Machame Mweka Route

About the Machame Mweka Route

Machame approaches the Shira Plateau from the South, joining up with the Shira route on the second day to cuts around below the Southern Walls to Barranco Camp, before heading on round to Barafu Camp for the summit attempt.

This route is widely considered one of the most varied and interesting on the mountain, but it does involve a fair bit of up and down as you traverse river valleys on the Southern Slopes, which can become quite soul destroying. You need to be fit to do this route.

As the truth about the tacky nature of the Marangu route has become more widely publicised over the last few years, Machame has become increasingly the route of choice for people who would prefer to spend a little bit more to enjoy the mountain. Over the last two years, Machame has become a little bit the victim of its own success, with the budget operators from Moshi bringing quite a high volume of traffic onto the route. Machame now carries around 30% of the total climbers on the mountain.

The facts that that climbers must camp in tents rather than stay in huts and that it is a much more difficult route than Marangu protects Machame from really uncomfortable volumes of climbers and it remains one of the best options on the mountain.

DAY 1 Moshi Hotel

Today you will leave from Johannesburg International Airport for Kilimanjaro International Airport on Air Tanzania flight. Upon arrival you will be met and transferred to Moshi to spend your first evening in your hotel. You will be briefed on your climb either before dinner tonight, or before breakfast in the morning.

DAY 2

After breakfast you will be transferred from Moshi to Machame village where all your supplies and your equipment will be prepared by your guide, his team of porters and your cook.

More than likely it will be wet and muddy so you will have take an hour long walk of nearly 3 km from the village to the Machame gate - otherwise you will be driven there if the road is dry enough. After you have registered at the gate office you will begin your Kilimanjaro climb for real.

First, you will enter the rain forest (where it really does rain!), so you can fully expect to take a wet and soggy hike along a muddy trail until you hit the halfway point to the Machame camp. Here you will stop for lunch before heading off for the Machame camp.

By the time you arrive at Machame Camp later in the afternoon your porters will already have arrived and will have started preparing everything for your arrival, your tents will be pitched and water will be on the boil. You will be given a supply of water to wash with and later on your cook will prepare dinner for you.
You can expect temperatures to drop to freezing point at this campsite.

Altitude range: 1500 metres - 3100 metres
Hiking time: 7- 8 hours
Distance: 16 - 19 km's
Habitat: Rain forest

DAY 3

After an early start you will be served breakfast at Machame Camp, then you climb an hour or so before you leave the glades of the forest. The gradient eases off a bit as you hike through moorlands for a further 2 hours until it’s time for lunch.
After a quick lunch and a short rest you will continue your ascent up a rocky ridge leading onto the Shira plateau. On a clear day you will see from here the Western Breach with its awesome glaciers in the east.
A short hike from here will bring you to the Shira campsite, where you will be spending the night. Again, the porters will have your tents pitched before you arrive and will boil drinking and washing water, before your cook prepares your dinner.
At 3850 metres, your night at this camp will see temperatures dropping to more than just a few degrees below freezing.

Altitude range: 2980 metres - 3850 metres
Hiking time: 6 hours approx
Distance: 9 - 10 km’s
Habitat: Rain forest and Moorland

DAY 4

From Shira camp the route turns east towards Kibo and you will find yourself hiking through semi desert conditions and fairly rocky conditions surrounding Lava Tower - to get here you will have hiked for about 5 hours and you will have attained an altitude of over 4450 metres. You will have lunch before beginning your ascent towards Lava Tower at 4600 metres.

After lunch you descend again by approximately 650 metres down to the Barranco camp - this will take a little over 2 hours of hiking. On the way you should make the most of the excellent vantage points along the way which overlook the Western Breach and Breach Wall - a good time to get your cameras out to get some stunning pictures.

The camp is located in a valley just below the Breach and the rather impressive looking Great Barranco Wall. Enjoy the magnificent sunset while you wait for your cook to finish preparing a well deserved dinner and the porters get your tents ready for a night of rest in sub zero temperatures.

