Kilimanjaro Guides and Porters

Once on your Kilimanjaro expedition, your Kilimanjaro crew of well-equipped guides and porters, will rank second only to your mental determination, in terms of important factors contributing to a successful Kilimanjaro summit attempt. For the duration of your Kilimanjaro expedition, your guide will be your advisor, he will lead you to the summit, and he will bring down safely again. It will be important that you work closely with him and take note of his advice.

As per Kilimanjaro National Park rules all hikers must be accompanied by qualified mountain guides when hiking up Kilimanjaro. All our Kilimanjaro treks are lead by highly trained and qualified guides, registered with the Kilimanjaro National Parks.

Head guide

All groups will have 1 head guide (possible 2 for large groups) who acts as the chief on your Kilimanjaro expedition and co-ordinates the mountain rules, company policies and your requirements with the rest of the team. The head guide has more duties compared to an assistant guide, they have more responsibilities before, during and after the trek to ensure your Kilimanjaro adventure is a success. Each of our head guides have been selected based on years of experience, good safety record and through positive feedback from previous hikers.

Assistant guides

For groups larger than 1, there will be additional guides called “assistants”. The assistant guides are committed to co-ordinating your requirements and the responsibilities given by the head guide for the safety and success of your Kilimanjaro adventure. Assistant guides go through the same training as head guides and some are even head guides on other hikes.

Cook

Every group will have a dedicated cook that prepares delicious meals and snacks throughout your Kilimanjaro expedition. Many of our hikers are pleasantly surprised by the meals served on the mountain. Cooking at high altitudes with limited ingredients and in harsh conditions, is a difficult task!

All cooks are trained on a regular basis and have their own unique style and signature dishes.

Waiter

A waiter is a luggage porter with the additional responsibilities of setting up the dining tent and bringing meals to the hikers. The waiter co-ordinates between yourself, the guide and cook to ensure meals are served hot and everybody is satisfied.

Luggage porter

Luggage porter’s primary responsibility is to carry gear from one camp to the next camp. Other than public toilet facilities at campsites, there is nothing else, all tables, tents, chairs, cooking utensils etc are carried up Kilimanjaro by these hardworking porters. A porter may carry up to 15kg for your duffel bag, 20kg of our company weight and an additional 5kg for their personal luggage allowance. It is possible to hire a personal luggage porter is your duffel bag exceed 15kg.

Tent crew porter

Tent crew porters are luggage porters who have had additional training for setting up and dismantling the camping equipment. They are usually first to arrive to the campsites and last to leave. A tent crew porter still carry 20kg of the company weight in addition to the setting up camp duties.

Private toilet porter

A private toilet porter (if you have included a portable toilet on your hike) will carry a portable toilet system and tent from camp to camp. He will also set this up at every campsite, clean it and dismantle before carrying to the next campsite.

“Undercover” porter

There will be at least 1 “undercover” porter on every hike. These porters are provided by KPAP (Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance project) to monitor our operational office and guides for fair treatment standards. This porter monitor that important activities that porter carrying weights are fair, meals are provided to porters as expected, wages paid on time and check that the operation is fair to all of those involved.