Kilimanjaro Lemosho Route & Zanzibar Beaches — Self-Launched

Fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) and take a shared shuttle or boda-taxi into Moshi town (~£6-8). Check into a budget guesthouse or hostel dorm. Spend the afternoon hiring any missing kit (down jacket ~£18, sleeping bag ~£30, poles ~£10 — renting is far cheaper than buying) and do a final kit weigh-in with your trek operator. Eat an early, carb-heavy dinner on the main strip. Get to bed early: the climb starts tomorrow.

🚌Shared airport shuttle or taxi from JRO to Moshi (~£7, 45 min)

🛏Budget guesthouse or hostel dorm in Moshi centre (~£12-16/night)

• →Gear hire and weigh-in
• →Trek briefing with guide
• →Moshi town wander

The trek begins. A transfer vehicle takes you to Londorossi Gate (~2 hrs from Moshi) for permit formalities, then on to the Lemosho trailhead. Day one is a 3-4 hour walk through dense, humid rainforest with colobus monkeys around you — pace yourself and drink steadily. Your operator's cook handles all meals and the porters pitch camp. Expect afternoon rain; have your waterproofs accessible, not buried in the duffel.

🚌Operator transfer to Londorossi Gate and trailhead (~2 hrs); 3-4 hr trek

🛏Two-person alpine tent (operator-supplied), Mti Mkubwa Camp

• →Londorossi Gate permit formalities
• →Rainforest trek through the Lemosho trailhead

Today the forest opens into giant heather and moorland as you climb the Shira Ridge and drop onto the wide Shira Plateau. ~5-6 hours of walking. Walk 'pole pole' (slowly) and let the pace build. Shira 1 is a broad, airy camp with a clean view of Kibo ahead — a good spot to watch sunset on the summit you'll be standing on in five days.

🚌5-6 hr trek, ~8 km

🛏Two-person alpine tent, Shira 1 Camp

• →Shira Ridge ascent
• →Shira Plateau moorland walk

A short, gentle day across the Shira Plateau (~3-4 hours), deliberately easy to build acclimatisation. Use the extra hours for a side walk to the Shira Cathedral rock formation or simply rest, hydrate and sort your summit layers. Mornings here are cold; afternoons are sunny — an ideal day to dry kit after yesterday's damp rainforest day.

🚌3-4 hr trek, ~7 km

🛏Two-person alpine tent, Shira 2 Camp

• →Shira Plateau crossing
• →Acclimatisation side walk to Shira Cathedral

The hardest and most important day before the summit: climb to Lava Tower at 4,600m, then descend 650m into the Great Barranco Valley to sleep — 'climb high, sleep low'. This is where headaches and breathlessness often first appear, so go slowly and tell your guide immediately if anything feels wrong. The descent into Barranco gives you a dramatic view of the Barranco Wall you'll scale tomorrow and the Western Breach behind it.

🚌6-7 hr trek, ~10 km

🛏Two-person alpine tent, Barranco Camp

• →Lava Tower acclimatisation climb
• →Descent into the Great Barranco Valley

A fun, hands-on start: the Great Barranco Wall is a steep scramble rather than a technical climb, and porters trot past you with loads balanced on their heads. ~4-5 hours, ending in the alpine desert of the Karanga Valley. Short day, big altitude gain — rest properly in the afternoon.

🚌4-5 hr trek, ~5 km

🛏Two-person alpine tent, Karanga Camp

• →Great Barranco Wall scramble
• →Karanga Valley trek

A short but exposed trek through alpine desert to Barafu ('ice') Camp — a narrow ridge with wind, no shelter and a fantastic view of Kibo and Mawenzi. Arrive early, eat a big early dinner, lay out your summit layers in exact order and try to sleep by 7pm. You're climbing at midnight.

🚌3-4 hr trek, ~4 km

🛏Two-person alpine tent, Barafu Camp

• →Barafu Camp arrival and route briefing
• →Summit kit preparation

Midnight start. You climb northwest scree in the dark for 6-7 hours, 'pole pole', past the Rebmann and Ratzel glaciers to Stella Point on the crater rim — then a further hour along the rim to Uhuru Peak, Africa's highest point, usually for sunrise. Photos, then a long, dusty 5-6 hour descent to Mweka Camp (3,100m). This is the day that earns the beach at the end.

