Fly into Kilimanjaro International for the northern circuit, Dar es Salaam for the south, Zanzibar for the beach. Airports, routes, transfers, and the arrival day that most itineraries waste.
Northern Tanzania is easy to reach. Kilimanjaro International Airport sits between Moshi and Arusha, an hour from the safari town and an hour from the mountain, and it takes direct flights from several European and Middle Eastern hubs. Land there and the whole northern circuit is a road trip from the arrivals hall.
This page covers the airports, the ways to route in, the transfer at the other end, and how to use the arrival and departure days instead of losing them.
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Places Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Olduvai Gorge
Six days with two full days in the Serengeti, Olduvai Gorge on the way in and the Ngorongoro Crater to…
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Seven days through Tarangire, Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater, ending with a morning at Lake…
Places Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, Serengeti
Seven days pairing the parks with cultural time: Lake Manyara, Lake Eyasi, the Ngorongoro Crater and the…
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Eight days built around the herds: Lake Manyara, Ndutu in the calving season, two days in the Serengeti…
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Nine days across the northern circuit at an unhurried pace: Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, two nights at…
For a northern circuit safari, a Kilimanjaro climb, or both, fly to Kilimanjaro International. It is the airport the whole region is built around, and everything else adds a transfer.
For the southern parks, Nyerere and Ruaha, fly to Dar es Salaam and take a domestic flight or a long drive from there.
For Zanzibar first, fly straight to Zanzibar. Several airlines fly there direct from Europe and the Gulf, and it connects to Arusha and the Serengeti by domestic flight.
Flying into Nairobi and crossing by road or a short flight is possible and sometimes cheaper, but it adds a border crossing, a visa, and most of a day. For a first trip, Kilimanjaro International is the simple answer.
Kilimanjaro International is served by direct flights from a handful of European and Middle Eastern hubs, and by regional carriers from Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. Most visitors connect once, through Amsterdam, Doha, Addis Ababa, Istanbul or Nairobi, depending on where they start.
Book the international flight and the domestic legs together if you can, or at least on the same day, so that a delay on one is covered by the other.
Allow real time for connections at the hub. A missed connection to Kilimanjaro can mean a day's wait for the next flight, and it costs you a safari day at the other end.
Most long-haul flights land at Kilimanjaro in the evening. You clear immigration, collect your bags, and find your operator's representative holding a name board in the arrivals hall.
The drive to Arusha is about an hour on tarmac, through sisal and coffee country with Mount Meru ahead of you in the dark. To Moshi it is about 45 minutes. You reach your hotel late and go to bed.
The safari itself starts the next morning, or the morning after that if your flight was long. A night to sleep before the first game drive is not a luxury. It makes the first day work.
Most itineraries have two days that go to waste: the day you arrive, when you land too late to do anything, and the day you leave, when the flight is not until late at night.
Arusha National Park is the answer to both. It is under an hour from the airport and from town, it has giraffe, buffalo, colobus monkeys and the Momella Lakes, and a half day there fits either slot without any risk to a flight. The day trips from Moshi work the same way for climbers.
If your flight lands early enough, the first morning can be a gentle start in Arusha itself. If it lands late, sleep.
The northern circuit is a road trip, and for anything up to a week driving is the right choice. For longer trips, flying one leg saves a full day: Arusha to the central Serengeti is a day's drive and an hour's flight.
Bush flights leave from Arusha's small town airport and from the Serengeti airstrips, and they connect to Zanzibar and back to Kilimanjaro International.
The luggage limit on light aircraft is around 15 kilograms in a soft bag, and it is enforced. Hard suitcases are a real problem. Most people leave a bag at their Arusha hotel and travel light for the flying legs.
International departures from Kilimanjaro are mostly in the evening or late at night, so the last day is usually free. Use it for Arusha National Park or a day trip, then a shower and a meal in town before the drive to the airport.
Build a buffer before an international flight. Bush flights from the Serengeti depend on weather, and connecting from an airstrip to a long-haul departure on the same day is possible but unwise.
If you are flying home from Zanzibar instead, check the international routing when you book. Not every airline connects through Dar es Salaam conveniently, and the difference can be several hours.
Planning
What to bring on safari and up Kilimanjaro, and what you can leave behind.
