7 days · Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro — Machame Route, 7 Days
The Whiskey Route: steeper than Lemosho, busier, and widely considered the most scenic way up the mountain. Seven days gives it the acclimatisation it needs.
Is this trip for you?
Trip type
Private expedition
Your own guides, cook and porters, on your own dates. We do not merge you into someone else's group, which means the pace is set by your party and nobody else's summit night.
Ages
10 and over
Kilimanjaro National Park sets a minimum age of ten. Beyond that we go on how you answer our health questions rather than on your age, and we may ask for a doctor's note first.
Fitness
Good general fitness
No technical climbing and no ropes on any route we run. What it asks for is five to eight hours of walking a day for a week, and one very long night. Three months of hill walking beforehand is worth more than any gym programme.
Group size: Private party, with guides, a cook and porters sized to it
Day by day.
-
1
Machame Gate to Machame Camp
An hour's drive from Moshi to the gate, where we register and meet the crew. The route rises steadily through dense rainforest — less trodden than it looks, often overgrown, and usually wet underfoot. Machame Camp is at 3,010 m.
- Altitude
- Machame Gate 1,790 m → Machame Camp 3,010 m
- Distance
- 12.6 km / 7.8 mi
- Walking
- 7 hours
- Habitat
- Dense rainforest
- Meals
- Lunch and dinner
-
2
Machame Camp to Shira 2
On up through the forest to the steep pull onto the Shira Plateau, with Mount Meru rising over Arusha behind you. Shira 2 Camp at 3,900 m.
- Altitude
- Machame Camp 3,010 m → Shira 2 3,900 m
- Distance
- 5.4 km / 3.4 mi
- Walking
- 5 hours
- Habitat
- Forest onto the Shira Plateau
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
3
Shira 2 to Barranco, via the Lava Tower
High moorland changes the character of the trek entirely. We traverse the south-western side of the mountain beneath the Lava Tower and the Western Breach, touching 4,640 m before dropping to Barranco at 3,960 m — walk high, sleep low, which is what does the acclimatisation.
- Altitude
- Shira 2 3,900 m → Lava Tower 4,640 m → Barranco 3,960 m
- Distance
- 10 km / 6.2 mi
- Walking
- 8 hours
- Habitat
- High moorland and upland desert
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
4
Barranco to Karanga
Down into the ravine and steeply up the Barranco Wall, then under the Heim and Kersten glaciers to the Karanga valley and up to Karanga Camp at 3,963 m. An optional walk to about 4,200 m in the afternoon.
- Altitude
- Barranco 3,960 m → Karanga 3,963 m
- Distance
- 5.5 km / 3.4 mi
- Walking
- 5 hours
- Habitat
- Alpine desert
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
5
Karanga to Barafu
Three hours across the scree to Barafu Camp at 4,640 m, then rest, an early dinner and an early night.
- Altitude
- Karanga 3,963 m → Barafu 4,640 m
- Distance
- 3 km / 1.9 mi
- Walking
- 3 hours
- Habitat
- Scree and alpine desert
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
6
Summit day, then Mweka Camp
Midnight start, scree for four to five hours, Stella Point at 5,739 m at first light and Uhuru Peak at 5,895 m an hour later. Breakfast back at Barafu, then down to Mweka Camp at 3,100 m.
- Altitude
- Barafu 4,640 m → Uhuru Peak 5,895 m → Mweka Camp 3,100 m
- Distance
- 16.4 km / 10.2 mi
- Walking
- 13 to 15 hours
- Habitat
- Arctic summit zone, then moorland
- Meals
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
-
7
Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate
A gentle descent through the rainforest to Mweka Gate at 1,630 m, park formalities, certificates and the drive home.
- Altitude
- Mweka Camp 3,100 m → Mweka Gate 1,630 m
- Distance
- 9.1 km / 5.7 mi
- Walking
- 3 hours
- Habitat
- Rainforest
- Meals
- Breakfast
Where you sleep.
On the mountain
Three-season mountain tents, sleeping mats, and a mess tent with a table and chairs. Three meals a day cooked on the mountain, and filtered water throughout. Marangu is the exception: it uses the park's huts throughout.
Before and after
Bed and breakfast in Moshi the night before the climb and the night you come down, with hot water, laundry and somewhere to leave the luggage you are not carrying up.
Upgrades
A portable flush toilet with its own tent is US$70 per toilet and tent for the climb, and is the upgrade most parties are glad they took. Single tents and a walk-in tent with a camp bed are available on request, as is an extra night in Moshi at either end, which most climbers who fly in the same day end up wishing they had booked. We also hire out clothing, mountain kit and sleeping bags - though we would rather you brought your own boots.
We book against availability for your dates rather than naming a property we may not be able to get you into. Your written quotation names every lodge and camp before you pay anything.
What is included
- Park fees and camping fees
- 18% VAT on tour fees and services
- Three-season mountain tents
- Transport to and from the mountain gate
- Professional mountain guides, a cook and porters
- Three meals a day on the mountain
- Filtered water throughout the trek
- Accommodation before and after the trek
- Fair wages for the mountain crew, at the rates set by Kilimanjaro National Park (KINAPA) and the Kilimanjaro Association of Tour Operators (KIATO)
- Private airport transfers both ways
Not included
- Flights
- Visa fees
- Travel insurance
- Sleeping bag
- Tips for the mountain crew
- Items of a personal nature
- Alcoholic and soft drinks
- Laundry services
- A doctor travelling with the group
- A portable flush toilet with its own tent, which is US$70 per toilet and tent
When to go.
January to mid-March — warm and clear
The warmest climbing window, with clear mornings and a good chance of snow on the summit cone. Busy, but less so than the northern-hemisphere summer.
June to October — cold, dry and busy
The most reliable weather of the year and the highest traffic on the mountain. Nights are the coldest, which is what a proper sleeping bag is for.
Late March to May, and November
The rainy months. We do run climbs then, on the northern and western routes that sit in the mountain's rain shadow, but you should expect wet forest days and we will say so plainly before you book.
Questions about this trip.
Why is Machame called the Whiskey route?
As a joke against Marangu, which tour operators nicknamed the Coca-Cola route because of its huts and its gentler profile. Machame is steeper, it is camped throughout, and the name stuck.
Machame seven or Lemosho eight?
Lemosho eight acclimatises better and is quieter for the first two days. Machame seven is shorter, cheaper and has arguably the better scenery per day. If your priority is the summit, take the Lemosho.
How busy is the route?
It is the most popular camping route on the mountain, so the camps are full in high season. From Barranco onwards it shares a trail with Lemosho and Umbwe.
Is the Barranco Wall dangerous?
No, but it is exposed in places and it takes about an hour with your hands as well as your feet. Porters carry loads up it every day. We start early to get ahead of the queue rather than because of the difficulty.
On this route
Where you will be.
Compare
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Plan it with us
Make this itinerary yours.
Add days, drop a park, change the pace. This is a starting point, not a fixed departure.