I hiked to the crater yesterday alone. I left my airbnb at 5:15 and caught a shared taxi for 350 from gare du nord in a few minutes to Banque Centrale. The shared taxi stand to Mvouni is less than 100 meters from the bank and costs 400. I only had to wait a few minutes before the taxi filled. The taxi was skipping the center of Mvouni (I believe if I spoke French he would go) and I dropped and walked 400 meters to the start of the trek. I use maps.me- a free offline map. I started hiking at 5:40 at about 350 meters and the path on maps.me was a bit off by about 150 meters. But it's obvious which road. Then the path all the way to 1600 meters is on this rough road- so while always going up not too steep. However the scenery is also nothing great. I think this is about 10 kilometers. Then when the road finished there are a few buildings and now maps.me works great. The path is not too difficult to follow and brings you to 2350 at Karthala Northern Crater viewpoint. The view is amazing!! I then hiked to Karthala crater viewpoint. It will be obvious when to go down into the crater if you use maps.me and then i just made my own path. I hike all the time and it took me 4 hours and 10 minutes to get to the first viewpoint. I stayed up there a bit over 90 minutes. I never saw a person after leaving the buildings at the end of the road. I was surprised how easy a trek it was for going up 2000 meters. I wore shorts and t-shirts and put on a jacket at the crater due to the wind. I got down just before 15:00.

I must begin by saying that on my decent I thought I was not going to make it back! I had read a few things about the hike, but nothing prepared me for what was to come. It was a very difficult hike as the terrain is very tricky because it is mostly basaltic lava debris in different sizes and shapes, resulting in very stages that were very different from one another and making these extremely difficult. The ascent has an elevation of approximately 2200m and the length is 25km to the summit (I wore a tracker), which means you have to be fairly fit to be able to do this. Good trekking boots are mandatory, as well as trousers, a hat, a coat or a jacket (or at least a sweater, because it is chilly in the summit) and a backpack with enough food and water (minimum 3l — I took 1.5l and I had to ration it in order to have water until the end of the day) for a whole day. You must go with a tour guide as the route is not marked; I also suggest that you hike in a group of 3 people (minimum), because if something goes wrong, there is a better chance of getting things sorted out. I went alone with the guide and, almost at the end of the descent, I fell and sprained my ankle. I was in excruciating pain, but had to slowly walk (hop) back on my own with the aid of a stick that the guide made for me. If possible, do the hike in 2 days, sleep somewhere along the way and go with a guide with experience. Having said all this, the hike is totally worth it! When you get to the summit and you see the crater... it's overwhelming! Even more so when you see the second and deeper crater! The hike takes you through dense forest, followed by (very few) prairie-like areas, then a never-ending vision of dark basaltic terrain. Your feet will often slightly dig into this terrain, and you get used to the sound it makes... a screetch, screetch, screetch... Other times, you have to concentrate on the route and the terrain, as you look for the best rock/stone to put your foot on... sometimes you feel that stone slightly moving and have to balance your body so not to fall... But when you can look up, it's beautiful! Nature has started to reclaim its place and one can see tiny sprouts of green among the dark basaltic stones. Beautiful! I thought I would NEVER climb the Karthala again, but now I know that, if I can, I will go back!