Completed 7 day Machame Route with Nafika
Me (34M) and my fiancé (31F) just finished climbing Kilimanjaro and I wanted to share a few thoughts.
Firstly on the tour company - Nafika - they were brilliant. The operations team were great providing information beforehand via WhatsApp. The guides, Innocent and Efatha, were super friendly and approachable, while the porters and the cook all did fantastic jobs feeding us and setting up the camps. The company also provided a portable toilet which meant that we didn’t need to use the common ones - hugely important. They also pulled together a really good group. We were joined by a 20 year old US marine and a 65 year old retiree Canadian. We were all of a good fitness level and I don’t think anybody felt like the speed of the group was too fast or too slow.
I think the 7-day Machame route provides a good balance between spending enough time on the mountain to acclimatise and not going stir crazy with spending too much time in a tent playing cards. I wouldn’t recommend the 6-day route as it means that the day before your summit day is a huge day as well - meaning your chance of getting altitude sickness is much higher.
Do you need to be fit? No - but it definitely bloody helps. The biggest challenge here is the altitude. Most humans are not set up to operate at 4,000m+, while you can adapt I would suggest that you don’t want to be fighting two devils at once: altitude and fitness.
Summit day is hard. I’ve run a marathon, done Olympic triathlons, and done many 100 mile+ cycling events. I’d say that Kili summit day is up there with one of the most challenging things I’ve done physically.
I would say that you should be able to conformable walk for 3-4 hours at hiking pace at sea level to take this challenge on.
Things I wish I’d brought: inflatable pillow, another pair of long johns, enough hand and feet warmers to sink a battle ship (the cold at night is a real devil).
Good luck - I’d definitely recommend it as an experience but make sure you are well prepared.