7-Day Kilimanjaro · Machame Route
Day-by-Day Itinerary
7-Day Kilimanjaro · Machame Route
- 1
Day 1: Machame Gate → Machame Camp
1,800 m → 3,000 m · ~11 km · 5-7 hrs
Transfer from Moshi to Machame Gate (1,800 m) for registration and the start of the climb. Five to seven hours through dense rainforest with the chance of black-and-white colobus monkeys overhead. Arrive Machame Camp before dusk for dinner and the first night on the mountain. Expect rain in the forest, the forest zone produces over 2,000 mm a year.
- Accommodation
- Machame Camp, full mountain tent setup
- Meals
- Lunch box on the trail, hot dinner at camp
- 2
Day 2: Machame → Shira Camp
3,000 m → 3,840 m · ~5 km · 5-6 hrs
Out of the forest and into the heath and moorland zone. The climb is steeper today, on volcanic ridges with giant heather and the strange silvery rosettes of senecio plants. Arrive on the Shira Plateau in the early afternoon, one of the highest plateaux in Africa.
- Accommodation
- Shira Camp
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch box, dinner
- 3
Day 3: Shira → Lava Tower → Barranco
3,840 m → 4,600 m → 3,950 m · ~10 km · 6-8 hrs
The classic acclimatisation day. We climb up to Lava Tower at 4,600 m for lunch, then descend to Barranco Camp at 3,950 m, climb high, sleep low. The day is long (six to eight hours) but the elevation profile is the key acclimatisation event of the entire climb. Barranco Camp is dramatically sited beneath the Western Breach with the great Barranco Wall directly above.
- Accommodation
- Barranco Camp
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch at Lava Tower, dinner
- 4
Day 4: Barranco → Karanga
3,950 m → 3,995 m · ~5 km · 4-5 hrs
Start with the Barranco Wall, a 257 m scramble up a steep but non-technical rock face that takes most climbers around 90 minutes. The wall looks intimidating but is straightforward; it is the photogenic moment of the climb. From the top, undulating terrain across the Karanga Valley to Karanga Camp.
- Accommodation
- Karanga Camp
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner
- 5
Day 5: Karanga → Barafu
3,995 m → 4,673 m · ~4 km · 3-4 hrs
A short, gentle climb to Barafu Camp (4,673 m), the summit base camp, arriving by lunchtime. Lunch and a long rest in the tent. Early dinner around 17:00 and into sleeping bags by 19:00 for a few hours of rest before the midnight summit attempt.
- Accommodation
- Barafu Camp
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch, early dinner
- 6
Day 6: Summit day → Mweka
4,673 m → 5,895 m → 3,068 m · ~17 km · 12-14 hrs
Midnight start. Slow, steady walk up the scree slope to Stella Point on the crater rim (5,756 m), typically reached around sunrise. From Stella Point a 45-minute walk along the crater rim brings you to Uhuru Peak (5,895 m), the highest point in Africa. Descend back through Barafu to a hot lunch, then continue down to Mweka Camp at 3,068 m, a long, knee-punishing descent that finishes in the late afternoon. The longest day of the climb in every direction.
- Accommodation
- Mweka Camp
- Meals
- Hot tea before start, breakfast at Barafu after summit, hot lunch and dinner
- 7
Day 7: Mweka → Moshi
3,068 m → 1,640 m · ~10 km · 3-4 hrs
A final three-hour walk through the rainforest to Mweka Gate, where you collect your summit certificate and are met by the vehicle for the transfer to your hotel in Arusha. Hot shower, cold beer, dinner with the crew.
- Accommodation
- Hotel in Arusha
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch at the gate
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