6-Day Kilimanjaro via Machame Route – $2,400 USD PER PERSON

Early in the morning, your guide will brief you for your Mount Kilimanjaro climb. After breakfast at around 09:00, proceed to Machame Gate, a drive of about 40–45 minutes. Climbers will register at the gate office, with your packed picnic lunch. Thereafter, you will start your ascent and enter the rainforest almost immediately. There is a strong possibility of rain in the forest, which will transform the trail into a very soggy, muddy and slippery experience. You will have a lunch stop about halfway and will reach the Machame camping area in the late afternoon. Porters and climbing guides will take care of tents and other belongings. Most of the time porters and cooks reach the camping site first for the preparation of meals as well as the pitching of tents for your accommodation. Sometimes, due to weather conditions, night temperatures can drop to freezing point at Machame Camp.

After an early breakfast, proceed with your picnic lunch to reach Shira Camp (3,840 m). The night at this basic camp will be even colder than the previous night, with temperatures dropping to well below freezing point. The trail takes us about an hour to the top of the forest and then for about 2 hours at a gentler gradient through the moorland zone. After a picnic lunch and rest, you continue up a rocky ridge onto the Shira Plateau. Hiking to this point you will be able to see, in an easterly direction, the Western Breach with its spectacular glaciers. You are now west of Kibo, and after a short hike, you will reach Shira Camp.

The route now turns east into a semi-desert and a rocky landscape surrounding Lava Tower. You will reach an altitude of 4,630 m after a walk of about 4 hours. Lunch is served in a designated area before ascending the rocky scree path to Lava Tower (4,630 m). This is definitely the toughest day so far. It is normally around this point where some climbers will start to feel symptoms of breathlessness, irritability and headaches for the first time. After lunch, you descend again by almost 680 m to the Barranco camping area. After reaching the high altitude of 4,630 m at Lava Tower, the true acclimatization benefit of this day becomes clear. The descent to Barranco Hut takes about 2 hours and offers great opportunities to take some beautiful photographs of the Western Breach and the Breach Wall. The camp is situated in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Wall, which should provide you with a memorable sunset while you wait for dinner to be prepared.

After an early breakfast at the Great Barranco Wall, you will appreciate how beautiful climbing Mount Kilimanjaro via the Machame Route really is. The route heads down through the Karanga Valley over intervening ridges and valleys, and then joins up with the Mweka Route. After spending a night at the Great Barranco Wall (a very imposing sight at first), you make your way up this awesome-looking obstacle, which usually turns out easier than you anticipated. Turn left up the ridge and after about an hour, you reach Barafu Camp.

After breakfast, start your climb to Uhuru Peak. You will head in a northwesterly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point (5,685 m) on the crater rim. This 6-hour walk to Stella Point is for many climbers mentally and physically the most challenging on the route. At Stella Point, you will stop for a short rest and will be rewarded with the most magnificent sunrise you will ever see (weather permitting). From Stella Point, you will normally encounter snow all the way on your 2-hour ascent to Uhuru Peak (5,895 m). The time you will spend on the summit will depend on the weather conditions. Do not stop here for too long, as it will be extremely difficult to start again due to the cold and fatigue. Enjoy your accomplishment, a day to remember for the rest of your life. The walk back to Barafu Camp from the summit takes about 3 hours. Here you will have a well-earned but short rest and collect the rest of your gear before heading down to Mweka Camp (3,100 m).

After an early and well-deserved breakfast, it is a short and scenic 3-hour hike back to the park gate. At Mweka Gate, you enter your details in a register. This is also where successful climbers receive their summit certificates from Mount Kilimanjaro National Park officials. Those climbers who reached Stella Point (5,685 m), are issued with green certificates and those who reached Uhuru Peak (5,895 m), receive gold certificates. From Mweka Gate, you will continue down to Mweka village, normally a muddy 3 km (1 hour) hike. You will then drive back to Moshi for a long overdue, hot shower.