Commonly referred to as the “Whiskey route”, This route is the most popular route on Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is one of the Kilimanjaro routes that ascend the mountain from the South. A very beautiful scenic route with stunning views.
It has steeper and longer walking days of up to 6-8 hours, calling for tiring days.
Machame allows better acclimatization as there are many ups and downs on the route which has accounted to its fairly good summit success rates especially on the 7-day itinerary. The minimum number of days to climb via this route is 6 days which are recommended for more experienced mountain climbers.
The distance of Machame route is 62km taking you through dense vegetation, loose gravel, rocky zones, varying landscapes with panoramic views. The ascent starts from the Machame gate and descends via the Mweka route.
Your 7 days on the Machame route:
- Day 1: Machame gate to Machame camp (1,640 – 2,850m)
- Day 2: Machame camp to Shira 2 camp (2,850 – 3,810m)
- Day 3: Shira 2 camp to Lava tower (3,810 – 4,630m), Lava tower to Barranco camp (4,630 – 3,976m)
- Day 4: Barranco camp to Karanga camp (3,976 – 3,995m)
- Day 5: Karanga camp to Barafu camp (3,995 – 4,673m)
- Day 6: Barafu camp to Uhuru peak- summit (4,673 – 5,895m), Uhuru peak to Mweka camp (5,895 – 3,068m)
- Day 7: Mweka camp to Mweka gate (3,068 – 1,640m)
As you ascend the Machame route, don’t forget to marvel at your surroundings, you don’t wish to miss out on anything as you will be coming down a different route.
