6-Day Kilimanjaro Machame Route Trek to Uhuru Peak

• Early in the morning, after breakfast at 8:30 am, you will be transferred from your hotel or lodge to Mount Kilimanjaro's Machame Gate with your picnic lunch.

• After registration at the entrance gate, you will begin your ascent and enter the rainforest almost immediately. There is a strong possibility of rain in the forest, which can make the trail soggy, muddy, and slippery.

• You will stop for lunch about halfway to the camp and reach the Machame camping area in the late afternoon. Tents and other belongings will be taken care of by the porters and your guide. Most of the time, the porters and cook reach the campsite before you do in order to prepare meals and erect tents for your accommodation.

Overnight at camp. Depending on the weather conditions, temperatures at Machame Campsite can already drop to freezing point at night.

Hiking time: 7 hours

Distance: About 18 km

Habitat: Montane forest

Elevation change: +1490 m

• Early in the morning, after breakfast, the day is spent reaching Shira Campsite (3840 m) with your picnic lunch.

• The trail takes you for an hour or so to the top of the forest and then for about two hours on a gentler gradient through the moorland zone.

• After a picnic lunch and rest, you continue up a rocky ridge onto the Shira Plateau. After hiking to this point, you will be able to see the Western Breach with its spectacular glaciers to the east.

• You are now due west of Kibo, and after a short hike, you will reach Shira Campsite.

• The night at this bare camp will be colder than the previous night, with temperatures dropping to well below freezing.

Hiking time: 6 hours

Distance: About 9 km

Habitat: Moorland

Elevation change: +860 m

• The route now turns east into a semi-desert and rocky landscape surrounding Lava Tower, where you reach an altitude of 4630 m after about a four-hour walk.

• Lunch is served in a designated area before ascending the rocky scree path to Lava Tower (4630 m).

• This is definitely the toughest day so far. It is normally at this point that, for the first time, some climbers begin to feel symptoms of breathlessness, irritability, and headaches.

• After lunch, you descend again by almost 680 m to the Barranco camping area. After reaching the high altitude of 4600 m at Lava Tower, the true acclimatization benefit of this day becomes clear.

• This descent to Barranco Camp takes about two hours and offers great opportunities to take beautiful photographs of the Western Breach and Breach Wall. The camp is situated in a valley below the Breach and Great Barranco Wall.

Hiking time: 6 hours

Distance: About 15 km

Habitat: Semi-desert

Elevation change: +790 m, -680 m

Final elevation: 3950 m

• Early in the morning, after breakfast at the Great Barranco Wall, you will appreciate how beautiful climbing Mount Kilimanjaro via the Machame Route really is.

• After spending a night at the Great Barranco Wall, a very imposing sight at first, you make your way up this amazing obstacle, which normally turns out to be easier than anticipated.

• Topping out just below the Heim Glacier, you will appreciate just how beautiful Kilimanjaro really is.

• The route then heads down through the Karanga Valley over intervening ridges and valleys before joining the Mweka Route. This is the preferred route down from the summit, so remember it.

• Turn left up to the ridge, and after another hour or so, you will reach Barafu Hut.

Hiking time: 6 hours

Distance: About 13 km

Habitat: Alpine desert

Elevation change: +600 m

• You will wake up around 11:30 pm and, after having some tea and biscuits, start climbing to Uhuru Peak.

• You will head in a northwesterly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point on the crater rim. This 6-hour walk to Stella Point is, for many climbers, mentally and physically the most challenging part of the route.

• Take pictures for 15 to 20 minutes and then descend for about 3 hours to Barafu Camp.

• Then sleep for about 2 hours.

• Wake up for breakfast or lunch.

• Later, descend to Mweka Camp for dinner and overnight. This trek takes about 3 to 4 hours.

Hiking time: 6 hours to reach Uhuru Peak; 5-7 hours to descend to Mweka

Distance: About 7 km ascent; 23 km descent

Habitat: Stone scree and ice-capped summit

Elevation change: +1345 m, -2795 m

Final elevation: 3100 m

• After an early and well-deserved breakfast, it is a short 3-hour scenic hike back to the park gate.

• At Mweka Gate, you sign your name and details in a register. This is also where successful climbers receive their summit certificates. Climbers who reached Stella Point (5685 m) are issued green certificates, while those who reached Uhuru Peak (5895 m) receive gold certificates.

• From Mweka Gate, you will continue down into Mweka Village, normally a muddy 3 km hike that takes about 1 hour.

• Drive back to Moshi for a long-overdue hot shower.

Hiking time: 4 hours

Distance: About 15 km

Habitat: Forest

Elevation change: -1120 m