🚌10-14 hr trekking, ~15 km up and down

🛏Two-person alpine tent, Mweka Camp

• →Midnight summit ascent to Stella Point
• →Uhuru Peak summit
• →Descent to Mweka Camp

A short 3-4 hour descent through forest to Mweka Gate, where you sign out and collect your summit certificate at the park office. Tipping is expected on Kilimanjaro and is a major part of local crew income — budget roughly £60-90 per climber split across guide, assistant guide, cook and porters (many operators publish a suggested breakdown; check your operator's guidance and budget it from day one). Back in Moshi by afternoon: shower, then eat. Many budget trek operators will drop you at your guesthouse for the night. If you'd like the culture stop the group tour includes, ask any Moshi trek operator or guesthouse to arrange a visit to a women's cooperative sewing/coffee project — these are small, free or donation-based visits.

🚌3-4 hr descent to Mweka Gate plus operator transfer to Moshi

🛏Budget guesthouse or hostel dorm in Moshi (~£12-16/night)

• →Mweka Gate sign-out and summit certificate
• →Crew tipping ceremony
• →Moshi guesthouse evening

Take a local bus or shared shuttle from Moshi to Arusha (~2 hrs, roughly £2-3 on the bus, £6-8 on a shuttle). Check into a budget hotel near the centre and spend the afternoon at the Arusha Central Market for fresh produce, spices and fabric, or the Maasai Market for crafts. Sort your onward Zanzibar flight or ferry booking tonight.

🚌Local bus Moshi-Arusha (~£3, 2 hrs)

🛏Budget hotel or hostel in Arusha (~£14-20/night)

• →Arusha Central Market
• →Maasai Market browsing
• →Trip admin and laundry

Morning domestic flight from Arusha (ARK) or Kilimanjaro (JRO) to Zanzibar (ZNZ), roughly 1-1.5 hrs; budget operators run these for around £70-110 one way booked in advance. Alternatively the slower, much cheaper route is a bus to Dar es Salaam plus the ferry from Kigamboni to Stone Town (~£22 total, a full day). Arrive Zanzibar: drop bags, do a self-guided walk of Stone Town's alleys (Forodhani Gardens, the Old Fort, the Anglican Cathedral built on the former slave market) and eat at a Forodhani night market stall. Then take a dala-dala south to Jambiani (~1 hr, ~£1).

🚌Domestic flight Arusha/Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar (~£85) plus dala-dala to Jambiani (~£1)

🛏Beach guesthouse or hostel in Jambiani (~£16-25/night)

• →Self-guided Stone Town walk
• →Forodhani Gardens night market
• →Dala-dala ride to the east coast

Book a spice farm tour locally or via GetYourGuide (~£20-30 including transport) — a couple of hours sniffing and tasting vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves, with the slave-trade history of the clove plantations covered honestly by most guides. In the afternoon, either join a shared snorkelling trip out of Jambiani (~£30-40, self-book on the beach or via your guesthouse) or take a local bus/taxi to Jozani Forest for the endemic Zanzibar red colobus monkeys (~£25-35 including entry and guide). Sunset back on the sand.

🚌Shared minibus or boda-boda to spice farm and Jozani (~£6)

🛏Beach guesthouse or hostel in Jambiani (~£16-25/night)

• →Spice farm tour
• →Jozani Forest red colobus walk OR Jambiani reef snorkelling
• →Beach swimming

A slow last morning: swim, breakfast on the sand, pack. Take a dala-dala or shared taxi back to Stone Town (~£1-8 depending on comfort level), pick up last-minute coffee and spices at Darajani Market, then continue to Zanzibar airport (10 mins from Stone Town). If you're not flying straight out, Stone Town has good-value guesthouses for a final night. Book onward flights for after 14:30 to be safe — the group tour uses the same rule.

🚌Dala-dala or shared taxi Jambiani to Stone Town (~£2-8), then taxi to ZNZ airport (~£4)

🛏None (departure day)

• →Final beach morning
• →Darajani Market spice and coffee shopping