Day 6 of the Kilimanjaro expedition

lava tower

Key variables

Start: Barranco camp (3950m)
Finish: Karanga camp (3900m)
Difference in height: - 50m
Max altitude: 4280m
Duration: 3h
Distance: 5km

Steep Barranco wall and Heim glacier

Barranco camp is surrounded by many lobelia one of the few species able to withstand the extreme conditions.
Today's trail starts by the most difficult part: Barranco wall, an almost vertical rocky face of some 200 metres high.
Walking poles are useless here as we often need to use our hands to lift on this rocky wall.

As the slope is steep we climb rapidly which gives a wonderful view of the area. We think we see the summit of the wall but as we reach it we realise it was not... but never mind, it's the beginning of the day and we're full of beans! More over, the landscape is so beautiful that we really enjoy this trail to the summit that we reach approximatively 1 hour and 20 minutes after we left the camp. Once at the top, Heim glacier is overhanging. After a quick break we start to descend in a desertic landscape as far as Karanga valley. Then the vegetation is back again offering a stunning contrast. We rapidly reach the bottom of the valley where runs what will be our last source of water until Kibo, Kilimanjaro's top.

Here lies the last difficulty of the day, a steep rocky wall that we climb in laces. Twenty minutes later we reach Karanga camp... in the clouds.

Most of the trekkers continue as far as Barafu camp but we chose to divide this long walk into two to increase our acclimatization to altitude, giving us as many chances as possible to reach the summit.

We enjoyed the afternoon exploring the surroundings of the camp, playing cards and resting as tomorrow is a crucial day.