The mountain Kilimanjaro crew is an essential group of support staff that help you summit Mount Kilimanjaro. Your extensive team consists of hard-working Kilimanjaro porters, guides, and cooks. They provide specially trained support throughout the climb to assist you in reaching the summit.
- Porters – carry gears, supplies, and camping equipment.
- Guides – guide you safely and efficiently up the mountain.
- Cooks – provide all meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner).
Our Kilimanjaro guides are licensed by the Kilimanjaro National Park and speak fluent English. They are trained to deal with acute mountain sickness on Kilimanjaro (AMS, or altitude sickness) and mountain first aid. Importantly, they understand the network of shortcuts to escort climbers to safety need be.
Size of the Mount Kilimanjaro crew
The size of your Kilimanjaro crew depends on how many members are in your climbing group and how much your bags weigh. This ultimately affects how much you will need to tip. According to recommendations set by the Kilimanjaro National Park (KINIPA), each Kilimanjaro porter is allowed to carry a maximum of 20kg (including their own gear).
- Porters – 3 per person
- Lead guide – 1 per group
- Assistant guide – 1 per 2-3 climbers
- Cook – 1 per group
- Assistant cook – 1 if a group is over 10
Guides, Porters and Chefs on Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro Guides:
We are proud to say that we have the best guides on the mountain. And unlike other companies that say this, for us it’s actually true. As the #1 operator on the Kilimanjaro, we are able to pay high wages, provide plenty of work, and treat our staff well.
Because of this, our guide positions are always in high demand, allowing us to select the very best to work with us.When it comes to Kilimanjaro guides, there are many licensed individuals who have collected hundreds of successful summits through their careers. Though it definitely helps, that alone does not make them skilled, competent guides.
In addition to experience, competency comes from setting high standards of performance, continuously training to meet or exceed those standards, and maintaining a culture of professionalism.
ABUU: was born and raised in Arusha. He started as a mountain porter, and became an assistant guide. He received his diploma in Wildlife Management and is a certified. He has summited more than 250 times. He has been trained by KINAPA as a guide and is also he is a certified Wilderness First Responders (WFR)
Our Cooks:
“Amazing food, especially under the circumstances it has been prepared”, “The food was better than in a hotel” – these are only two of the numerous positive comments we have received from our satisfied guests.
Our chefs are professionally trained to prepare tasty and nutritious food on the mountain. They often work in harsh conditions – in howling winds or ice rain using only gas stoves in a kitchen tent or a small hut. They can conjure up substantial cooked breakfasts and delicious and hearty 3-course dinners with warm soups prepared with fresh vegetables, a mouth-watering main course such as pasta with a rich meat sauce and vegetables or pancakes followed by a dessert or a plate of fruits for something sweet.
They get up when it is still dark in the mornings to boil drinking water for the day’s hike and go to sleep after every guest and porter has been fed. Our chefs can also cater for vegetarians, vegan or climbers with food allergies or intolerances or any other special dietary requirements such as Halal and Kosher, by prior arrangement.
There are fifteen cooks permanently working with our company and they all receive regular training in new techniques and recipes.
Porters:
The porters on Kilimanjaro are an incredible breed of men. (And the ones who work on Kili are largely – though not exclusively – male.) The youngest porters on the mountain are about 18, which is the minimum legal age. (Though I must say that some look a good deal younger.) At the other extreme, they usually stop working on the mountain at about 40, though occasionally they can be much older.
They are, without doubt, amongst the hardest workers on Kilimanjaro. To see them traipsing up the mountain, water in one hand, cooker in another, rucksack on the back and picnic table on the head, is staggering to behold. And though they are supposed to carry no more than 15kg, many, desperate for work in what is an over-supplied market, carry much, much more.
And that’s not all. At the end of the day’s walk, the average trekker spends his or her time at camp moaning about the hardships they are suffering. It’s a lamentation that is usually performed while cramming down mouthfuls of popcorn while clasping a steaming hot cup of tea.
Meanwhile, those hardy porters are putting up the tents, helping with the preparation of the food, fetching more water and generally making sure every trekker’s whim is, within reason, catered for.
