Mount Kilimanjaro

Day 1: MACHAME GATE (5,700') to MACHAME CAMP
9,350’ ~2850m ∙ 6.8 mi ∙ 5-7 hrs
After a restful night and an enjoyable breakfast at the hotel, you will be met by your Climb Kili guide and other mountain crew where we will transfer you from the hotel to the Machame Gate. We now leave the park gate and walk through the rain forest on a winding trail up a ridge. Lower down, the trail can be muddy and slippery. Gaiters and trekking poles are a good idea here. At Machame Camp your tent will be set up and personal belongings will be ready for you as well as dinner.

Our trek begins. We met our mountain crew and set out on a 3-hour drive to the Machame Gate. We met our final group member Giselle from Dubai, born in India. A warm sandwich lunch with chiapatta. We left the park gate and walked through the cloud forest section on a winding trail up a ridge. We set our own temp for the first hour, but our assistant guide God Bless took over and set an excruciating slow pace. His English is not great, but we tried to chat. We basically slowed down to 1km/hr. This is to help with adjusting to the altitude but boy was it slow. The trail started as a wide dirt road and narrowed after 1km. We chatted with the different members of our group. Conversations lessened as people got tired. Porters slowly passed us throughout the walk, and we took many short breaks. The temperature was not bad and no reactions to altitude yet. We arrived a busy dusty camp. We were surprised how dusty it was and expected more gravel. Camp routine was arrive and be shown to your tent. Everything is set up by the porters before you arrive. Change and relax, wash water is provided, tea and snacks (popcorn and cookies), followed by dinner.Read more