Anyone gone on a Kilimanjaro climb?

sandav wrote: ↑ These guys. I plan to do this with my family. Not sure when yet. My dentist has nothing but good things to say about these folks and he's not one to cheap out.

https://www.tusker.com/

webconfig wrote: ↑ We did the Lemosho 7 day route with Zara tours. Good accommodation before and after the climb and good food, tents, guide, and porters. Lemosho is a decent route to acclimatize.

• I won't book with any company that isn't KPAP-certified (ensures treatment of Porters meets a certain minimum standard) - there are 119 operators on the list, so lots of options to choose from
• While it's true that a great many tour operators are simply a customer-facing front that contracts the actual climbing logistics to a separate 3rd party on the ground, the really, really good ones (reputable, consistently excellent reviews, very high summit rates) manage the entire operation end to end. And yes, this does get reflected in the price.
• Local operators can be good or bad, in the same way international operators can be good or bad. You just have to do your due diligence... i.e. independently verify as much as possible, and ask a lot of questions.
• If the price is bargain-basement, something has to give... you can't get something for free. Consider this - the park fees alone for the Marangu route is $732USD. Fair wage for a porter should be around ~$9USD/day. Depending on the operator, you have anywhere between ~2-4 porters per climber. Cooks should get paid 50% more, guides I think is double. Then you add all the consumables for your entire party (food/fuel), hotel before/after the climb... it all adds up.

foreigncontent wrote: ↑ I went the hire locally way, but I was getting there a week before my friend (I climbed Meru in mean time, actually a nicer climb). I needed at least a full day to gather all the info to get climb organised.

tezster wrote: ↑ I have a few questions, if you don't mind.

How difficult did you find the climb? Did you do any training prior to the trip to prepare? And did everyone in your group make the summit? And how busy was the route during your climb?

seven wrote: ↑ If you want to go with a tour company that pays the porter properly, you should go with a foreign-run operator. The package cost is gonna be much more expensive obviously. To give you an idea, I paid $1.5K for a locally-run company. It would have cost at least $3K for the same package with a foreign operator.

seven wrote: ↑ If you want to go with a tour company that pays the porter properly, you should go with a foreign-run operator. The package cost is gonna be much more expensive obviously. To give you an idea, I paid $1.5K for a locally-run company. It would have cost at least $3K for the same package with a foreign operator.

It saddens me to see how the porter is only paid $7/day for the hard work and harsh condition that they have to work in. At the end of the trip we gave them as much tips as we could afford. We hand the tips directly to every individual. I think that is better than paying lots upfront and hopefully the money is properly distributed. We also gave away tons of gears. Most of these porters are just everyday farmers, etc. who doesn’t have proper winter or hiking gears. Most of them walked in the cold in pj pants and sneakers as hiking shoes. If you can, bring extra cold gears to give away.

In my opinion, the guide is more important than the tour operator. Some guides works with multiple operators so if you have specific ones, you can request them (we did so). I highly recommend our tour operator Evans Adventure. It is the second time that we had worked with them. They made sure that we went up with medical devices (oxygen tanks and portable hyperbaric chamber).

As for guides, highly recommend senior guides Erick Rweyemamu and Elizeus Rutha. Rutha used to be part of the park rescue team so he is very knowledgeable. Erick is one of the select few guides who are experienced in tracking through dangerous routes such as western breach. He also runs a charity climbing group from US that benefits a local school.

As a couch potato, I started climbing 15 floors daily and did kickboxing 3x a week to improve my lung capacity and upper body strength. They were surely needed! Did a few day hikes around GTA, mainly to test out my gears. The terrains here is pretty flat so I also did a trial hike in the US.

Everyone in the group made it to the top, including two who were super sick starting day 2. Guides were monitoring their blood O2 level daily.

We organized a day-safari on arrival to a smaller park. If you have a few extra days and $$, you should check out Serengeti.

FYI I did Lemosho route via Crater Camp. Ask away if you have more questions. Video of our trip to give you a sense of what to expect:



Btw I have some gears bought specifically for the trip that I no longer need. FYI in case you are looking for some....

tezster wrote: ↑ Thanks for the detailed reply - this is the kind of first-hand feedback I'm looking for. I checked Evans Adventure site, but I don't see an 8-day Lemosho climb... I'll contact them and ask.

I've done a lot of research so far (probably contacted close to 10 tour operators directly). You're correct that porters are typically not treated that well, which is why my preference is to go with KPAP member operator. Aside from fair wages, it's important to me that porters are treated well, and they receive the same meals and medical treatment as the climbers (and have warm clothing supplied to them). There are both good and bad local operators, same with foreign operators that simply outsource the climbing operations to local companies.

Out of all the operators I've contacted, my top two choices at this point are Kandoo Adventures and Fair Travel Tanzania. Kandoo offers a pre-scheduled open group climb + safari. This appeals to me as a solo traveler, as I will need to join an open group (easy to find for Kili climbs, but difficult for safaris). The other one is Fair Travel Tanzania - they are unique in that they operate as a non-profit. Their prices include paying their porters a living wage ($18/day, almost triple the average) - so no additional tipping required for any of the support staff, it's all included in the cost. All profits generated is used to help local communities.

I'm trying to see if I can fit Serengeti in, but that's usually part of a longer Safari, at least 4-5 days due to distance. So it will really depend on the cost.

Great video BTW! Did you bring a drone with you?