Kilimanjaro - Machame Route
Machame Route
One of the main routes up Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, climbing from Machame Gate through rainforest and moorland to Uhuru Peak and coming down by Mweka.
At a glance
- Starts in
- Machame Gate
- Ends in
- Mweka Gate
- Length
- 48 km
- On foot
- ≈ 2 days
- Countries
- Tanzania
About the trail
Machame is one of the most popular ways up Kilimanjaro, steeper and more scenic than the old hut route from Marangu. It climbs through rainforest to the Shira Plateau, traverses below the southern glaciers past the Lava Tower and up the Barranco Wall, and makes the summit push at night from Barafu camp to Uhuru Peak at 5,895 m. Most operators run it over six or seven days, which gives time to acclimatise by climbing high and sleeping lower.
Unlike the Marangu route with its huts, Machame uses tented camps run by licensed operators. Climbers must go with a licensed guide, and the descent is by the Mweka gate. The mountain is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Length measured on the OpenStreetMap line; no official figure checked yet.
No source gives the days on foot, so they are worked out from the length at 20–25 km a day.