8 Days Mt. Kilimanjaro Climbing Summit – Machame Route

Departing from your hotel in Arusha after breakfast, we'll embark on a scenic 1-hour drive to Machame Gate, situated at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Upon arrival, you'll complete the necessary registration procedures. Here, you'll also meet the dedicated crew including cooks and porters who will accompany you throughout the journey. With preparations complete, the ascent begins, leading you through lush rainforests and towering heathers. Expect a roughly 6-hour trek before reaching the Machame Hut Camp, where you'll spend your first night on the mountain.

We will start climbing over boulders and very few rocks, then make our way to a steady uphill climb to Lava tower and there we stop for lunch around noon. For those interested, we may climb up the Lava tower, which is 14850ft (you may start to get a mild headache due to altitude change). From Lava tower we will go down for about 2 hrs through dusty and rocky trails to the Barranco Camp at 13000ft.

We start scrambling up the Barranco wall for an hour and half. As this is steep, you will be using your hands to reach and steady yourself like rock climbing, although not as challenging. At the top of the wall you can see the Barranco valley and the campsite you spent at the night before. You will walk up and down the greener valley, which is the last water point to the mountain.

This will be a short but steep uphill climb across barren landscape with lots of boulders and shattered rocks. You will see the decken glaciers on your left. We will keep going through a very steep ridge until we reach a rocky section for more scrambling, which will last for about an 1.5 hrs. Our next camp will be on large rocks with very steep cliff faces. We will cap off the night early as we need to wake up at 11:00 pm for the summit.

We will start the climb at around midnight. We will start with very steep rocks for 1 hour, and enter a snow-covered area where you can see glaciers above. If it's a moonlit night, you may turn off your headlamp and continue a moon lit guided walk; indeed a wonderful experience. The next 2 hours is headed towards Stella Point and we will take a break every 15 minutes as the climb gets more mentally and physically challenging.

Afterwards, we will make our way to Stella Point where the Lava fields are like loose sand. It's a rather enjoyable and frustrating experience because you will take a step up and slide back gaining 0 distance and if you're not careful, you will slide back 2 steps and gain negative 2 steps.

After breakfast, we will climb to Uhuru peak for 1 hr just as the sun appears over the Mawenzi peaks. We will be at Uhuru peak (19370ft) around 6-7 am. We will start our descent, which is steep and rigorous via Stella Point to Barafu Hut Camp.