Kilimanjaro Trek: The Machame Route to Uhuru Peak

After breakfast you drive to the Machame Gate on the forested south-western flank of Kilimanjaro, where you complete park formalities and meet your full crew of guides, cook and porters. Then the trek begins, climbing gently at first and then more steadily on a good path through lush, dripping montane rainforest, alive with birdsong, moss-draped trees and, if you are lucky, blue monkeys and colobus in the canopy. The forest is beautiful and atmospheric, often misty and cool, and your guide sets the crucial slow pace, pole pole, to aid acclimatisation. After around five to seven hours you emerge from the forest into the first heath and reach Machame Camp at about 3,000 metres, where the porters have already pitched your tents and a hot meal awaits. As night falls, the summit may loom above. Rest well at your first mountain camp.

Today you climb out of the forest zone and onto the open moorland, with grander and grander views as you gain height. The path leaves the last trees behind and ascends a rocky ridge through heath and moorland studded with giant heathers and everlasting flowers, steeper in places, with the summit and its glaciers coming into view ahead and the plains falling away far below. Your guide keeps the pace slow and steady to help your body adjust to the altitude, and you pause to rest, drink and take in the expanding views. After around four to six hours you reach Shira Camp at about 3,850 metres, set on the high Shira Plateau, one of the mountain's ancient volcanic remnants, with superb views of Kibo, the main summit cone, and spectacular sunsets. As the cold, clear night falls, the stars are brilliant. Rest well on the Shira Plateau.

Today is a crucial acclimatisation day, climbing high and sleeping low. You trek east across the Shira Plateau and up into the increasingly barren high-alpine desert, the landscape growing rocky and lunar, until you reach the dramatic Lava Tower, a striking 300-metre volcanic plug, at around 4,600 metres, where you pause and lunch to let your body adjust to the altitude. You may feel the thinner air here, but you then descend into the beautiful Barranco Valley, dropping to sleep lower, which greatly aids acclimatisation. The valley is a magical place, filled with strange giant groundsels and lobelias and overlooked by the great Barranco Wall. After around six to seven hours you reach Barranco Camp at about 3,950 metres, beneath the towering wall and with fine views of Kibo. As the sun sets on the glaciers, the scene is unforgettable. Rest well in the Barranco Valley.

This morning you tackle one of the great set-pieces of the route, the Barranco Wall, a steep, rocky rampart that rises above the valley. It looks daunting from below, but it is a fun, hands-on scramble rather than a technical climb, and your guides point out the holds and the route as you make your way up, with breathtaking views opening back over the valley and out across the clouds. From the top of the wall you traverse a striking landscape of ridges and valleys, climbing and descending across the southern flank of the mountain, with the glaciers glittering above. After around four to five hours you reach Karanga Camp at about 3,960 metres, a shorter day that further aids your acclimatisation before the summit push. You rest through the afternoon, eating and hydrating well. As the cold night falls with the summit close above, anticipation builds. Rest well at Karanga Camp.

Today is a shorter but important day, climbing to the high base camp from which you will make your summit attempt tonight. You leave Karanga and ascend steadily across the rocky, barren alpine desert, the air noticeably thinner, following the ridge up to Barafu Camp at about 4,670 metres. Barafu, meaning ice in Swahili, is a stark, windswept camp perched among the rocks with dramatic views of the summit cone above and the plains far below. You arrive around midday, eat an early meal, and then rest and sleep as much as you can through the afternoon and evening, for you will rise around midnight to begin the summit climb. Your guide checks your condition carefully and briefs you on the night ahead. As darkness and cold settle over the high camp, you gather your resolve. Rest well and store your strength for the summit of Kilimanjaro.

You rise around midnight for the summit climb, the hardest and most magnificent part of the trek. By the light of your headlamp, in bitter cold and beneath a canopy of stars, you climb slowly, pole pole, up the steep scree towards the crater rim, your guides setting the pace and encouraging you through the long, dark hours. As dawn breaks you reach Stella Point on the rim, then walk the final gentle stretch along the crater edge, past the great glaciers, to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 metres, the Roof of Africa, as the sun rises over a sea of cloud. After triumphant photos at the summit sign you begin the long descent, dropping back to Barafu for a rest and meal, then continuing down through the moorland to Mweka Camp at about 3,100 metres. Exhausted and elated, you celebrate with your crew. Rest well after the summit of Kilimanjaro.

After a well-earned breakfast and a celebration with your crew, who often send you off with the famous Kilimanjaro song, you make the final descent through the lush montane rainforest to the Mweka Gate, where you receive your summit certificate, a treasured memento of your achievement. You are then transferred back to Arusha, where you can shower, rest and savour your triumph, before continuing to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your onward departure (an extra night in Arusha can easily be added to celebrate and recover). You leave having stood on the Roof of Africa, having climbed through rainforest, moorland and alpine desert, scrambled the Barranco Wall, and watched the sun rise from Uhuru Peak amid ancient glaciers. The memories stay vivid long after you land, the starlit summit night, the dawn above the clouds, and the warmth of your crew. Kilimanjaro is a life-changing adventure, and you depart already proud and dreaming of Africa.