Planning
Most visitors need a visa, and most can get one on arrival or online in advance. What the visa covers, what to bring to the desk…
Planning
Park fees are the largest fixed cost of any safari or climb, and they are the same for every operator. Who sets them, how they…
Planning
A permanent lodge, a tented camp, a mobile camp that follows the migration, or a tent you camp in yourself. Each level described…
Planning
Tipping is customary in Tanzania and it is a real part of what your guide and camp staff earn. Who to tip, how it is usually…
Planning
Malaria, yellow fever, the routine jabs, and the small things that spoil a trip. What to discuss with your doctor or travel…
Planning
Tanzanian shillings for small things, US dollars for the big ones, and cash for almost everything outside the cities. How money…
Planning
An enquiry, a conversation, a draft itinerary, a quote, a deposit, and then the details. What happens between your first message…
Planning
Early mornings, long quiet stretches, a vehicle that becomes home, and hours that pass in a way nothing else does. What the days…
Planning
Medical cover with a high limit, evacuation from the bush, cancellation, and the activity clauses. What a safari policy has to…
Wildlife
Where the wildebeest herds are through the year, and what that means for when to travel.
Places
A national park on the doorstep, a crater lake, coffee farms, the markets and Mount Meru. The best ways to spend a day or a half…
Places
Materuni waterfall, Kikuletwa hot springs, Marangu, Lake Chala and the coffee cafés. What to do with a day or two in Moshi before…
Kilimanjaro
Six routes go up Kilimanjaro. They differ in days, scenery, crowds and how well they help you get used to the altitude. This page…
Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro is a walk, not a climb. The altitude, the cold on summit night, and the length of the days make it hard. This page…
Kilimanjaro
Altitude sickness is why people turn back on Kilimanjaro. This page explains what it is, what it feels like, how to lower your…
Kilimanjaro
Wake-up tea at six, breakfast, walk, lunch, walk, camp by mid-afternoon. Here is how a day on the mountain runs, from the first…
Kilimanjaro
Three cooked meals a day, snacks on the trail, and more of it than you expect. This page covers what the crew cooks, how, and why…
Kilimanjaro
A Kilimanjaro climb is carried by a crew that outnumbers the climbers. Here is who they are, what they do, how they are…
Kilimanjaro
You do not need to have climbed a mountain before. Most people on Kilimanjaro have not. This page covers what a first-timer needs…
Kilimanjaro
Three months of regular walking, some hills, a loaded daypack, and two long days back to back. Here is a training plan that…
Kilimanjaro
You leave camp at midnight, climb for six hours in the cold and dark, reach the roof of Africa at sunrise, and then descend for…
Kilimanjaro
Tents on every route but one, huts on Marangu, and a high camp on bare rock the night before the summit. A tour of the camps…
Kilimanjaro
Daily health checks, trained guides, emergency oxygen, and a park rescue system. Here is how safety works on the mountain, and…
Kilimanjaro
Warm forest, cold nights above 3,000 metres, and a summit that can be twenty below with wind. The weather on the mountain, zone…
Kilimanjaro
Every month on the mountain, in one place: weather, crowds, summit snow and which route works best. Pick your dates from this.
Kilimanjaro
The porters carry your main bag. Each day you carry a small pack with water, layers, snacks and a few essentials. Here is exactly…
Kilimanjaro
Your insurance must cover trekking to 6,000 metres, and many ordinary policies stop far lower without saying so. The warning…
Kilimanjaro
Fly into Kilimanjaro International, stay in Moshi or Arusha, and drive to the gate on the first morning. Here is how the arrival…
Kilimanjaro
Three points on the crater rim count as the summit of Kilimanjaro. Here is where each one is, what it takes to reach it, and why…
Kilimanjaro
Two landmarks on the southern routes that every climber asks about. One is a scramble with your hands. The other is the day that…
Kilimanjaro
Nobody climbs Kilimanjaro unaccompanied, but plenty of people arrive alone. Private climb or join a group, what each costs you…
Kilimanjaro
There is ice on the equator, and it is disappearing. What the glaciers are, why they exist, how much has gone, and what you…
Kilimanjaro
The numbers people ask for: how high, how wide, how old, how many climb it, and why it stands alone. Clear answers, one fact at a…
Kilimanjaro
The questions people ask before they book a climb, in one place, with short honest answers and links to the pages that go deeper.
Kilimanjaro
Most climbers add a safari, and the order, the rest day and the route between mountain and parks decide how well the two fit. A…
Kilimanjaro
Meru is 4,566 metres, four days, and an hour from Arusha. Climbing it first is the best acclimatisation there is. This page…
