Conditions for guides and porters on Kilimanjaro

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 of 250 USD per person as 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 Nur, Joram, Linda or Frank at the Springlands Hotel 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).

Masai Pre-School, Ngorongoro Conservation Area

In collaboration with Zara Charity, an NGO in Tanzania, TourCompass has been involved in the construction of Ngorongoro Masai Pre-School. The pre-school is located in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which aside from being home to thousands of Maasai people, also includes the Ngorongoro crater, which is a part of our Tanzania safari programmes.

TourCompass has donated $30,000 to the construction and, together with other sponsors, made construction of the pre-school possible. The pre-school serves as a kind of “reception class”, where Masai children aged 3–6 come for an introduction to school life and thus prepare them for “real” school at around the age of 7. The school was opened in May 2015 and today houses around 40 Masai children, who also live in the dormitory affiliated with the pre-school.

The pre-school’s operation depends on continued donations to pay for teachers, educational materials, as well as food and drink for the children. It costs around USD 850 per child per year to provide tuition.

To donate to Masai Pre-school, please click here.

Remember to write: “Masai Pre-School” in “Description”.

Ngorongoro Pre-School, Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Like Masai Pre-School, Ngorongoro Pre-School is also located in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, just on the other side of the crater. This school is also run by Zara Charity and was inaugurated in April 2019. The school has place for 52 children aged 3–6. In the morning, the children help at home, and at midday, they go to school. The school day starts with a hearty meal to ensure they are full and ready to learn. When the children start school, they only speak the local Masai language. They must therefore start by learning Swahili and then English (which are the two official languages in Tanzania) before they can actually start learning to read.

TourCompass has donated the kitchen building to the school and also makes a monthly contribution for uniforms, school materials and food.

If time allows – and everyone in the car is up for it – it is possible to visit the school on day 5:

• Serengeti fly-in safari, Ngorongoro & beach holiday in Zanzibar

The school’s operation depends on continued donations to pay for teachers, educational materials, as well as food and drink for the children. It costs around USD 850 per child per year to provide tuition.

To donate to Ngorongoro Pre-school, please click here.

Remember to write: “Ngorongoro Pre-School” in “Description”

Plant a tree, Moshi

If you are staying at the Springlands Hotel in Moshi (e.g. in connection with climbing Kilimanjaro) on your tour to Tanzania, you have the opportunity to plant a tree (or more) in collaboration with the NGO, Zara Charity. The trees are planted at a nursery, and when large enough, they are planted out at various locations in the nearby area: Kilimanjaro National Forest Reserve, Pasua Primary School or elsewhere in Moshi, run by the local council. This way, Zara Charity ensures that the trees are planted in a place where they are cared for and don’t get in anyone’s way or are in danger of simply being felled again. Zara Charity also teaches the locals how – and why – they should take care of the trees in their neighbourhood.

The cost of planting a tree is $15 and the money goes towards the care of the tree. You can arrange to plant a tree at Springlands Hotel in Moshi.

Plastic project

As of 1 June 2019, the manufacturing and importation of plastic bags were prohibited in Tanzania.

But, as you know, plastic is so much more than plastic bags alone.

Our partner in Tanzania is working to reduce the use of plastic, and they also collect and recycle plastic.

This means that at many of the camps and hotels we use in Tanzania, plastic bottles, for example, are collected and returned to Arusha, where they recycled into furniture, etc. (https://www.duniadesigns.org/).

Several times a year, in collaboration with Zara Charity and MKPS, our partner is also involved in an “Ocean Clean-up Project”, where volunteers collect plastic on the beach on the Tanzanian coast. Zara Charity and MKPS also pick up rubbish twice a year on Kilimanjaro.

To donate to the Ocean Clean-up Project, please click here.

Remember to write: “Ocean Clean-up Project” in “Description”

Pack for a Purpose

In Kenya, we and our partner work with the organisation Pack for a Purpose. The organisation collaborates with a large number of orphanages, schools, kindergartens, etc. around the world, where you can donate toys, pencils, clothes, footballs, etc. The projects list what is needed in their local area on their website to ensure that you don’t take 10 footballs to a village or an orphanage where they need rubbers.

Through TourCompass and our partner, you have the opportunity to support three projects in Kenya, depending on which Kenya tour you’re going on.

All three projects need the following:

School supplies:
Pencils, pens, coloured pencils, glue sticks, rulers, pencil cases, rubbers, protractors, pencil sharpeners

Sports equipment:
Ball pumps, balls (footballs, tennis balls, basketballs, etc.), football kits, whistles

Kitchen equipment:
Pots and pans, bowls, plastic cups and plates (not disposable)

Personal hygiene:
Sanitary towels and tampons

You can support the projects on the following tours:

On this tour, you have the chance to support a school in the town of Voi, near Tsavo National Park:

• Beach holiday in Mombasa & safari in 3 national parks 

In addition to the above, the school also needs:
Children’s clothing and shoes, solar-powered calculators, scissors, school bags.

On these four tours, you have the chance to support a kindergarten/school in the town of Emali:

• Karibu Kenya & beach holiday in Mombasa
• Safari in Kenya & Tanzania
• Karibu Kenya safari
• Karibu Kenya & beach holiday in Zanzibar

In addition to the above, the kindergarten/school also needs:
Chalk, solar-powered calculators, gardening books (in English)

On these tours, you have the chance to support an orphanage around an hour’s drive from Nairobi:

• Karibu Kenya & beach holiday in Mombasa
• Karibu Kenya safari
• Karibu Kenya & beach holiday in Zanzibar
• Family safari in Kenya
• Hakuna Matata safari
• Hakuna Matata & beach holiday in Zanzibar
• Hakuna Matata & beach holiday in Mombasa

In addition to the above, the orphanage also needs:
School bags, puzzles, sewing kits, beads, children’s wear and shoes, mosquito nets, bedding, blankets, pillows, towels, hairbrushes, soap, hairpins and hair elastics, toothbrushes, hand cream, toothpaste, reading glasses

If you would like to support one of these projects on your tour to Kenya, let us know when you book your trip and we’ll arrange a stop where you can hand in your donations!