Our competent guides and porters are instrumental in you safely reaching the top of Africa’s highest mountain. So, it is important to us that they work under good conditions.

There are a number of different organisations that help to ensure that the porters enjoy decent working conditions. The individual tour operators choose which organisation they work with. Some of the largest organisations are the Tanzania Porters Organization, the Kilimanjaro Porter Assistance Project and the Mount Kilimanjaro Porter Society.

Our partner in Tanzania is a member of KIATO – Kilimanjaro Association of Tour Operators and Mount Kilimanjaro Porters Society (MKPS), one of the largest and oldest porter organisations in Tanzania. This means that all the porters we use on Kilimanjaro are members of MKPS.

MKPS was started on the initiative of the porters themselves, and the independent organisation works for better conditions for guides and porters on Kilimanjaro.

Through Tanzanian legislation, porters on Kilimanjaro are assured a minimum wage, and MKPS membership ensures that the individual porters receive more than the minimum wage. Through MKPS, all porters also receive three meals daily, proper clothing for the mountain (jackets, boots, gloves, etc.), tents, sleeping bags, mattress, etc. In addition, rules have been put in place as to how much each porter may actually carry, and all porters have health insurance. They are also given a course in first aid, English courses and guidance on setting up a bank account, etc. The porters at MKPS, in turn, undertake to help pick up rubbish on the route to the top of Kilimanjaro twice a year. MKPS is 100% Tanzanian.

As MKPS is an NGO, the money the organisation receives primarily comes from donations, but MKPS has also started a car wash in Moshi, for example, which makes money for the organisation.

Our tipping framework has been agreed with MKPS. Tips are a natural part of the pay in Tanzania – it is part of the culture, just as it is in the US, for example. Our porters (and guides!) thus receive BOTH pay and tips, and to ensure equal distribution of the money, we have agreed a fixed tipping framework with MKPS.

We have an agreement stipulating that our guests pay a fixed sum per person in tips to the guides and porters. This applies to all of the different routes to Kilimanjaro.

The sum should be placed in an envelope handed in to selected people at Springlands Hotel’s reception, and they will ensure the tips are properly shared out between the guides and porters.

Our guidelines for tips have been developed jointly with our partner and MKPS, who are actively involved in the improvement of conditions for guides and porters to ensure that guides and porters are adequately paid, and we also follow all established guidelines regarding pay and working conditions (including those regarding food, overnight stays, wages and general welfare).