plunge pool
After day 10 · 2–3 nights

Three days on safari afterwards

Tarangire and the Ngorongoro Crater are a morning’s drive from Moshi. After nine days on foot, a vehicle with a roof hatch and lunch at a table is what your legs are asking for.
USD 1,670 per person, for 2 guests
Dhows moored off a white-sand beach on Zanzibar
After day 10 · 3–5 nights

Zanzibar, afterwards

Flights from Kilimanjaro International take about an hour and a quarter. Three or four nights on the east coast is the usual way to recover from the mountain.
From USD 1,340 per person, 3 nights
VI · The mountain

Where this itinerary takes you

One park, one long route, the quiet northern slopes, and the town at the bottom of it.
The snowfields of Kibo, Kilimanjaro's summit cone

Kilimanjaro National Park

1,688 square kilometres around a free-standing volcano that rises from 1,000-metre farmland to 5,895 metres at Uhuru Peak. Five climate zones stack up the mountain — cultivated slopes, rainforest, heath and moorland, alpine desert, and the summit ice — and the Northern Circuit walks through every one of them twice over, on both the western and northern flanks.
Zebras on the Ngorongoro Crater floor

The Northern Circuit route

The longest way up, roughly 88 kilometres gate to gate. It climbs the western forest from Londorossi, crosses the Shira plateau, breaks from the Lemosho and Machame line at the Lava Tower, and circles the mountain’s quiet northern slopes through Moir Hut and Buffalo Camp before meeting the Rongai route at Third Cave and the Marangu route’s summit camp at School Hut. Camping only; there are no huts on this side of the mountain either.
Dawn over the Serengeti

The Shira plateau

The collapsed caldera of the oldest of Kilimanjaro’s three cones, a 13-kilometre-wide shelf of moorland at 3,500 to 3,900 metres west of Kibo. The Northern Circuit crosses it over two days, the same as Lemosho, before turning away from the southern routes at the Lava Tower.
An elephant beside a baobab in Tarangire

The northern slopes

The quiet side of the mountain, in the rain shadow of Kibo and away from the Barranco-Karanga-Barafu traffic that carries most climbers. Moir Hut and Buffalo Camp sit here at 4,000 to 4,200 metres, and on most nights a private party has the camp almost to itself.
The snowfields of Kibo, Kilimanjaro's summit cone

Moshi

The town at the foot of the mountain, at about 890 metres on the southern slopes, an hour east of Kilimanjaro International. Kit hire, the gear check and the first and last nights all happen here, and the drive to Londorossi Gate leaves from here before seven on the morning of day two.
The question every climber asks

Will I reach the summit?

9 nights
On the mountain — more time above 3,500 m than any other route
No honest operator will give you a number for your own chances, because the thing that decides them is how your body handles altitude, and nobody knows that before you go up. What is known across the mountain is that longer routes summit more often than shorter ones, and the Northern Circuit is built on exactly that principle: nine nights, and no single day’s height gain much over 900 metres.
The profile is gentle almost throughout — 2,750, then 3,500, then 3,850, a high point at the Lava Tower and back down to around 4,200, then a run of camps between 3,870 and 4,750 metres before the summit push from School Hut. Summit night is still seven to nine hours of climbing in the cold and the dark to Gilman’s Point, and the place people stop is almost always in the head rather than the legs. If you are turned round, it will be because the guides read the signs — oxygen saturation, coordination, speech — and made the call, and on this mountain that call is the one that matters.
VII · Season

The best time to travel

Two dry windows only. Nine nights on open ground is not a route to gamble on the weather.
January and February are the warmest and clearest months on the mountain: dry, settled, with the summit visible most mornings and fewer climbers than the northern summer. On the northern slopes that quiet is doubled again. It is the best time to climb the Northern Circuit.
June to October is the long dry season. Cold — minus ten to minus twenty on summit night is normal — but reliably dry. The camps on the southern routes get busy in these months; Moir Hut and Buffalo Camp mostly do not. Full-moon summit nights are the most sought after.
March to May is the long rains and we do not recommend the climb then. The western forest is a river of mud and the summit cone is often in fresh snow, and this route spends more nights than any other on exposed moorland and alpine desert with nothing to shelter behind.
For the same reason we do not run the Northern Circuit in November, when Lemosho and Machame can sometimes work around the short rains. Nine nights on open ground is not a route to gamble on the weather; if November is your only window, the shorter Lemosho or Machame climb is the honest recommendation.
VIII · Flights

