Tanzania: Kilimanjaro by the Machame Route

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Moshi

   Kilimanjaro International Airport to Moshi

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Moshi
   Détail du jour 1

   We meet you at Kilimanjaro International Airport, whatever time you land, and drive about an hour east to Moshi, a market town at about 800 metres on the southern foot of the mountain. On a clear morning or evening Kibo's snow cap shows above the town; much of the day it hides in cloud. Check in, sleep off the flight and walk into the centre for coffee grown on these slopes. At about 5 pm your lead mountain guide and See Sight Tours trip leader hold the briefing: how the next seven days work, how we watch for altitude sickness, and what happens if someone needs to turn back. We go through your kit piece by piece, hand out sleeping bags and walking poles, and pack the duffel the porters will carry. Then a welcome dinner and an early night.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO)
   • Climb briefing and kit check with your lead mountain guide
   • Sleeping bag and walking poles handed out
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Moshi

   Activité : Arriving a day earlier is wise if your flights are long or tight; we can book an extra night at the same hotel.

2. Jour 2 : Machame Gate and the rainforest

   Moshi to Machame Gate, then on foot to Machame Camp

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Machame Camp
   Détail du jour 2

   After breakfast we drive about an hour west through banana and coffee farms to Machame Gate, at about 1,800 metres. Registration takes a while: the rangers check passports and permits, and the porters weigh every load at the scale so nobody carries more than the park allows. We meet the whole crew here. The trail climbs steadily through montane rainforest under tall trees hung with moss, where blue monkeys and black-and-white colobus are sometimes seen and the path can be muddy after rain. Lunch is on the trail. The forest thins into giant heather just before Machame Camp, at about 2,835 metres, roughly 11 kilometres and 5 to 7 hours from the gate. The tents are up when you arrive, and there is warm water for washing, tea and popcorn, then dinner in the mess tent.

   Compris

   • Transfer to Machame Gate
   • Kilimanjaro National Park entry, camping and rescue fees
   • Machame Gate to Machame Camp with licensed mountain guides, porters and cooks

   Temps libre : Late afternoon at camp

   Activité : About 11 km and 5 to 7 hours, climbing about 1,000 metres. Walk slowly from the first step; the guides will say pole pole, slowly slowly, all week.

3. Jour 3 : Up to the Shira Plateau

   Machame Camp to Shira Camp

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Shira Camp
   Détail du jour 3

   A short, steep day out of the trees. From camp the path climbs a rocky ridge through giant heather and moorland, with a few easy hands-on steps, and the views open behind you over the cloud to the plains. Ahead, the Shira Plateau is the collapsed crater of the oldest of Kilimanjaro's three volcanoes. We reach Shira Camp, at about 3,750 metres, around lunchtime, roughly 5 kilometres and 4 to 6 hours from Machame Camp, and lunch is hot at camp. The afternoon is for resting, drinking water and letting the body adjust. In the evening the cloud often clears: Kibo stands behind the camp, and Mount Meru, about 70 kilometres west, floats on the cloud as the sun goes down. Your guides take the first evening oxygen and pulse readings here.

   Compris

   • Machame Camp to Shira Camp
   • Oxygen and pulse checks morning and evening from tonight

   Option plus facile : Rest in camp all afternoon.

   Option plus active : A short acclimatisation walk above camp with a guide, up and back in about an hour.

   Temps libre : Afternoon at camp

   Activité : About 5 km and 4 to 6 hours, climbing about 900 metres. Headaches are common tonight; tell your guide.

4. Jour 4 : Lava Tower, then down to Barranco

   Shira Camp via Lava Tower to Barranco Camp

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Barranco Camp
   Détail du jour 4

   The day that does the most for your acclimatisation. We walk east across the high desert under Kibo, climbing gradually to Lava Tower, a 90-metre plug of volcanic rock at about 4,630 metres, the highest you have been so far. Lunch is here, packed and eaten in the shelter of the rock, and it is normal to feel slow and short of breath. Then the path drops about 700 metres into the Barranco Valley, past stands of giant groundsels, tree-like plants found only on East Africa's high mountains, often in mist by afternoon. Barranco Camp sits at about 3,960 metres under the Barranco Wall and the Breach Wall glaciers. Climbing high and sleeping lower is what makes summit night possible. Roughly 10 kilometres and 6 to 8 hours today.

   Compris

   • Shira Camp to Lava Tower (about 4,630 m)
   • Lava Tower to Barranco Camp

   Activité : About 10 km and 6 to 8 hours, up about 900 metres and down about 700. The longest day before the summit.

   

5. Jour 5 : The Barranco Wall to Karanga

   Barranco Camp over the Barranco Wall to Karanga Camp

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Karanga Camp
   Détail du jour 5

   We start after breakfast and take the wall at an even pace, stepping aside where porters need to pass. The Barranco Wall looks sheer from camp, but it is a scramble on a built path, about 250 metres of height in an hour or two, using your hands on a few rock steps and one narrow ledge known as the Kissing Rock. The guides place you hold by hold. From the top the southern glaciers are close and the plains are far below. The path then rolls up and down across valleys to Karanga Camp, at about 3,995 metres, roughly 5 kilometres and 4 to 5 hours from Barranco. Karanga is where the six-day climb pushes straight on to Barafu; we stop. Lunch is hot at camp, and the afternoon is rest.

