Mount Kilimanjaro Group Trip Highlights
Mount Kilimanjaro Group Trip Highlights –
7 Days Machame Route
Hands down, this trek is the hardest thing I have ever done.
A true test of mental and physical endurance.
But I am so proud of this amazing group of 14 travelers who joined me on this trek of a lifetime in an attempt to summit the tallest free standing mountain in the world, the rooftop of Africa!
Read: MOUNT KILIMANJARO -TIPS FOR CLIMBING THE ROOFTOP OF AFRICA
I’m beaming with joy and pride as I type this but all 14 of them conquered the mountain. It wasn’t easy but what an adventure we had!
So here’s a quick recap of the unforgettable days we shared on Mount Kilimanjaro.
Day 1
I had arrived in Tanzania one week prior to safari with Travel Africa Safari Agency and was so excited to welcome everyone to Lindrin Lodge when they started arriving in Moshi, Tanzania.
Tessa and Christina were the first to arrive so we did an incredible coffee tour before lunch.
That afternoon, the rest of the crew began arriving! We had a welcome meeting and a thorough gear check from Monkey Adventures to make sure everyone had the necessary gear to safely and successfully make it up the mountain. (You can see my packing list here!)
Our head guide for the trek, Remmy, greeted us warmly and the group was super impressed to learn that he had summited over 500 times in his career already!
After an included welcome dinner at the lodge, we went to bed early to rest for the start of our hike.
Day 2
In the morning, we were picked up after breakfast to head to the Machame Gate where we would meet our crew of about 50 porters and guides!
It takes a massive team to get a group of 15 safely up the mountain. We would be climbing to a staggering 19,341 feet. And all the food and gear like the tents has to be carried along the route from the start. Not only do the porters bring all the necessities but also, so much of the fun!
Whether it was singing to us every morning or warmly greeting us each day.. they make the trip so special!
After a delay at the gate due to the Wi-Fi connection being down, we eagerly got started on our hike!
We passed through the iconic Kilimanjaro gates and entered into the first habitat: the Montane Forest!
It was damp but not rainy as we climbed.
The first day we hiked 7 miles and it was fairly steep uphill.
The day ended at Machame Camp, approximately 6,000 feet above sea level.
Day 3
The next morning we were woken up by Gideon, the porter in charge of bringing us coffee or hot coco in bed. I know I speak for everyone when I say this was such a highlight!
This kind man woke us up every day with a gentle “morning, how did you sleep? Coffee? Tea?”
We all joked how impossible it would be to go back to regular life where Gideon wasn’t there with his calm, sweet voice and coffee brought to us in bed.
We packed up our things and headed to the mess tent where Gideon and the crew then served us breakfast.
After breakfast, our whole crew sang for us! Little did we know it would be the first of many times.
There was only 3 miles of hiking to do today but it was steep and Remmy estimated with all the uphill scrambling it would take us 5 hours.
So after breakfast we set off!
This was one of my personal favorite days. We climbed above the tree line and looked down over the clouds for the first time. It was such a surreal feeling!!
We could see Mount Meru rising in the distance. The views were simply spectacular.
It was a challenging hike but a ton of fun. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of Mount Meru or the fluffy clouds below us!
That night we camped at Shira camp which is at 12,600 feet above sea level. After we settled into camp, some of us went to check out a viewpoint overlooking camp, it was beautiful.
The stars that night were totally surreal!
Day 4
Day 4 is why the Machame Route has the highest success rate of any of the trails.
It’s a day specifically designed to start acclimatizing us. We would ascend to an elevation matching base camp for lunch then descend again to sleep at about 13,000 feet. It’s super helpful in terms of dealing with altitude sickness and seeing how our bodies would react.
So we departed at a slow and steady pace uphill for several hours until we saw the Lava Towers in the distance where we would be having our lunch.
We got a group photo with the sign and spent about 1.5 hours at this high altitude before continuing on to camp.
Some of the group got headaches or nausea being at such high elevation for the first time. But as we reached camp, the symptoms mostly lifted.
Barranco Camp is an absolutely beautiful campsite overlooking the clouds. We had another fun group dinner before heading to bed!
Day 5
Woken up again by Gideon with coffee in bed (what a delight!) we had breakfast, did our daily oxygen level checks and the porters sang for us before leaving.
Today we would conquer the Barranco Wall which involves a lot of “monkey business” as our head guide Remmy called it. Which meant we would be scrambling over rocks, handing over ledges and generally feeling like kids on a huge playground. If you have a fear of a heights, moments of the Barranco Wall may be scary for you.
Despite my slight fear of heights, I absolutely loved it! It was one of my favorite sections. When we finally reached the top, the views were breathtaking! It was an incredible day.
That night we camped at the gorgeous Karanga Camp at 13,250 feet.
The stars were beyond anything you’d ever be able to see in town.
Day 6
Again we had our coffee in bed, daily oxygen/health check and songs from the porters to start our day!
This day would be our shortest day of hiking. We had a super scenic climb to base camp but it was only 2 miles.
We could feel the oxygen thinning as we continued to climb.
When we settled at the rocky base camp before lunch, we were all excited and nervous for the summit which we would begin that night at midnight!
So after we had lunch, everyone went to their tents to try to get a mid-day sleep before the summit night. We were woken up for dinner at 10pm. We ate then nervously dressed for the summit.
We would need many layers as temperatures drop drastically on the final descent up the mountain.
