Kilimanjaro, Machame Trip | with Saud Al-Eidi

Kilimanjaro flight will begin from Kilimanjaro International Airport, which is located near Arusha in northern Tanzania. You will be received at Kilimanjaro International Airport and delivered to the beautiful and elegant hotel where you will spend the rest of the evening in Arusha

In this night, you’ll talk about Kilimanjaro’s flight plan, which will be via Machami Road, and you’ll have time to check your flight equipment for the next day. You can spend the rest of the day in the hotel’s gardens relaxing like resting under the huge trees of Africa’s natural environment. We can also book a transport to take you downtown Arusha to explore the city and walk around its local market. We’ll have dinner together at the hotel restaurant, exchange conversations with our local escorts.

After breakfast, we set out in private vehicles to Kilimanjaro. At the gate, we will sign in and, after the formalities, start off from Machame gate. Today’s hike is through verdant Afroae forest to Machame Camp, and en route we will stop and have a picnic lunch. Look out for pretty endemic flora and a graduation of forest zones! We’ll be spending the night at Machame Camp (2, 980 m).

From Machame Camp we’ll take on a relatively steep hike to Shira Camp, gaining altitude rather quickly. What we’re passing through is called the heath zone, where attractive helichrysum and lobelia plants become apparent. Various geologic features can be seen today from lava tubes to glacial valleys. We’ll be stopping for a picnic lunch along the trail today if weather and time permit. We’ll be spending the night at at Shira Camp (3,840 m).

This day is a ‘walk high, sleep low’ kind of day. We ascend into alpine desert and have a picnic lunch en route. For those feeling an extra burst of strength, you can even head up to Lava Tower before descending to Barranco Camp at 3,950 m. Today is a long day, but the next time we head to this altitude is in two days’ time – great acclimatization day! We’ll be spending the night at Barranco Camp (3,950 m).

From Barranco Camp, famous for its giant groundsels, we ascend the Barranco Wall and hike glacial valleys to Karanga Camp. Today is a relatively short day– we’ll be having lunch at Karanga Camp and, in the afternoon, taking a walk with our guides for great views of the southern walls of Kibo and deep glacial valleys. We’ll be spending the night at Karanaga Camp (3,930 m).

Today is another half-day as we ascend to Barafu Camp at 4,550 m. We’ll be having lunch at the camp again, allowing us plenty of time to relax before the summit bid. Desolate alpine desert and at times strong winds rip over this camp and yet, in the evening, splendid views of Mawenzi volcano are the norm. We’ll eat a relatively early dinner before heading to rest for the evening and spending the night at Barafu Camp (4,550 m).

Most people depart just before midnight for the final summit bid. Patience and persistence is the name of game to reach the summit, and by dawn – as the first rays of light start to appear – most arrive near the rim. Ascending via Stella Point affords a relatively short final section to Uhuru peak, the roof of Africa, at 5,895 m! What goes up must come down, and our goal today is to reach Mweka Camp. We’ll be spending the night at Mweka Camp (3,100 m). If we are late summiting then we may camp at the closer Millennium Camp.

After breakfast, we descend once again through montane forest and say farewell to the rest of the crew ahead of our midday pickup and transfer to a PCR testing facility then to the hotel for a well-deserved shower. We have the rest of the day to chill at the pool and celebrate in town or at the hotel

After breakfast and based on your flight timing, you will be taken to the airport for your flight back home.

HIKING PACK

Your hiking pack should only contain in it your water, your extra sweater/gloves/sunglasses/etc., waterproofs, and camera, snacks. Everything else will be in your main duffel bag, which will be carried by the porters. You wont even see your duffel bag as the porters are much faster and they will get to the lodge probably before you. 

PACKING TIPS

The trick here is to minimize the amount of time you need in the morning and before you sleep. So you want to make sure you pack in a way that helps you find what you are looking for as fast as possible without having to dig too hard into your bag. The best way in our experience is to place everything in Zip Lock Bags according to their category. The good thing about zip lock bags is that they are see- through so you can see what’s in them right away. Another good thing is that they are waterproof so in case it rains it will keep your items dry. For example, you can place all of your toiletries in one zip lock such as: soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, facewash, toner, cotton pads, etc. Then you can place all of your underwear in another zip lock, your passport and any important documents in another, your medicine and any medical supplies in another, your socks together, etc. That way you can always find your items quickly and it will also keep them dry

SLEEPING BAG

This is important because even though you will be sleeping in lodges – they are not insulated. So, you will feel the cold especially as we go higher up. You will be placing your sleeping bag on top of the bed to sleep in. If you are the type that likes a pillow – there are a few tricks for that. You can either bring an empty pillowcase and stuff it with clothes to sleep on, or you can bring the inflatable airplane pillows. The beds in the lodges come with pillows, so you can also bring a scarf to place over the pillow so you can feel more comfortable resting your head on it.

HIKING SHOES

We hope you are wearing them daily! Make sure they are high enough to support your ankles and made out of an insulated material so that they can keep you warm and they also need to be waterproof. They also need to be a half size bigger as sometimes you may feel the need to wear at least 2 socks to stay warm -so its important that your hiking boots have room for that. It’s important to wear them early on so you can loosen them up before the hike, especially if they are brand new.

