Kilimanjaro expedition travelogue

About the ascent of Kilimanjaro

Day by day follow our Kilimanjaro expedition via Machame route to the roof of Africa 5895 metres high.

We were 8 friends aiming at conquering together this mythical summit. Luckily the weather was fair and the summit was covered in snow, giving striking landscapes.

In addition to the photo gallery and the video you will find many useful tips on these pages.

Paris - Moshi

We left Paris at 10pm bound for Doha (Qatar airways) were we landed at 6am. Doha is the capital city of Qatar, small country by its size but enormous by the wealth. The tourist attractions are seldom but one can for example go on a 4x4 ride in sand dunes.
We catch our flight to Nairobi where we landed at 2pm. Our guide and bus were...

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Machame gate - Machame camp 3000m

Early morning breakfast at Keys hotel Moshi with a breathtaking view on the Kilimandjaro. But one hour later the summit was already covered in clouds until the end of the day!
Anyway it's time to leave to Machame gate. It takes less than an hour to drive to...

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Machame huts - Shira camp 3830m

During the night I felt the first effects of altitude sickness. I woke up twice with a disturbing impression of suffocating. Nothing too serious but when it happens in the middle of the night, it makes you fell worry.
After a breakfast under the surveillance of Kibo, Kilimanjaro'top, we start the day by...

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Shira - Barranco camp 3950m

Today is likely to be a tough day as it starts with a regular but endless climbing to lava tower at more than 4500 metres. In addition to the efforts this stage is essential for acclimatization because...

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Barranco - Karanga 3900m

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...

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Karanga - Barafu 4600m

Yesterday's clouds are now all gone, the sky is clear and the sun magnificently illuminates Kibo. Since we left Shira we've been walking around the summit without really getting close but today we'll climb some 700m to reach Barafu camp at 4600 metres, the last camp before...

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Barafu (Uhuru peak 5895m) - High camp 3800m

Once warmly dressed, we enjoy a last cup of tea and a few biscuits then, around 1a.m we start the final climbing to Kibo, the highest summit in Africa.
We feel quite confident about our motication and physical confition, the only thing that might prevent us from reaching our goal is mal des montagnes......

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High camp - Mweka gate 1500m

This night was by far the best one since the beginning of the trek, probably due to the efforts made the day before.
The descent to Mweka is pretty quick, we don't really take time to enjoy the landscape but our minds...

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Moshi - Paris

We left Moshi by bus bound for Kilimanjaro airport. On our way we had a last beautiful view on Kibo that we no longer look the same way.
There is always respect and fear but also a certain pride as...

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