So once we were bundled up with our headlamps, we began the summit at midnight…
Day 7
We nervously gathered at the mess tent at midnight. We all knew the coming hours would be tough but we didn’t know just how HARD it would end up being.
Remmy gave us a pep talk and we set off! It was totally dark outside except for the brilliant stars and the glowing string of headlamps making their way up the mountain.
Other groups had started earlier and it was a strange and beautiful sight. We joined the countless lights attempting to make their way up the mountain before sunrise.
“Pole, pole” is a saying you will hear MANY times on Mount Kilimanjaro. It’s Swahili for “slowly, slowly.” Your guide will set the pace and gradually bring you up the mountain. It’s tedious but you simply cannot race up with the altitude. Even if you wanted to, there is no way you could rush up and still be able to breath. We felt like we were gasping for air even while climbing at our turtles pace.
For 7 hours we climbed in the dark with just the head lamps… the air getting thinner and thinner.. the porters sang to us to try and keep our spirits high. It was a challenge to say the least. But the determination of my group was amazing!
My fingers and toes were freezing. I felt like I couldn’t think straight from the altitude. No one spoke since we could barely breathe. My whole body felt sore but we kept climbing. One foot in front of the other. Our guides were helping carry bags for anyone struggling with altitude and offering so much assistance.. we never could have done it without them!
Eventually the sky began to turn pink. From high up in the clouds, we watched the sunrise. Tears poured down our faces. Not only was it a beautiful sight but if the sun was rising that meant we must be getting close to the top! Standing in the freezing cold watching that beautiful sun come up over the horizon was a moment I’ll never forget. I get chills just thinking about it now.
We continued on until eventually, we saw the first sign….
Stella Point!
Again many of us burst into tears. The relief to be done with the worst of the climb, coupled with the beauty of the mountain.. we all cheered and hugged.
We took photos here and a quick break before preparing to continue on to the highest peak: Uhuru Peak at 19,341 feet high.
We saw other climbers displaying serious signs of altitude sickness being rushed back down. A member of our group began to lose memory and had severely low oxygen so he couldn’t stay on the mountain long and had to be brought back down to safety. But I’m so proud of everyone for making it up!
We later found out a group of 12 who did our exact same route only had 1 of the 12 hikers make it to the top. I’m convinced our super high success rate is because we had an AMAZING guide who knew exactly how to get us all to the top safely and successfully.
Looking back on it, the last hour from Stella’s Point to Uhuru Peak became a bit of a joke amongst our group because we all seemed to turn into the walking dead. We basically looked like a horde of zombies stumbling along, struggling to talk or breath or function properly.
When we FINALLY saw the Uhuru Peak sign… you guessed it.. more tears, ha! Our guides began to sing the song of Mount Kilimanjaro as we drew closer and it was a totally surreal moment. It was at 8:05am after hiking all through the night that we reached the highest peak on the “Roof of Africa”!
You can’t stay at the summit long (both cold and altitude) so I took photos for everyone at the sign and we briefly celebrated our success, all hugging one another. What a moment it was!! I was just so damn proud of everyone. Despite people who struggled with altitude sickness early on in the trip, they soldiered on. Total warriors!
What I think none of us were prepared for was the descent. Once we summited and got a huge second wind, we forgot about how much downhill climbing we had that day.
Over 3 hours back down to base camp where we took a 2 hour nap and had lunch before continuing to descend the mountain until 7pm that evening. We were beyond exhausted. It’s one thing to summit a mountain in a day and another to also climb back down it once you’re spent.
But this group kept each other motivated and laughing and inspired until we reached our final camp, Mweka Camp at 10,150 feet.
Here the oxygen felt so full. We could breathe normally again! Any symptoms people were experiencing subsided. We had one last dinner at camp and passed out, totally exhausted.
Day 8
The next day, we woke for breakfast and began the remaining 3 hour climb back down to the exit gate.
Once again, we were in the rainforest. Beautiful views but this time, it was rainy. (We were so fortunate the rain held off every other day of our trek!)
As we descended, we swapped stories and Remmy told us tales from his hundreds of summits.
At long last, we saw the exit gate! We had done it!!
We waited inside while Remmy got our official certificates printed.
Sadly, it was then time to say goodbye to our amazing crew of porters. They sang for us one last time. It was such a special moment.
We took the Monkey Adventures bus back to Lindrin Lodge where we could finally shower after 7 days on the mountain! What a relief.
That night, we had our farewell dinner and I put together a little awards ceremony for the group. Remmy presented everyone with their certificates while we all laughed and reminisced about the highs and lows of the week.
Day 9
The following day, some people flew home while others went off on safari.
Thank you so much to Remmy and the team at Monkey Adventures for making this possible. We couldn’t have done it without our porters! And we were so blessed with a warrior group of travelers. So grateful for each and everyone of you for making this trip what it was!
Shop my Mount Kilimanjaro essentials:
Backpacking Poncho
Hydro Flask
Merinol Wool Hiking Socks
Hydration Bladder
Mount Kilimanjaro Group Trip Highlights
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Past group trips include: dog sledding in Minnesota, Southwest USA, Sail Croatia, backpacking the Superior Hiking Trail, Christmas in NYC, Iceland, Morocco, Turkey, Ireland, and more!
Mount Kilimanjaro Group Trip Highlights
Mount Kilimanjaro Group Trip Highlights Mount Kilimanjaro Group Trip Highlights
