I would suggest to bring a warm sleepingbag for you'll be sleeping in tents and the nights, even in summer, can get very cold. Also bring a sleepingmat for some of our team rented ones got extremly wet during the day and they had to sleep on a wet mat and hence a wet bag for a couple of nights.
We also had a waterpurifier, on the way up to Barafu you will pass a river which is the last waterpoint. The guides will take water then for cooking only, we filled up all our bottles there. Maybe the water didn't have to be purified but we didn't want to take any chances..
on the way up to Barafu you will pass a river which is the last waterpoint. The guides will take water then for cooking only
This depends on the tour operator you use. My group used the Marangu Hotel and spent 2 days beyond the water supply (Karanga Valley), one at Barafu Hut and another at Barafu High Camp. Both days our guides/porters had drinking water for us. I'm not saying this is an ideal situation as I don't mind carrying more myself, but it's the service that was provided. However, they didn't have extra water for the hike back down to Rau Camp after the summit hike. Luckily some of us had extra :-)
Marcel: Who did you use for your tour operator/guide service?
Hi John, the operator we used was 'worldtours' based in Arusha, you can get in touch with them at: infoworldtours@habari.co.tz
In fact we carried all our water ourselves (except my father, but then he is 66 years old), as you are suppose to drink a liter per thousand meters each of us carried around 6 litres of water on the last day. And no porters go up to the summit with you.
If windy, it can be extremely cold during the summit attack. Be absolutely sure to have warm clothes and gloves. Gore-tex or similar are best. We suffered such a situation, and it was cold enough (in the beginning of september) to stop our headlamps working.
The park service and guides have constructed an excellent trail from the Machame Gate to Machame Hut between Sept. and Jan. This new trail is a very smooth bed of gravel that is raised about 8 inches with water runoff ditches to either side. Even in the rain it remained dry and pleasent.
There is a nice path all the way up to Machame Camp (since about a year, but I'm not sure about that). We just returned from Tanzania. And although we had rain on the first day (Machame Gate to Machame Camp) we didn't have to struggle through mud anymore. At several points we saw parts of the 'old muddy trail'.
Marcel van der Wal - Jun 3, 2002 8:37 am - Hasn't voted
Route CommentI would suggest to bring a warm sleepingbag for you'll be sleeping in tents and the nights, even in summer, can get very cold. Also bring a sleepingmat for some of our team rented ones got extremly wet during the day and they had to sleep on a wet mat and hence a wet bag for a couple of nights.
We also had a waterpurifier, on the way up to Barafu you will pass a river which is the last waterpoint. The guides will take water then for cooking only, we filled up all our bottles there. Maybe the water didn't have to be purified but we didn't want to take any chances..
John - Jun 3, 2002 9:26 am - Hasn't voted
Route Commenton the way up to Barafu you will pass a river which is the last waterpoint. The guides will take water then for cooking only
This depends on the tour operator you use. My group used the Marangu Hotel and spent 2 days beyond the water supply (Karanga Valley), one at Barafu Hut and another at Barafu High Camp. Both days our guides/porters had drinking water for us. I'm not saying this is an ideal situation as I don't mind carrying more myself, but it's the service that was provided. However, they didn't have extra water for the hike back down to Rau Camp after the summit hike. Luckily some of us had extra :-)
Marcel: Who did you use for your tour operator/guide service?
Marcel van der Wal - Jun 4, 2002 1:50 am - Hasn't voted
Route CommentHi John, the operator we used was 'worldtours' based in Arusha, you can get in touch with them at: infoworldtours@habari.co.tz
In fact we carried all our water ourselves (except my father, but then he is 66 years old), as you are suppose to drink a liter per thousand meters each of us carried around 6 litres of water on the last day. And no porters go up to the summit with you.
eza - Dec 5, 2002 5:29 am - Voted 9/10
Route CommentIf windy, it can be extremely cold during the summit attack. Be absolutely sure to have warm clothes and gloves. Gore-tex or similar are best. We suffered such a situation, and it was cold enough (in the beginning of september) to stop our headlamps working.
miztflip - Feb 13, 2004 9:20 am - Hasn't voted
Route CommentThe park service and guides have constructed an excellent trail from the Machame Gate to Machame Hut between Sept. and Jan. This new trail is a very smooth bed of gravel that is raised about 8 inches with water runoff ditches to either side. Even in the rain it remained dry and pleasent.
Rockhopper - Apr 2, 2004 8:47 am - Hasn't voted
Route CommentThere is a nice path all the way up to Machame Camp (since about a year, but I'm not sure about that). We just returned from Tanzania. And although we had rain on the first day (Machame Gate to Machame Camp) we didn't have to struggle through mud anymore. At several points we saw parts of the 'old muddy trail'.
miztflip - Apr 2, 2004 9:28 am - Hasn't voted
Route CommentI added the same info back in Feb. but it hasn't been updated in the text. Hopefully someone will do this soon.