   Compris

   • The Barranco Wall scramble with your guides
   • Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp

   Temps libre : Afternoon at camp

   Activité : About 5 km and 4 to 5 hours. No ropes or climbing gear, but you need to be comfortable with some height.

   

6. Jour 6 : Up to Barafu, rest before the summit

   Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Barafu Camp
   Détail du jour 6

   A short climb on a bare, stony ridge into the alpine desert, where almost nothing grows. Barafu means ice in Swahili, and the camp, at about 4,673 metres, sits on a windy rock spine below Kibo's southern face. Starting from Karanga, we arrive by lunchtime after roughly 4 kilometres and 3 to 4 hours, which is the point of the extra night: you have the afternoon to lie down, eat and drink, instead of arriving tired at dusk. Lunch is hot in camp. Your guides walk you through summit night in the mess tent, check your oxygen and pulse, and help you lay out every layer, your headtorch and your water so you can dress in the dark. Dinner is early, around 5 pm, and you try to sleep until the wake-up call around 11 pm.

   Compris

   • Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp
   • Summit night briefing and kit check

   Option plus facile : Rest in your tent from lunch until dinner.

   Option plus active : A slow 30-minute walk up the ridge above camp with a guide to see the first part of the summit path in daylight.

   Temps libre : Afternoon resting in camp

   Activité : About 4 km and 3 to 4 hours. Barafu is cold and windy; keep your warm layers on in camp.

   

7. Jour 7 : Summit night: Stella Point and Uhuru Peak

   Barafu Camp to Stella Point and Uhuru Peak, then down to Mweka Camp

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Mweka Camp
   Détail du jour 7

   Tea and biscuits around 11 pm, and we leave Barafu around midnight in a line of headtorches. The climb is about 1,200 metres of steep zigzags on scree, very slow and very cold, often well below freezing with wind. Your guides walk beside you, at least one for every two climbers, carrying hot drinks and emergency oxygen. Around sunrise, after 6 to 7 hours, we reach Stella Point on the crater rim, at about 5,756 metres, as the sun comes up behind Mawenzi. From there it is about an hour along the rim, past the glaciers, to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres, the highest point in Africa. We stay only a few minutes. Then the long descent: back to Barafu for a rest and a hot meal, and on down to Mweka Camp at about 3,100 metres, where the thicker air feels wonderful.

   Compris

   • Summit attempt via Stella Point to Uhuru Peak with licensed mountain guides
   • Descent to Barafu and Mweka Camp

   Option plus facile : Turn back with a guide at any point; Stella Point on the crater rim is a recognised place to stop.

   Activité : About 5 km up and 12 km down, 12 to 16 hours in all. Nobody can promise the summit: the guides turn back anyone with signs of serious altitude sickness, and their decision is final.

   

8. Jour 8 : Down through the forest to Moshi

   Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate, then Moshi

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Moshi
   Détail du jour 8

   A slow breakfast, then the last walk: about 10 kilometres and 3 to 4 hours down a stepped path through giant heather and back into the rainforest, steep and often slippery, so walking poles help your knees. At Mweka Gate, at about 1,640 metres, the rangers record your climb and issue certificates: green for Stella Point, gold for Uhuru Peak. Here we thank the crew together, with the tips already paid from the pool in your price, so the goodbye is about the people, not the envelope. Lunch is at the gate or back in town, then a short drive of about half an hour to the Moshi hotel, where your town clothes, a hot shower and a real bed are waiting. The afternoon is yours, and the group meets for a celebration dinner in the evening.

   Compris

   • Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate
   • Summit certificates from the park
   • Thank-you with the crew, tips paid from the pool
   • Transfer to Moshi
   • Celebration dinner

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Moshi

   Activité : About 10 km and 3 to 4 hours, all downhill on steep, uneven steps.

9. Jour 9 : Moshi, then home

   Moshi to Kilimanjaro International Airport

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 9

   A slow morning after a hard week. Have a long breakfast, sleep in, or walk into the centre of Moshi for the covered market and the cafés that roast coffee from the farms on the mountain's lower slopes; if the morning is clear, Kibo shows above the rooftops and you can pick out the route you walked. The sleeping bag and poles the outfitter provided go back to them, and any spare kit you want to leave for the crew goes to your lead guide. We drive you to Kilimanjaro International Airport, about an hour away, timed to your flight. Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm. If you are going on to a safari or to Zanzibar, we can hand you over to that trip here instead.

   Compris

   • Drop-off at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO)

   Temps libre : Morning free in Moshi

Faune et météo : January to March is warmer and often clearer, with a chance of snow near the top. June to October is dry and colder at night, and busiest from July to September. We do not climb in April, May or November, the rainy months. Mountain weather changes fast at any time of year: plan for rain in the forest and temperatures well below freezing on summit night.

• Moshi1 nuit
• Machame Camp1 nuit
• Shira Camp1 nuit
• Barranco Camp1 nuit
• Karanga Camp1 nuit
• Barafu Camp1 nuit
• Mweka Camp1 nuit
• Moshi1 nuit