I did the 6 Day Machame Route with an Army buddy of mine. I'll go into the details of what that entailed but Ill start with the most important part: Tipping your crew.
In general, some key... tips:
1) only bring USD bills newer than 2006. Bills prior to this are not accepted by banks.
2) Bring small denomination bills ($10 and $20). Figure out what you will tip each person and ensure you have the correct denominations. The only way you will be sure that your crew get the tips you assign is to give them the exact change, in person. Don't trust anyone to divide up larger bills on your crews behalf.
3) Don't flinch on what you tip. It may seem like an unnecessary and annoying extra couple hundred USD, but these guys work their holes off to haul your stuff up the mountain. They deserve the ten bucks or so a day. They in fact rely on it.
Pre-Trek Admin:
All pre-trek correspondence with Monkey was via email and was prompt and informative. No real surprises met us on the ground. Transport was there to pick us up on time at the airport (0530) and the pre-trek brief took place one day before we started and covered all the salient points. We took them up on the private toilet for $100 USD (plus $60 USD tip for the additional porter who carried it) and it was definitely worth the added expense.The balance was paid in cash at that point and then the guide took us to a rental shop and a pharmacy to pick up bits and pieces we didn't have. Myself, I got altitude sickness pills for about 5 USD. Whether they were actually helpful or not I don't know, but I did make it up and down without much effect from AMS.
Day 1: Machame Gate to Machame Camp
No issues on this day. Transport was punctual (0800 pickup from hotel) and although we made a late start, no issues getting to Machame Camp. The private toilet is clutch because the toilets on site are standard holes in the ground with a set number (call it 6) that serve the whole camp, regardless of numbers of trekkers. Not only does your private loo give you a private space to do your business, you can also use the tent it comes in to wash up with the hot water and basin that is provided each night. The food is pretty impressive for being made at altitude with limited ingredients. It's tasty, filling but doesn't really vary too much. Expect soup, carbs (noodles and rice) with a vegetable sauce, bits of meat, hot tea and fruit.
Pro Tip: Bring Wet-Ones (50+) and hand sanitizer
Day 2: Machame Camp to Shira Camp
Relatively steep climb over 5 km, but no issues. Short day (3 hours or so).
Day 3: Shira Camp to Baranco Camp via Lava Tower Camp
One of the longer days. 2-3 hours to Lava Camp, acclimatize there for an hour or so, then 2-3 hours to Baranco.
Day 4: Baranco Camp to Barafu Camp via Karanga Camp
The most scenic day. The path to Karanga gets you a great view of the mountain, if not hidden by fog. Depending on your pace you get to Barafu in the mid-afternoon. Summit night is that same evening, so you need to repack your bag for cold weather (-10 to -15 degrees C), cram food in your food hole and then sleep for three hours.
Pro Tip: Bring heavy calorie rations or camping meals for the summit night. The only food provided are some biscuits and tea. Not enough in my opinion. We saw a dozen or so hikers brought off the mountain by their porters. Not sure exactly why, but having no food in the belly prior to a strenuous, high altitude climb that takes 5-10 hours depending on pace might have had something to do with it.
Day 5: Barafu to Uhuru Peak, then descent to Mweka Gate
We started at midnight and made it to the top at 0546. Easily the hardest ascent of the trip in terms of time and steepness, but you will be motivated to get there because you are so close. Got back to Barafu Camp for 0830. Slept for 30 mins, smashed food and then got off the mountain. Total distance was 27 km (5km up, 5km to Barafu, 17km to Mweka Gate). Our guide offered us this option depending on how we felt and we took it. I would not recommend it to anyone who is not in excellent shape. Its a long slog. We got to Mweka at 1630.
Post Trek Admin
Some miscommunication with rides for the airport, but ultimately Kennedy (one of the operations managers) sorted us out. No issue getting out to the airport for a 0640 flight two days later. A special thanks to Isack, Mohammad, Elvis, Richard and the rest of the porters for doing all the hard stuff to get us to the peak and back. The strength and stamina of the porters is nothing less than extraordinary.
Final thoughts:
1) Tip your porters appropriately. Guidance exists online, but in general its $20 USD/day for the guide, $15 USD/day for the cook and assistant guide, and $10 USD/day for the porters.
2) bring high calorie rations for summit night
3) bring line or paracord to hang your wet stuff up inside your tent or in the food tent
4) Eat everything. Your appetite may fade the higher you get and you burn many times more calories at altitude during strenuous hiking than you think. I ate everything and still lost 5 lbs.
5) bring a little flag for your tent. Its an easy social ice-breaker, it makes for a good photo op at the top and you can secure it to your tent so its easy to spot in the sea of similar looking tents.
6) Dont be sh!t ;)
Good luck and happy trekking.
