Ascension of Kilmanjaro

Arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, located not far from Moshi, a sleepy town at the foot of Kilimanjaro where the humid heat is conducive to coffee cultivation in the foothills of the mountain. You rest, because the journey has been tiring, and you are already acclimatising at an altitude of 1,000 metres. Don't forget your mosquito repellent, malaria is very common here!

This first day will be tough, because you have to acclimatize quickly and get into a fairly sporty rhythm. You enter the park from the Machame Gate at 1,828 m and after check-in and organizing the trek with the guide and porters, you climb through a primary forest to the Machame Hut, a refuge located at 3,000 meters. Allow 7 hours of walking for 10.8 km

After a solid breakfast at the camp, you start the ascent to the Shira plateau. You can already see the glaciers of the Western Breach. Continue to the eponymous refuge, where the nights are cold, cover up! This second day is a little less sporty than the first to let you adapt to the altitude. Allow 6 hours of walking for 5.2 km.

This 3rd day of ascent has a fairly steady pace and the landscape is very changing. Arrived at the highest point of Lava Tower after 5 hours of walking, you are in a semi-desert mineral panorama, the view is breathtaking. After lunch, you take two hours to go back down to the Barranco refuge, with an exceptional view of the Western Breach. So count 7 hours of walking for 11 km

You are beginning to feel the benefits of acclimatization of your body, which will be useful for the 8 hours of walking this day, over 9.5 km. You climb early in the morning to the foothills of the Heim Glacier, from where you can see Mount Kilimanjaro perfectly. The road then heads towards the Karanga Valley. This is the last water point before reaching Camp Barafu

Finally the big day has arrived! This long night ascent for 5 hours to Stella Point (you leave at 11:30 pm) is psychologically difficult. But the most spectacular sunrise of your life is well worth it! After a short break - at such altitudes you don't stay still for long - you continue another 2 to 3 hours of ascent in the snow, until Uhuru Peak, the summit at 5,895 meters! The descent for 6 to 8 hours to Mweka Camp has a difference in altitude of 2,900 m, because the camp is 3,000 m away..

Relative rest, since you will still have between 4 to 6 hours of walking to complete the 8.5 km to the Mweka Gate of the national park. The body is worn out, some knees tired, you have to walk quietly. You reach the village of Mweka for lunch before reaching Moshi by transfer and finally the international airport for the return flight to Paris.