GLOVES

This is a tip for gloves: What keeps your fingers warm is actually the air pockets between the gloves so make sure that buy your gloves a bit bigger than normal so that when you wear them on top of each other there is still room in between them. If they are all too tight you wont feel warm – so you need to make sure the air pockets are there.

SOCKS

Your socks need to be made out of wool’ish material absolutely no cotton! — They call them 3 season or 4 season socks, kind of like the ones you would wear for skiing. 

CAMERA

Since this is a super awesome trip, you definitely want to bring a camera with you. Some of you if you are photo enthusiasts will want to bring your SLR. You can but we don›t recommend it, as they are heavy and bulky. A normal digital camera will do. In the case of batteries, make sure you bring extras! The trick with camera batteries is to bring extras and always keep them in a warm place, like inside your socks in your duffel bag – as the cold makes the battery life deplete a lot faster. Also, interchanging the battery is believed to be better and also makes it last longer than using one full battery till it runs out and then switching to another one. 

HYGIENE

We will always do our best to provide rooms in lodges with attached bathrooms. However, not all of the rooms come with bathrooms and not all of the bathrooms will have showers – so its time to embrace the funk! 🙂 In the chance that you do shower, please make sure you bring your own mini shampoo, conditioner and towel. Alternatively, you can ‘rent a towel’ but it’s best to have your own. Also, please make sure to get a towel that is made out of a quick dry material, and not the normal towels you find at home as they take longer to dry.

HYGIENE (continued)

The best thing to bring with you is Dettol wipes or baby wipes. These will be your new best friends on the mountain! So you can use them for obvious reasons and you can also use them in what we like to call «Dettol Showers» and just wipe yourself down in your room to freshen up. Some people have also taken with them Dry Shampoo, so you can do that as well. Or you can just hide your hair under a hat that works as well! Please also make sure you bring your own toilet paper. As for other elements, sometimes the hot water in the bathroom is not as reliable so for the days where you are too tired or cold to wash your face, we find that its great to bring a face toner so you can just wipe it down in the morning and at night to stay fresh. You can also bring with you a body spray to feel fresh and nice smelling

NAILS

Make sure you cut your toe nails really short. This is important especially on the way down from the mountain, as the pressure on your toes from the boots have caused some people to lose their nails when they get home. It’s not fun so if you keep them short you should be okay.

BLISTERS

Some people get them from the long hours of walking. The last thing you want on a trek is a blister as that can seriously make your life miserable when you are there. The trick we find best for this is «PreEmptive Behavior». That means you wrap your sensitive spots, like your heels, certain toes, etc. with gauze and medical white tape as soon as you start the trek. This will protect those areas from extra friction and save you from blisters. So you wrap them up like you already have a blister – before you get the blister. It works for us!

PHONES

You will get very little reception on the trail, so feel free to bring your phones if you like but keep in mind that not all networks work roaming in Nepal. Some people take this as a chance to completely disconnect from the world and unplug but some of you have moms and dads who need that update so it’s ok. If you want to be absolutely connected, then please feel free to purchase a local sim card in Nepal. The battery trick here is the same as the camera one so keep your phone in a dry and warm place so it lasts longer and keep it turned off when you are not using it. In certain villages like Namche Bazaar (day 3 and 4) you will have access to cyber café’s where the internet is reliable – so you can use that time to get connected or to update family. The plug in Nepal is a 3 hole one like the picture on the right.

CAMP SHOES/CLOTHES

Once you get to each village you’re going to want to take off your hiking boots and get into something comfortable. We suggest bringing something that’s easy to slip on and off – versus something with laces. Since if you have to go to the bathroom at night the last thing you want to be doing is fumbling in pitch-black darkness with laces and the likes of. You may also want to bring comfortable lounge pants like sweat pants or something to keep you warm

GEAR LIST

Everything on our gear list is mandatory so we can’t stress enough that you should go over it again and again and make sure you have everything, every little thing counts! 

POCKET MONEY

You can take with you around 150$ USD for the whole trip as pocket money but keep in mind that this is just an estimate- everyone is different when they travel so make sure to take with you what will make you comfortable. Nepal is not the best place for Visas or Mastercards so remember that CASH is KING.

SNACKS

The best snacks to bring are DATES – as they are small and packed with energy. We prefer these over the usual energy bars as sometimes they have not so friendly effects on your stomach and that’s the last thing you want on the trail. Nuts are also a great option.

BRING AN AWESOME ATTITUDE

Trekking to Everest Base Camp is 90% mental so make sure you start visualizing yourself there – and bring with you a flag or a picture or whatever you want to take your photo with when you reach Base Camp!

TRAVEL INSURANCE

 You have made a significant investment in your travel plans and while in most cases everything will run smoothly, situations may arise on or before your trip that are outside of our control and for which we cannot be held responsible. Travel insurance may help to make your trip more worry-free by protecting your investment and yourself. Travel insurances can cover expenses resulting from situations such as: • Trip Cancellation and Interruption due to sickness • Emergency Medical Transportation • Trip and Baggage Delay • Lost or Stolen Baggage • Doctor and Hospital Payments • Travel Accidents • Weather delays There are plenty of options when it comes to travel insurance providers. We highly 

recommend World Nomad’s single trip travel insurance. You can buy it here.

 * make sure you go for the Explorer package as that covers a higher altitude