Jro airport

JRO Airport
JRO Airport also known as Kilimanjaro international airport or KIA is a public airport situated in Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. Though the airport sometimes serves long haul flights it mainly serves domestic flights from allover the country, it’s found in Hai district.
JRO is managed by Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company (KADCO). It was the first international airport to become privatized in 1998. JRO airport is now a gateway to Tanzania’s tourism heritage as it’s located close to some of the best tourism destinations in the country.
JRO airport mainly serves tourism destinations of Arusha region Kilimanjaro region and Moshi making it the largest in the northern part of Tanzania. The airport is on an elevation of 894 meters with a 3600 meter length. JRO airport can handle very large aircrafts, in 2014, the airport served 802,731 passengers. 17 percent of these were on transit, 45 percent were international and 38 percent domestic.
The Netherlands and Tanzanian governments signed a grant agreement to rehabilitate the airport and the project is expected to cost €35.5 million with €15milkion funded by the Netherlands. The work began in 2015 with renovations of it’s capacity from 600,000 passengers to 1.2 million passengers annually.
JRO airport was built in 1971 built with funds from a long term Italian government loan of $13 million. Today there are 14 airlines that maintain regular cargo and passenger services to and from JRO airport. There are also outbound flights from JRO to Amsterdam making a stop over at Dar es Salam, Turkish inbound flights make stop overs at Zanzibar, there are also out bound flights from Kilimanjaro to Doha making a stop over at Dar es Salam. All these flights don’t have traffic rights to transport passengers solely from their stop over destinations to JRO airport.
The tourism destinations near JRO airport can be seen below;
Mount Kilimanjaro national park
Mount Kilimanjaro national park is home to Africa’s highest mountain and the highest free standing mountain in the world. Mount Kilimanjaro attracts thousands of tourists from allover the world annually. The highest point of mount Kilimanjaro is Uhuru peak at 5895 meters above sea level.
Mount Kilimanjaro national park covers an area of 1688 kilometers squared .
Mountain climbing is the main activity done at Mount Kilimanjaro national park and there are 6 main routes for climbing mount Kilimanjaro that is; Umbwe route, Lemosho route, Rongai route, Shira route, Marangu route and Machame route. You need to come with water proof hiking boots, rain coats, hat, sun glasses, insect repellent, long sleeved clothing, plenty of drinking water, gloves, socks, energy snacks and other things you might need.
The slopes of mount Kilimanjaro support an habitat for various wildlife such as; cape Buffalos, forest elephants, tree hyrax, grey duikers, leopards, blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, bush babies and so much more.
Mount Kilimanjaro is also home to 150 species of birds recorded. Tourists can do birding, hiking, nature guided walks and mountain biking apart from mountain climbing while at the park.
Tarangire national park
Tarangire national park covers an area of 2600 kilometers squared, it’s provides some good wildlife viewing opportunities and also home to large herds of Elephants. Some of her animals you can see while at Tarangire include; Elephants, lions, leopards, zebras, Wildebeests, cape buffalo, dik dik, giraffes, banded mongoose, caracals, cheetahs, African wild dog, honey Badgers, water bucks, Grant’s gazelle, olive baboon, impalas and elands among others.
Tarangire national park is also a birders paradise with 550 species of birds recorded. Some of the bird species found in the park are;
Arusha national park
Arusha national park is situated in the north eastern part of Tanzania in Arusha region renowned for it’s spectacular landscapes. Arusha national park is home to the second highest mountain in Tanzania that’s Mount Meru found at the backdrop of it’s beautiful momella lakes.
The park supports an habitat of several wildlife such as; elephants, bush bucks, blue monkeys, zabras, warthogs, cape Buffalos, black and white colobus monkeys, giraffes, leopards and so much more. Arusha is also home to various species of birds recorded.
Lake Manyara national park
Lake Manyara national park is also found within JRO airport regions and it’s one of the national parks served by the airport. Lake Manyara is famous for it’s tree climbing lions not found elsewhere on earth except Queen Elizabeth national park in Uganda.
Lake Manyara national park also provides spectacular views of the great rift valley escarpment found at the backdrop of the stunning Lake found within the park. During game drives travelers can spot wildlife such as; klipspringer, tree climbing lions, bufalos, warthogs, Impalas, leopards, gazelles, hippos, elephants and so much more. The park is also a birders paradise with 400 species of birds recorded, some of the examples of birds in the park include; saddle billed stork, spur winged goose, yellow billed stork, pied avocet, sacred ibis, African fish eagle, African grey hornbill, comb duck and many others.