Getting there and back

Fly into Kilimanjaro International. Arrive a day early if you can; fly home a day late.
Fly into Kilimanjaro International (JRO). It is the airport the mountain is named for, forty-five kilometres from Moshi, and any other airport adds a day. Most European routings connect through Doha, Istanbul, Amsterdam or Addis Ababa and land in the evening.
Arrive a day before the climb starts if you can. Day two begins with a three-hour drive to the far side of the mountain and leaves Moshi early; a delayed bag with your boots in it is far easier to chase with a day in hand than with none.
Coming home, the climb ends in Moshi on the afternoon of day 10. An evening flight out of JRO the same day is workable but tight — if you come off the mountain late there is no margin. A night in Moshi and a flight on day 11 is the shape we recommend.
Tanzania requires a visa for most passports — USD 50, or USD 100 for United States citizens, valid up to 90 days. Apply online in advance rather than at the airport after an overnight flight.
IX · Other costs

What else you will spend

Visa, insurance, crew tips and kit hire — set out so there is no surprise at the gate.
Tanzania issues a tourist visa online (eVisa) or on arrival at Kilimanjaro International. Applying in advance is faster and avoids the queue at immigration after an evening arrival.
A yellow fever certificate is required only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is endemic. Coming directly from Europe or North America, it is not.
  • USD 50 for most nationalities
  • USD 100 for United States citizens, multiple entry
  • Valid up to 90 days
  • Passport must have six months' validity and two blank pages
Every climber must hold insurance that explicitly covers trekking to 6,000 metres. Many standard policies stop at 3,000 or 4,000, and the difference only becomes visible when a claim is refused. Read the altitude clause, not the summary.
Medical evacuation cover is the part that matters. Rescue off the mountain begins with the park’s rescue team, which the fees cover, and continues to a hospital in Moshi, which they do not.
Kilimanjaro tips are given per crew member rather than per guest per day, and they are a real part of the crew’s income. The party pools its tips at Mweka Camp on the last morning and the lead guide distributes them in front of the whole crew.
The figures below are the amounts per crew member for the whole climb, shared across your party. Because this route carries the crew for nine days rather than six or seven, the per-crew-member total is higher than on the shorter climbs even though each climber’s daily share is similar. Bring it in cash, in US dollars, before you leave Moshi.
  • Lead guide: USD 20 – 25 per day
  • Assistant guide, each: USD 15 – 20 per day
  • Cook: USD 12 – 15 per day
  • Porter, each: USD 8 – 10 per day each
Boiled drinking water is provided on the mountain and nothing is sold above the gate, so there is nothing to spend up there. In Moshi, hire what you do not own rather than buying it — a sleeping bag rated to minus ten, poles, a down jacket.
  • Sleeping bag, minus-ten rated: USD 45 per climb
  • Trekking poles, pair: USD 15 per climb
  • Down jacket: USD 35 per climb
Meals in Moshi on the first and last evenings, a beer at Mweka Gate, laundry at the hotel, and the coffee everyone buys on the way home. Cash in small US dollar notes is more useful than a card; the crew are paid and tipped in cash.
Notes dated before 2009 are refused across Tanzania. Bring newer ones.
X · Why us

Why book this with us

01

Moshi-based, and Tanzanian-owned

The guides, the crew and the office are ours. When a party needs to come down early, or the weather on the northern slopes turns, the decision is made by the people on the path, not by a booking agent in another time zone.
02

Nine nights, the longest route we run

We do not shorten the Northern Circuit. Its whole value is the extra days spent acclimatising on quiet ground; cutting a night out would leave you paying for the long way round without getting the benefit of it.
03

