When choosing an outfitter for your Kilimanjaro Climb, you seek a high quality operator who safely guides you on the mountain. Luckily almost all companies nowadays have good safety standards.
Another important aspect is sustainability. Do you want to support the local community? The majority of big tour companies are owned by foreign tour operators. These companies are very professional, however the profit does not flow in the local community.
Exploitation of porters is a big problem on the mountain. Tourism being the main source of jobs in Kilimanjaro region has resulted in high competition for porter jobs. Mostly it is the local operators operating at cut-throat or loss-making prices that pay their porters below minimum wage and make them to carry gear that is too heavy. The better operators are cognizant about this problem and provide the minimum stipulated salaries and operate according to Kilimanjaro National Park regulations which uphold ethical and fair treatment of the crew.
We aim higher. Our mission is to be a local (ex-) porter owned company, treating the porters and guides well and preparing them with abundant training to increase their mountaineering skills but also to prepare them for a life after the porter-job.
By climbing with Genius Kilimanjaro you get the same professional service, however you also support the local community. You book directly with your guide, no agency involved. What we save on the travel agency we invest in our porters. We give them better salary and training for a better life now and education for a better life after the physically demanding job.
For each day of hard work on the mountain, we reserve around US$ 1.50 per person for training & education of the guides and porters. During low season, we have time to roll out our training program. Many porters on the mountain have no training in basic safety and health. Most of our porter have received aid training, important for your safety. We also provide training on mountain safety, nature and environment and physical wellness for the porters.
Our porters are raised in poor conditions. That means many have not completed secondary education. By individual approach, we discuss with our loyal porters the development of skills that are important for life after the mountain. Depending on personal ambition, we help the porters in financing education in for example English, business or cooking.
We comply with KPAP policy of maximum 20 kgs per porter. On top of that, we supply our porters with warm coats and good food.
The porters at most outfitters earn less than US$ 10 per day. To compensate for the lousy pay, most operators leave it to you to add tips for the guides and porters. Since we know the challenges of being a porter first hand, we have decided to give our porters a much better fixed salary (US$ 13), supply them with a training budget and prepare them for a live after the mountain.
By doing this, we give guests and porters more security. The community also benefits because a higher fixed pay also generates more taxes, dearly necessary in poor Tanzania.
Still, our porters would be grateful for a tip at the end of the trip. However, their lives are not depending on this. If you want to be generous, follow the KPAP guidelines.
We are proud to introduce our top-notch travel agency as your entry point to amazing Kilimanjaro hiking trips on all routes.
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