7-Day adventure

Kilimanjaro Machame Route

Tanzania

Hiking Kilimanjaro Summits

Trip highlights

TOUR FEATURES

Kilimanjaro Machame Route Overview

At Hiking Kilimanjaro. With over 15 years of experience, we have guided more than 12,000 people to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Our top-quality equipment and expert guides ensure a 95% success rate on all routes we offer. If you’re searching for a specialist operator with an impeccable safety record, you’re in the right place. The Machame Route, starting at Machame Gate at 1,800 meters, begins on the southwestern side of the mountain. On the first day, you’ll trek through the enchanting rainforest before ascending to Shira Camp, where the Lemosho Route merges from the west. From Shira, you’ll traverse the southern face of Kilimanjaro to Barranco via Lava Tower, followed by the thrilling climb of the Great Barranco Wall on the way to Barafu Camp. After summiting, you’ll descend via the Mweka trail, offering a fresh route down. Often referred to as the “Whiskey Route” due to its difficulty compared to the “Coca-Cola Route” (Marangu Route), Machame isn’t more technically challenging, but it’s longer and steeper in some sections. The extended distance and the “walk high, sleep low” strategy provide better acclimatization, resulting in a higher success rate. The Machame Route is an excellent seven-day trek for those new to high-altitude trekking, offering an additional day for acclimatization to improve summit chances. For experienced and already acclimatized climbers, a more challenging six-day ascent is also an option along this route.

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Itinerary

Day 1

Arrival

Upon your arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), you will meet our HK (HIKING KILIMANJARO) representative and then proceed to transfer to the hotel. The hotel will provide all the essentials for a comfortable stay: cozy rooms, hot water, polite staff, a swimming pool, and Internet access. Later or tomorrow morning, you will have a short briefing with your expert tour leader about your expedition. We will also review your equipment needed for your adventure to ensure that everything is set for your journey to Kilimanjaro.

Day 1

Arrival

Day 2

From Machame Gate to Machame Camp

Transfer from your hotel to Machame Gate for registration. Our porters prepare and pack our supplies and luggage before we start our ascent along the forest trail to Machame Camp at 3000m. We will stay here overnight.

Day 1

Day 3

Machame Camp to Shira Cave Camp

After breakfast we start walking, leaving the rainforest behind, and continue our ascent, crossing a small valley and up to a steep rocky ridge, covered with heather. Our route now turns west into a river gorge until we reach Shira Cave Camp. It will be colder tonight than the previous night with temperatures possibly falling below freezing.

Day 1

Day 4

Shira Camp to Barranco Camp via Lava Tower

Today we will climb up to 4600m to the base of the Lava Tower for lunch and acclimatisation. This will be our toughest day so far and you may, for the first time, feel the altitude. After lunch we will descend again by almost 650m to Barranco Camp, following the ‘walk high, sleep low’ golden rue of acclimatisation. Our descent to Barranco Camp takes about 2 hours and offers great opportunities to take some beautiful photographs of the Western Breach and Breach Wall. The camp is situated in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Wall.

Day 1

Day 5

From Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp

A short, but fun, day starting with a scramble to the top of the Great Barranco Wall. We then traverse over scree to the Karanga Valley (3930m) beneath the icefalls of the Heim, Kersten and Decken Glaciers. We will stay overnight at Karanga campsite.

Day 1

Day 6

From Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp

We leave Karanga campsite behind to meet the junction connecting with the Mweka descent trail. From here we continue up to Barafu Camp. Here we can rest, enjoy dinner, and prepare for the summit day. The camp offers amazing views of the summit and the two peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo.

Day 1

Day 7

Barafu Camp to Summit to Mweka Camp

You will be woken around 23:30 with tea and biscuits. We start our trek to the summit between the Rebman and Ratzel glaciers through heavy scree up to Stella Point on the crater rim. This is the most mentally and physically challenging part of the trek. At Stella Point (5732m), we will stop for a short rest and hopefully be in time to witness the magnificent sunrise (weather permitting). We are now only an hour away from the summit, Uhuru Peak (5895m), the highest point on Mount Kilimanjaro and the continent of Africa. From the summit, we descend down to Mweka camp site, via Barafu Camp for lunch. Trekking poles will be needed for the loose scree going down to Mweka Camp (3100m). Later in the evening, we will enjoy our last dinner on the mountain and a well-earned sleep.

Day 1

Day 8

Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate

Your final day on the trek, departing after breakfast we descend a further 1300m to the Mweka Park Gate to pick up your summit certificates from the Park Headquarters. Transfer to your hotel.

Day 1

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PRICE START

from $2,260

STARTING FROM $2,260 PER PERSON IN A GROUP TREK

The price includes:-

The price Excludes:-

Price per person

Solo

2 pax

3 pax

4 pax

5 pax

6 pax

7+ pax

$2,664 USD*

$2,460 USD*

$2,455 USD*

$2,340 USD*

$2,320 USD*

$2,260 USD*

$2,140 USD*

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