Altitude range: 3850 metres - 4600 metres - 3950 metres
Hiking time: 7 hours approx
Distance: 14 - 15 km's
Habitat: Semi desert and rocky terrain

DAY 5

After breakfast you will leave Barranco camp and make your way up the Great Barranco Wall - this part of the climb looks far worse than it really is - remember this when you start this climb! From the Great Barranco Wall you will then descend through the Karanga Valley over intervening ridges and valleys, to the junction that connects with the Mweka route.

Make sure you fill up with water in the Karanga valley as there will be no water at Barafu camp where you will be spending part of the night. Carry your water in a thermal flask otherwise it will freeze later.

Mweka is the preferred route down from the summit, so make a mental note to remember it. From this junction it will take you almost another hour to reach Barafu Hut. At an altitude of 4560 metres, your tents are pitched on a narrow, stony, and dangerous ridge and are exposed to all the elements - you can bank on gale force winds and a freezing night out here.

At camp, your guide will advise you to familiarise yourself with your surroundings before dark, as you will be leaving at midnight to make the final ascent to the summit, and you won’t want to be caught stumbling around or causing an accident on this ridge at this stage.

You will also need to spend some time preparing your equipment for your summit attempt. Ensure that headlamp and camera batteries are in order and make sure you have spare sets of batteries available as well.

Make sure you are in bed by 19h00 - you will only have 4½ hours before your wake up call so it’s important to get as much sleep as possible before.

Altitude range: 3950 metres - 4560 metres
Hiking time: 7 hours
Distance: About 13 km's
Habitat: Alpine desert

DAY 6

Today will by far be your toughest day of climb, you will rise around 23h30, and after some tea and biscuits you head off into the night towards Stella Point on the crater rim.

The walk to Stella point is for many climbers probably the most mentally and physically challenging part of the entire route. You will be hiking about 6 hours to get to Stella Point - here you will stop for a rest and if the weather is kind, you will see a truly magnificent African sunrise. Departing from Stella Point, you will more than likely be walking through snow for the next 2 hour, when you will finally reach the summit of Uhuru Peak at 5895 metres.

Don’t get too relaxed and spend too much time on the summit, even if the weather is good. Cold and fatigue will set in quickly and you may find it very difficult to get started again. So spend a little time to enjoy the fact that you have conquered Kilimanjaro, get the camera out and take some pictures, then it will be best that you get moving again - it’s a long way down!

The first part of your descent to Barafu will take almost another 3 hours. Here you will stop for a short rest before heading down to Mweka hut - it takes an average of 5 hours to work your way down the rock and scree path to the moorland and eventually back into the rain forest. Mweka camp is situated in the upper forest and mist or rain can be expected in the late afternoon. As usual your tents, dinner, and washing water will be prepared

Altitude range: 4560 metres - 5895 metres - 3100 metres
Hiking time: 15 - 16 hours
Distance: 30 kilometres
Habitat: Snow, Ice and Stoney scree

DAY 7

After an early and well-deserved breakfast, it is a short 3-hour and scenic hike back to the Mweka Park gate, where you sign your name and enter your details in a register. To make your achievement official, you will receive a summit certificate. If you reached Stella Point you will be presented with a green certificate, and if you made it all the way to Uhuru Peak you will have earned yourself a gold certificate.

It’s not over yet though - you still have to walk from the Mweka Gate down into the Mweka village, normally a muddy 3 km hike that will take an hour or so. Here you will be served a delicious hot lunch before returning to Moshi where you will stay at your hotel. Take some time out for a bit of celebrating before getting a decent night's rest in a comfortable bed.

Altitude range: 3100 metres - 1970 metres
Hiking time: 3 hours
Distance: About 15 km's
Habitat: Forest

DAY 8

After breakfast you will be transferred back to Kilimanjaro International Airport to catch your flight back home to Johannesburg.

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