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 all of your gear, all supplies, all 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 (see why tipping & guideline)
That seems like a lot of team members. Why so many?
Each and every member of the team is essential, our crew size is not only ethical to our crew (unlike some few companies we don’t overwork or overload our porters) but also adhere to the rules and regulations put in place by the authorities.
Painting a picture for the roles of your mount Kilimanjaro crew provides you the closure you need
- A guide – the guide only leads the group, only carries his day pack & only occasionally will help clients with their day pack should a need arise
- The cook – like the guide the cook only carries his day pack, this to ensure his energetic to carry his cooking chores once at the camp
- Porters
1 – carries client’s luggage
2 – carries food supplies
3 – carries clients & crew’s equipment
4- carries gas stove
With the gradual increase of group size, crew per client will relatively reduce as some things (tents, gas stove, etc.) will be shared
Note: a client can only carry a maximum of 5 kg (a small day pack), a porter only carries a maximum of 20 kg as per park rules & regulations.
Climbing mount Kilimanjaro without a crew.
According to Tanzanian law, climbing Kilimanjaro without a guide or a porter is illegal. Climbing Kilimanjaro is a challenge and a serious commitment. In order to have a safe and enjoyable trip you need an experienced team of support staff around you.
