Kilimanjaro Guides and Porters
Kilimanjaro Guides
Safety is our number 1 priority when we arrive at the mountain. While Mount Kilimanjaro is “trekkable”, the climb is serious and should not be taken lightly. The dangers are real but with the right partner, the risks are managed and your climb will be very
enjoyable. We want you to be able to focus on your climb and not on logistics. So we only utilize the very best guides on the mountain. Some operators take shortcuts on their guides by leveraging inexperienced and less expensive guides, but to us, they are the key ingredient that makes or breaks your trip and we refuse to take short cuts like our competitors. Our guides and support staff are seasoned professionals with over 100 climbs under their belt!
Kilimanjaro Porters
Our guides will lead you to the top, but you also need experienced porters, cooks and wait staff in order to have the trip of a lifetime. In order for you to make it to the top of Kilimanjaro, you need to be focused on the goal and not wondering about how you will get there, what you will eat and if your gear is safe. We recommend having a 4 to 1 ratio for your supporting staff. This means a climbing team of 10 will have close to 40 supporting staff. While at first glance this might seem excessive, but when you are at 17,000 feet and out of breath, you will be very happy to have the right level of support. This is the critical point of the climb and a short cut here could mean the difference between summiting and failure. Given we have all summited Kilimanjaro; we know first-hand the level of support that will make it the easiest for you to make it to the top.
Some operators leverage “freelance” porters and guides. This allows them to flex their workforce and allow them to be flexible in terms of their resourcing, but it also means that the people you get on today’s trip may be completely different on the next week’s trip. This leads to a lot of variability in the quality of the staff. This variability is what Mount Kilimanjaro Routes aims to remove. To be fair, there are some great freelance guides available who do a fantastic job and who are safe. However, you never know if your trip (usually scheduled 6-12 months in advance) will have that one great guide. That is not a risk we are willing to accept. All of our guides are employed and used exclusively with our operator and as a result, you are guaranteed to have an excellent guide on your trip of a lifetime.
