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There are several ways to reach the top of Kilimanjaro as shown in the illustration below and our privately organised and self-funded adventure involved climbing the mountain using the difficult Mechame route. Like many, we chose this route as it affords spectacular views as one moves through a variety of habitats. It is known as the "whiskey" route, given its reputation for being a tough climb, relative to the Marangu, or "Coca Cola" route, which historically has been the most frequented trail. The Machame route is also longer generally taking six days to complete to allow better acclimatisation.
However, we added an extra day making seven days in total, not only for reasons of spending more days on the mountain to allow better acclimatisation but also because the two days that precede the summit attempt each involve only 4 hours of trekking per day rather than eight in one day and, importantly, one arrives at high camp at around lunchtime, rather than early evening, allowing more rest before the midnight push for the summit.
The route starts from the Machame Gate on the south-western edge of mountain in lush, fertile, rainforest and climbs first towards the Shira Plateau before traversing halfway around the mountain on the southern circuit, affording climbers great views of the peak from all angles. The summit is reached around dawn on day 6 from the east. The descent follows a different route on the Mweka trail, with just one night on the mountain during the descent. This means that following a long night to reach the summit for sunrise one descends 4,000m in about one and a half days - something the knees will almost certainly complain about, both during and after the event!
It is difficult to establish quite how long the route is. Depending on what one reads it appears to be anything from about 60km to 100km from entry at Mechame Gate to exit, made up of about 40km to 60km to Uhuru Peak and 23km to 40km back to Mweka Gate. We have no idea which figures are correct but have a strong suspicion that the errors relate to a mixture of confusing miles and kilometres and of then converting something that has already been converted, 6 miles, which is 10km, suddenly becomes 10 miles, which is 16km and so on... Altitude measurements appear to suffer from similar inaccuracies and the only thing everyone agrees on it that to top is at 5,895m, give or take a metre or two. The diagram above is based on the distances in the excellent guide book "Kilimanjaro - a trekking guide to Africa's highest mountain" that makes a really good read and seems to be the "must have" book for anyone contemplating this adventure. It is available from most major book sellers and a variety of other on-line sources. One thing is clear. Irrespective of whether one treks 60km or 100km to complete the entire climb, it is a long way both in terms of distance walked and altitude gained and lost. The achievement of reaching whatever is ones final altitude should not be underestimated - this is a real challenge to all who attempt it!
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