Known as the legendary Whisky Route, Machame is one of Kilimanjaro's most scenic, visually dramatic, and highly recommended trails. Journey through pristine rain forests, expansive moorland plateaus, and glaciated alpine deserts to reach the peak of Africa.
The drive from Moshi to the Machame Gate takes about 50 minutes. The journey passes through the village of Machame which is located on the lower slopes of the mountain. As we leave the park gate, we walk through the dense rain forest on a winding trail up a ridge until we reach the Machame Camp.
We leave the glades of the rain forest and continue on an ascending path up to a steep, rocky ridge. On the Shira Plateau, we pass through heather and open moorlands, then cross a large river gorge to Shira Cave.
We continue to the east up a ridge and then head southeast towards the Lava Tower - a 300 ft tall volcanic rock formation. We descend down to Barranco Camp through the strange but beautiful Senecio Forest to an altitude of 13,000 ft. Although you begin and end the day at the same elevation, the time spent at higher altitude is very beneficial for acclimatization.
We begin the day by descending into a ravine to the base of the Great Barranco Wall. Then we climb the non-technical but steep, nearly 900 ft cliff. From the top of the Barranco Wall we cross a series of hills and valleys until we descend sharply into Karanga Valley. One more steep climb up leads us to Karanga Camp for hot lunch and soon after hot lunch we will proceed ascending for 3 hours to reach Barafu camp.
Very early in the morning, we begin our push to the summit. We ascend in the darkness for several hours. Near Stella Point, you will be rewarded with the most magnificent sunrise. Finally, we arrive at Uhuru Peak- the highest point on Mount Kilimanjaro.
From the summit, we make our descent continuing straight down to the Mweka Hut camp site. Mweka Camp is situated in the upper forest where we enjoy our last dinner on the mountain and a well-earned sleep.
On our last day, we continue the descent to Mweka Gate and collect the summit certificates. A vehicle will meet us at Mweka Village to drive us back to the hotel in Moshi for a hot shower.