The Whiskey Route – For the Adventurous Traveler
🌍 About the Machame Route:
The Machame Route is one of the most scenic and popular routes up Kilimanjaro, but it’s also known for its tough challenges—hence the nickname “Whiskey Route”. Unlike the easier Marangu Route (aka the Coca-Cola Route), Machame offers steeper, more demanding trails, with the thrill of camping under the stars in tents rather than staying in huts.
📆 Climb Duration:
Though it can be completed in 6 days, it’s often recommended to take 7 days for better acclimatization and a more gradual ascent.
You will be picked up at the Kilimanjaro International Airport and transferred to your hotel in Moshi town, you will meet your guide who will brief you on your upcoming trek and do an equipment check to make sure you have all the necessary mountain gear. The missing gear can be rented on this day.
Meals: No meals Included
One hour’s drive from Moshi lies the gate to the Machame route, where we complete park formalities, meet our crew of porters and start to climb! The first section of the route climbs steadily and passes through magnificent, dense rainforest. This path is less well-trodden so it can get somewhat overgrown in places and it is often wet and muddy underfoot.
Distance covered: 10.8km / 6.7mi
Approx. time taken: 6 hours
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Included
Our route continues on up through the forest until we reach the steep ascent onto the Shira Plateau, where there are rewarding views of the mountain. Looking back, you will be able to see Mt Meru rising high above Arusha town in the distance.
Distance covered: 5.4km / 3.4mi
Approx. time taken: 5 hours
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Included
Walking now on high moorland, the landscape changes the entire character of the trek. We traverse the southwest side of Kilimanjaro, passing underneath the Lava Tower and the final section of the Western Breach and finally reach camp The day has been spent at altitude (up to 4600m), but we have followed the mountaineering code of ‘walk high, sleep low’ to aid your body’s acclimatization to altitude.
Distance covered: 10.8km / 6.7mi
Approx. time taken: 8 hrs
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Included
Our day starts by descending into the Great Barranco, a huge ravine. We then exit steeply, up the Great Barranco Wall, which divides us from the southeastern slopes of Kibo. It’s a climb over rock, not technical, but long and tiring. Passing underneath the Heim and Kersten glaciers, we head towards the Karanga valley, which is our last stop for fresh water before the summit. Scree now forms the terrain as we walk through arid and desolate land towards Barafu camp.
Distance covered: 8.5km / 5.3mi
Approx. time taken: 8 hours
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Included
We start off at around midnight, and walk steeply upwards to the summit glaciers. We will be climbing scree for 4 to 5 hours but gain incredible height over a short distance. The views are spectacular. We should be on the crater rim at Stella Point (5739m) as the first rays of the sun hit us. Spectacular ice cliffs within the crater surround us and the views to jagged Mawenzi peak and beyond are breathtaking. Another hour’s walking takes us to the summit, Uhuru Peak (5895m). We begin our descent by returning to Stella Point and then descending on scree slope and track back to Barafu Camp for breakfast, before finally heading down to Millennium Camp for a long well-earned rest.
Distance covered: 13.4km / 8.3mi
Approx. time taken: 12 – 15 hours
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Included
