Climbing and going on safari in one trip: how to sequence it

Most of our guests do both. The common mistake is not the length of the trip. It is the order.

Climb first, safari second

Every time. Three reasons.

You arrive at the gate rested rather than having spent a week getting up at five for game drives. Safari days start early and they are more tiring than they look. A climber who has just done six days of dawn starts in a Land Cruiser is not starting the mountain fresh.

You are tired after the summit, and a vehicle is an excellent place to be tired. Game viewing asks nothing of your legs.

And if the mountain takes longer than planned, or weather moves a summit night, the safari flexes. Safari dates can shift by a day. Park permits and crew rosters cannot.

Nobody has ever regretted doing the safari with sore legs. Plenty have regretted doing the climb with tired ones.

How long the whole thing needs

• Seven-day Machame plus four-day short safari: thirteen nights on the ground, comfortable.
• Eight-day Lemosho plus four-day safari: fourteen to fifteen nights.
• Either, plus four nights in Zanzibar: seventeen to eighteen nights.

Add a rest day in Moshi between the mountain and the safari. One day. It is the day people try to cut and the day they are most grateful for.

The rest day is not a wasted day

You come off the mountain filthy, dehydrated and elated. The rest day is a long shower, a proper meal, laundry, and a full night in a bed at 800 metres. Going straight from the descent into a safari transfer the following morning is possible and we have done it, but nobody enjoys the first game drive.

Where the parks sit relative to Moshi

Moshi is east of Arusha, closer to the mountain and further from the parks. The safari leg begins with a drive west. This means the mountain end of the trip is efficient and the safari end costs you a morning. Reversing the order does not fix this; it just moves the drive to the start.

An internal flight from Arusha into the Serengeti removes most of that driving, at a cost. Worth it on short safaris, less so on longer ones.

Adding Zanzibar

Fly from Arusha or Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar rather than driving to Dar. Four nights minimum to be worth the transfer; three is a long way to go for two full days. After a climb and a safari, this is the right way to finish — the whole trip has been early mornings until now.

What we would build for a fortnight

Land Friday evening. Saturday in Moshi. Climb Sunday, seven days, summit the following Saturday. Rest Sunday. Safari Monday to Thursday, short northern circuit. Fly home Friday.

That is fourteen nights, it does everything properly, and nothing in it is rushed..