6 Days Machame Route

Pickup at Kilimanjaro International Airport and transfer to your hotel in Moshi town; afterward, your guide will come to brief you about the trek and do an equipment check to make sure you have all the necessary mountain gear. Then an overnight stay at the hotel.

Departing from Moshi, it's a 1-hour drive to Machame Gate, where you will complete entry formalities. We will patiently wait for our permit and enjoy lunch before commencing your trek through lush, undisturbed forest where you may be lucky enough to see Colobus monkeys. The path undulates, steeply in places. At these lower elevations, the trail can be muddy and quite slippery. We highly recommend gaiters and trekking poles.

Today is a little shorter, beginning by climbing a steep ridge to reach a small semicircular cliff known as Picnic Rock. There are excellent views of Kibo, the summit cone of Kilimanjaro, and the jagged rim of the Shira Plateau. Shira is the third of Kilimanjaro’s volcanic cones. It is filled with the lava flow from Kibo, and its rim has eroded and been blasted away by weather and volcanic action. Once on the plateau the trail becomes gentler as you continue your climb to Shira Camp. On a clear day the views from here are spectacular.

Your climb today will take you steadily up and over the expansive ridgelines of high desert to Lava Tower. The trek to the base of Lava Tower is about 4 hours. This tower is a 300-foot-high volcanic plug. If time and energy allow, you can scramble to the top of Lava Tower for fabulous panoramic views. From Lava Tower we begin our steep descent into the Barranco Valley, passing large flowering plants which actually look like trees, the scenarios. This is good practice for your descent from the summit in a few days’ time and will take 1-2 hours. Although you will end your day at almost the same elevation as you started, today is very important for acclimatisation and will help your body prepare for summit day. Barranco Camp is in a beautiful, sheltered valley below the imposing Barranco Wall.

After breakfast, we leave Barranco and continue on a steep ridge passing the Barranco Wall, to the Karanga Valley campsite. Then, we leave Karanga and hit the junction which connects with the Mweka Trail. We continue up to the Barafu Hut. At this point, you have completed the South Circuit, which offers views of the summit from many different angles. Here we make camp, rest, enjoy dinner, and prepare for the summit day. The two peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo are to be seen from this position.

At around midnight you will be woken with some hot tea and biscuits in order to get you ready for today’s ascents. In the early hours of the morning, begin your final ascent to the summit of Kilimanjaro, taking approximately 6-7 hours. It can be very cold at night at these elevations, but it will be warm by the end of the hiking day, and you need clothing for both extremes. Just when you think you’ve reached your limit, the sun will rise and you’ll be rewarded with a rich red sky framing Mawenzi. At Stella Point (5,750 m), join the crater rim. From here, climb less steeply to Uhuru Peak, the highest point on Mount Kilimanjaro and in Africa. From the summit descend to Mweka Hut, with lunch served on the way, taking around 6 hours. Enjoy your last dinner on the mountain and a well-earned sleep.

After breakfast, begin your final descent through the Mweka Montane Forest to Mweka Gate, a trek of approximately 3 hours, where we complete park formalities and receive certificates, which you can hang up with pride. The vehicle will be ready to drive you back to the hotel for a warm shower at Moshi. It’s definitely time to celebrate!

Today you will be transferred to Kilimanjaro Airport in time for your flight, or if you’ve decided to extend your Tanzanian adventure, begin the next part of your journey!