Kilimanjaro Climb Part 6 – To Barafu Camp

The previous entries in this Kilimanjaro Trip journal are the Introduction, Arrival in Moshi, To Machame Camp, To Shira Camp and To Barranco Camp. Alice’s words (with the bare minimum of editing by me) will be in italics. My words will be in the usual font I use for these blog entries.

Today’s entry is Day 4 of the Kilimanjaro climb on the Machame Route. Day 4 is a hike from Barranco Camp (3950m/12,956ft) to Barafu Camp (4600m/15,088ft).

Elevation Change: 650 meters
Distance: 13 kilometers in 6¾ hours
Habitat: Alpine Desert


Alice’s journal:

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April 3, 6:40 AM

Darn. I’m awake and it is raining again. The first two days I was marveling at all the advantages of trekking off season. Now, I’m not so sure.

It starts to get light at 6:00 AM and I’m usually awake since I’ve been sleeping since 8:00 PM. Soon afterwards the porters that work the kitchen start talking and I can hear the gas stove. The large White-Nape Ravens start squawking and swooping over the campsite.

At 7:15 they bring warm washing water to my tent and yell at the other porters to get up. Breakfast is served at 7:30 sharp.

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April 3, 5:23 PM

It is 5:23 and I’m in my tent trying to warm up and willing my wet/damp clothes to dry that are hanging around me.

One porter has not made it to camp and this is very bad news. He should have been here two to four hours ago. John has just sent some other porters down to look for him.

It rained on and off all day today. John says that he has never seen anything like it. The porters are poorly dressed and probably are not well prepared for the rainy season. I pray that all turns out well for the missing porter.

We hiked for 6¾ hours today. There were no views and we mostly trudged through the mist or rain.

We first climbed the Barranco Wall, which is a high steep rock scramble. John knew exactly where we had to place our hands and feet to get over the trickier sections. And we had to do exactly what he said. He didn’t like us taking any chances with our own route finding.



Except for a downhill bit into the green Karanga Valley, it was a long tedious boring slog through barren rock fields.



The last few hours I felt the altitude again. A very mild headache developed and I walked very slow using my “running-fairly-hard” breath. Exhale with a bit of a blow and inhale deeply in two stages. I think that I must have developed this technique years ago.

The gear that I was so proud of failed on me today. My boots and three layers of socks are very wet. The Outdoor Store promised me that my boots would never leak due to the Gore-Tex lining. They also told me that it was absolutely unnecessary to seal proof my boots. How false.

I’m pleased with my acclimatizing.



We are at Barafu Camp. Not a very pretty camp. It is on a ridge with nothing but rocks. The long drops are scattered about and there are two green round huts for the Park rangers.

Barafu is 4600m (15,100ft). We reached this same elevation yesterday when we went to the Lava Tower.

Alice inserts this postscript later: Missing porter came in safely.

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The next part of this Kilimanjaro Trip journal describes the Summit Attempt.