A pace set for you alone

A private climb means the guide walks at the speed your party needs on every one of the nine days, and sets summit departure on what the evening checks have shown, not on a timetable.
04

We will turn you round

The guides carry oxygen and check every climber every evening, and if the readings say down, you go down. A climb that ends at Gilman’s Point on a guide’s call is a good outcome. We say so before you book, not after.
XI · Questions

Frequently asked

What climbers ask before booking the Northern Circuit route.
A private climb is priced per person and falls as the party grows, because the guide, cook and mess tent are shared. The table above sets out the Standard and Premium tiers by party size, plus the single tent supplement. Because this route runs nine nights rather than six or seven, the total is higher than our Machame or Lemosho climbs. Our rates for this climb are set out in the table above — tell us your dates and how many are climbing and we will quote them plainly.
Two honest reasons, and one honest cost. The benefit is more acclimatisation time than any other route offers, and five nights spent largely away from the Barranco-Karanga-Barafu crowds. The cost is two or three extra days on the mountain, the park and crew fees that come with them, and a longer trip away from home. If you want the gentlest possible profile and the quietest camps and have the time and budget for it, this is the route. For a faster private climb on the same western approach, see the Lemosho route; for the shortest sensible private climb, see the Machame route.
Your own guide, your own crew and your own start date, whatever size the party — from one climber upwards. The pace is set for you on every one of the nine days, and summit departure is set on what the evening checks show rather than on a fixed time. For how that compares with a scheduled group departure, see joining or private.
Fit enough to walk three to seven hours a day for nine days with a daypack, and then eleven to fifteen hours on summit day. That is hill-walking fitness, not athletic fitness. Altitude, not strength, is what stops people, and fitness does not protect against it — see how altitude works on Kilimanjaro.
We do not publish one, and we would be wary of an operator who quotes a precise figure, because it depends on who climbed that week. What is known is that longer routes summit more often than shorter ones, and the Northern Circuit is the longest route on the mountain for exactly that reason. Nobody can promise you the top.
An assistant guide takes you down, and the rest of your party continues with the lead guide. That is what the assistant guides are for, and why the ratio matters. Descending is the treatment for altitude sickness; people who turn round on the northern slopes or on summit night usually feel well again within hours.
The park sets a minimum of 10 years for climbing above 3,000 metres. On a private climb we will take younger teenagers with their family at 12, and the pace is set for them across all nine days on the mountain.
Standard tier is a three-season two-person tent with a foam mat, a mess tent with table and stools, and the park’s long-drop toilets at each camp. Premium adds a private toilet tent carried and pitched for your party, a thicker mat and a chair with a back. Neither is comfortable in a hotel sense; Premium is noticeably less uncomfortable on the exposed northern camps, where the public toilets are furthest from the tent lines.
Each porter carries up to 20 kilograms of group kit, weighed at Londorossi Gate by the park, plus their own gear. Your duffel is limited to 15 kilograms for that reason. A nine-night climb keeps the crew on the mountain longer than the shorter routes, which is reflected in the tipping figures above. Our porter wage and welfare terms are set by KPAP guidelines, and every porter is paid, fed and equipped before the climb, and the tipping ceremony on day 10 is held in the open so every porter sees what every porter gets. See what a porter carries.
XII · Your trip

Request your personalised safari proposal

Tell us how you like to travel and we will put together a personalised proposal for this route — dates, camps and a firm price per person. No payment is required at this stage.

WhatsApp+255 785 558 736Emailinfo@placesofafricasafaris.comReply timeWithin one working day

No payment is required at this stage. We reply by email and WhatsApp within one working day.

XIII · Related

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Ten days to Uhuru Peak, around the quiet side

10
Days
9
Nights
5,895 m
Summit
Northern Circuit
Route
Starts
Moshi, Tanzania
Ends
Moshi, Tanzania
Departures
Any date, subject to season — private climb
Availability
Daily starts, all year
From
from$2,960/pp
Per person, sharing
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Private climb · any date in season · we reply within one working day
from $2,960 / person
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