Reaching new heights: My trip up Mount Kilimanjaro

The Machame Route, also known as the “whisky route” due to its challenging course (suggesting the need for something stronger than its Coca-Cola counterpart), is a 7–8 day hike from Machame Gate (1,640 metres) to Kilimanjaro’s summit at 5,895 metres - the world’s highest freestanding mountain and Africa’s highest point.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of arriving at the summit on your seventh day of hiking, eight hours after leaving base camp, surrounded by friends who helped get you there, with the sun rising behind the glaciers.

After six days of hiking and around 62 kilometres walked, we arrived at base camp (Barafu Camp) at 4,673 metres around midday, following a four-hour morning hike. We needed to preserve our energy - at this altitude, we were both showing signs of altitude sickness. The Machame Route has the highest success rate of all Kilimanjaro routes due to its “climb high, sleep low” acclimatisation profile, and we’d been lucky not to suffer any major symptoms until now.

We enjoyed lunch before taking a well-deserved siesta. That afternoon we played cards with our team before dinner was served at 5pm and an early night was ordered. At 10.30pm, our waiter woke us with tea and breakfast: uji (porridge), followed by a cooked breakfast - like every morning. We ate as much as we could before packing our day bags and bidding farewell to our team of porters, who saw us off with the infamous Jambo Bwana Kilimanjaro song, one that will always bring a smile to my face.

Our expert guides led the way as we climbed towards the stars, with the city lights of Arusha and Moshi glowing far in the distance. We climbed, and we climbed. The temperature dropped dramatically as we gained altitude, and the effects of altitude sickness intensified. Flasks of ginger tea helped, as did singing the Swahili songs we’d learnt along the way.

The sky began to lighten around 5am, and I thought we must be close. “We’re almost there - we can rest when we get to that corner.” That corner felt like it would never arrive. But finally, we reached Stella Point (5,685 metres) - just one hour from the summit. The views were stunning. We were exhausted, but we couldn’t give up now.

The final push was relentless, with our guides helping to carry our bags, motivating us to sing and to keep moving, as well as bringing out our favourite snacks for that final push.

The memory of reaching the Kilimanjaro summit sign still brings tears to my eyes. Relief, pride, and overwhelming emotion hit all at once. People were crying, hugging, celebrating. Familiar faces from the climb appeared at the top, all filled with a shared sense of achievement unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The views were spectacular - you truly feel on top of the world.

But the real challenge came next: what goes up must come down - and much faster.

My knees are still recovering, but my heart is still full. For anyone seeking a true adventure and challenge, I couldn’t recommend climbing Kilimanjaro more.