8 Days Mt Kilimanjaro Climbing: Machame Route Tanzania

he Machame route on Kilimanjaro is a seven day camping route which allows for excellent acclimatisation and particularly diverse scenery. It has been called the Whiskey route in the past and nowadays about 35% of all climbers on the mountain use it.

In a matter of days you will climb Kilimanjaro from the equator up to an Arctic zone, moving through grasslands, tropical rainforest, alpine meadows, moorlands and high desert to snow and ice. Each day on this route presents quite a distinct ecosystem to experience, which is one reason it is so popular.

The other reason is that the seven day programme begins on the south west side of the mountain and traverses around to the south east side, enabling you to sleep at the same altitude for three consecutive nights which significantly aids altitude acclimatisation. This means that our summit success rate on this route is quite high at around 85%.

 

We only run seven day trips on Kilimanjaro which is the recommended minimum number of days by all the international mountain associations such as the UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation), plus our own assessment of mountain safety. The Machame route could be done in six days by missing out Karanga Valley and going straight to Barafu, but experience tells us that this leads to increased sickness and a much lower summit success rate.

Description

Day 1: Nairobi – Arusha
After breakfast, we will pick you up from your Nairobi hotel and thereafter depart for Arusha via Namanga border town for immigration formalities. Rest of the afternoon at leisure. Overnight at an Arusha hotel.

Day 2: Arusha – Machame
An early start for Kilimanjaro National Park. Once we reach the park gate we will proceed directly to Machame hut campsite in an average hiking time of 6 hours for meals and overnight in tents. The altitude here is 3,100m.

Day 3: Machame – Shira
After breakfast, hike to Shira hut. The trek takes 4 hours approximately via the rain forest past the valley and a steep rocky ridge ending westward at a river gorge. You will have a rest, dinner and overnight at Shira hut campsite, 3,658m above sea level.

Day 4: Shira – Barranco
From Shira, hike to Barranco hut, in an average hiking time of 6 hours. We by-pass the lava tower and past the second junction which brings us to the arrow glacier, altitude 4,876m. We descend to Barranco hut campsite for our third overnight on Kilimanjaro, 3,860 m above sea level.

Day 5: Barranco – Barafu
After breakfast, we leave Barranco and continue to the Karanga valley and the junction, which connects with the Mweka trail. We hike to Barafu hut where we set up camp. We will have walked for about 8 hours.
Dinner and overnight at the hut campsite, altitude 4,600m with the possibility of sighting both Mawenzi and Kibo peaks.

Day 6: Barafu – Mweka via Stella Point and Uhuru Peak
We rise early and head for Stella Point altitude 5,745m on our way to the summit Uhuru Peak that is 5,896m above sea level. This part of the hike takes about 6 hours. From the summit we descend to the Mweka hut campsite, 3,100m above sea level. This part of the descent takes about 5 hours.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 7: Mweka – Arusha
After breakfast, we descend to the Mweka Park Gate in an average hiking time of 4 hours and then drive back to Arusha for overnight.

Day 8: Arusha – Nairobi
After breakfast, depart for Nairobi on the morning or afternoon shuttle arriving at 01.00 p.m or 06.30 p.m.

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