Victorine's adventure: climbing Kilimanjaro by the Machame route in 7 days

"Day 1: from Machamé gate (1 800 m) to Machamé camp (3 010 m)

We had a team of five girls: my two roommates, Julie and Alizée, and two other customers of 20 and 21 years old, Laurie and Axelle. We left the Springlands Hotel around 9am after the briefing with the guide, Yohana. Laurie and Axelle arrived later the last night, so they could not do the briefing.

The road was short, and we arrived quickly at Machamé gate. We waited a long time, maybe 3-4 hours, in a great space where you can buy coffee, tea, hot chocolate or climbing equipments! I took a delicious cappuccino to warm me up. We ate our lunch box.

Then, Yohana came for us to start the climb, with the assistant guide Nicolas and the French translator. It was strange because we did not know where was the camp and if it was a long or medium walking. We were in the rainy forest, whereas the name suggests, it was raining! We walked slowly slowly, polé polé in Swahili, to acclimatize ourselves, and we drank a lot of water (3-4 litres per day).

After 5 hours, we arrived at the Machamé camp! We were so happy even though we were wet and exhausted. The waiters gave us a snack with popcorn, biscuits, hot chocolate, tea or coffee, in a big tent dedicated to the meal. We ate among ourselves, without the team and without the other clients of the camp. Afterwards, we could have a nap in our tent. These are tents for two people.

We had dinner: soup with white bread as a starter, and fishes, potatoes, bananas, avocados, cabbages and other vegetables! The meal was delicious and very copious. The guide came into the tent after lunch to debrief us for the next day, and took our pulse and oxygen levels: this was a routine during the stay. Everything was good, we could go to sleep. I slept at 9pm, but I woke up at 1am to need to go to the private toilet, and I felt bad because I was nauseous. Nausea is one of the most common symptoms of altitude sickness along with diarrhea and headaches. I drank some water and want back to sleep. I was very well the next morning.

Day 2: from Machamé camp (3 010 m) to Shira camp (3 840 m)

We were woken up at 6:30 am by a porter or waiter who gave us tea or coffee in the bed! They brought us a bowl of hot water in the morning and evening to wash ourselves. We also used wipes for our hygiene. After that, we prepared us and had breakfast. The porters filled our water bottles and camelbacks with drinking water, and they gave us snacks for the day. Yohana took our pulse and oxygen levels. We walked during 5 hours, with short breaks for drinking and eating. During the walk, we lost one of the girls, Julie, who came back down because she felt very bad (she was vomiting and had a strong stomach ache). This was a hard blow for the team...

We arrived at Shira camp at 3 pm where we had water to clean ourselves, lunched, had a rest, walked during 40 minutes to acclimate us for tomorrow and did what we wanted. We had a snack and then dinner, and hot water also. It was a wonderful day, even if we climbed a lot! It was hard.

Day 3: from Shira camp (3 840 m) to Lava Tower (4 630 m) to Barranco Camp (3 960 m)

We walked during 5.5 hours to join Lava Tower, where we had a excellent lunch: chicken with French fries!! The climbing was hard... After a short break, we walked around 2 hours to arrive at Barranco Camp. Our guide took our pulse and oxygen levels to check our acclimatization to the altitude: everyone was fine! We had a rest because we were exhausted. We had dinner and slept again to be ready for the fourth day.

Day 4: from Barranco Camp (3 960 m) to Karanga Camp (4 035 m)

We walked a lot, I lost the habit of noting the time of the walk and looking at the time because it finally demoralized me. For me, it was the worst day of the trip... I vomited several times (during the walk, after dinner...) and had diarrhea. These are normal symptoms of altitude sickness, with the headaches. Yohana reassured me and advised me to eat, drink and sleep. I followed this advice and also took medication. My pulse and oxygen levels were good. Considering the previous day (with the climb to Lava Tower) and today, these aches were not surprising, but it was a difficult and trying day for me.

Day 5: from Karanga Camp (4 035 m) to Barafu Camp (4 640 m)

We walked 3 hours this day because it allows to have a nap before the big ascent!! Indeed, we arrived at the camp for the lunch, and we had a nap before the dinner, prepared our clothes for tomorrow morning. The guide gave us advice for the last ascent and checked our health: everything was okay, thank God! We did not want to give up or come back so close to our goal.

Day 6: from Barafu Camp (4 640 m) to Stella Point (5 685 m) to Uhuru Peak (5 895 m) to Mweka Camp (3 090 m)

We woke up at 11:30 pm, we clothed and had breakfast. It was so cold... I am not sensitive to the cold, but I really felt the difference in temperature compared to other days. We had warm jackets, gloves and under-gloves, ski socks, hats and neck warmers! We did the final checks with Yohana, and some porters who this time accompanied us on the climb. It was very reassuring to know that we were each accompanied by one or two people! Then we left! We walked during 6 or 7 hours to join Stella Point. With the headlamps, the darkness, the cold and the hardness of the slope... it was extremely hard. We did some breaks, our porters and guide were very kind: they carried out our bags for us, gave water, tea or food, sang for us, so we would not fall asleep. Without them, we could not succeed.

Arrival at Stella Point, my roommate Alizée wanted to stay here and come back down, but Yohana saw that she could make it to Uhuru Peak and that she would regret for the rest of her life not to have finished her climb! So he looked after her and supported her all the way to Uhuru Peak.

For me, the gap between Stella Point and Uhuru Peak was really difficult because I could hardly breathe. My heart was beating extremely fast, so I had to stop regularly. Fortunately, one porter and Nicolas supported me and held my arm. Finally, we have reached the top of Africa!

Then I went down with Nicolas at lightning speed to Barafu Camp, where the porters stayed behind to applaud me and give me orange juice. I then rested. After recovering from our emotions, we had lunch. We walked for 2 hours to reach Mweka Camp, where we slept like babies.

Day 7: from Mweka Camp (3 090 m) to Mweka Gate (1 650 m) to Moshi

We had breakfast and headed back down to the door. We passed through the rainy forest where it was still raining. It was a long walk, and the descent made our knees hurt! We were down for 4-5 hours. At the end, Axelle's knees were very sore, thus Yohanna called a rescue car to finish the last few metres so Axelle would not get hurt. I decided to finish on foot. I was able to meet monkeys on the way down, I was delighted because I had not seen any on the first day.

At the door, the whole team sang us a song, and we thanked each other. Honestly, without all these people, we would never have made it. It was the most extraordinary, difficult and human experience of my life. I would recommend this climb to anyone. We were not professionals, we had not trained, we were only four young sporty girls. During the climb, the mind takes precedence over the body!

If you want to climb the biggest mountain in Africa, I recommend Zara Tours."

Victorine, 24-year-old French woman