How are the guides and porters of Mount Kilimanjaro?

The guides are mountain trained and licensed professionals with high level education. They are the leaders of the journey to the roof of Africa. Guides know about the Mountain, its surroundings, plants and the geo characteristics embedded on it. Guides illustrate the Mountain to climbers and are subject to all your questions while climbing.

When climbing Kilimanjaro an extensive team cooks and porters is important as they provide specially trained support throughout the climb to assist you in reaching the summit. The porters carry all of your food and gear making them the heart and soul of your mountain experience. Porters are not levelly educated as guides. The only criteria to being a porter are fitness level. Either, the cook must have cooking certificate at least to land the job on cooking for Kilimanjaro Climbers.

What are characteristics of tour guides?

i. Every tour operator guide should be specialized backwoods.
ii. They should be primary Responder
iii. Each group should have 2 guide including lead guide and assistance guide.
iv. They also should be very strict on safety through make sure to check blood pressure and oxygen saturation all the way through climb
v. Guides must have ability of speaking frequent English

Each team should have a lead guide with assistance guide and team to assist a group of climbers including cookers, porters and so on. The guides should have an extensive assortment of guides obtainable and contain a sheet committed to their founders. The among of the importance of having quality, efficiency, knowledgeable competent, high quality or experience guides can’t subsist flashy what time it comes to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

The among of tour operator companies which has the best local guides including Africa natural tour, Burigi chato and other best or licensed tour operator. Their guides know very well English language and have better widespread preparation in first aid and mountain rescue. Also, their porters are the one who can faster recognize the symptoms of the mountain diseases like Altitude Mountain Sickness. Not only that but their guides are registered by Kilimanjaro national park. All of our guides are registered with Kilimanjaro National Park. It is forbidden to climb Kilimanjaro without a guide.

Who is local guide?

Knowledgeable
The first characteristic of local guides he should have enough knowledge about what he wants to explain to clients about all questions they could ask. There are many choices for clients when they decide to climb Kilimanjaro. Thus, the guides must ensure that their clients satisfy with the service they provided. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that your expectations are met or exceeded. Also, the guides should be hard worker. In case of hard work not only the guides but also all other staff and. And also, company should ensure guides maintain a high level of professionalism while still keeping the knowledge fun for the clients in order to make them feel happy and be the opportunity or chance for another time to travel with such company.

High experience of providing fist aid
Tour companies they should ensure their clients are being safe from the starting point up to top of the mountain. This including hiring the guides with enough experience about health service when someone get injury or has the symptoms of mountain sickness. Your safety is the highest priority for any tour company. And they should ensure they put the lives of their clients on their hands in order to make them trust your service when comes to another time. Company should make sure that they provide quality first aid equipments or gears or tools to make critical medical and evacuation decisions.

Skilled capability
The local guides should have the working experience which takes more than ten years. The guides should be working on Mount Kilimanjaro for a long time.

What are the qualities of mountain guides?

Representing community cleverness
The guides should understand the needs of their client how they will handle them, how they will answer their question when asking, how they could make them fun, building the good a relationship with them.

Influence others
Guides should make sure they influence their clients in order to make them never give up until they reach the summit.

Confidence
The guides they should have enough confidence and also, they should build trust from their clients but you also build trust by themselves.

Ability of solving any problem in case of emergency
They should have the ability of handling risks or emergency which could occur on mountain during climbing. This risk may be about weather condition, temperature or any sign of danger like thunderstorms, rock fall and other danger occur on mountain.

Porters

The porters main work keeps you hydrated, fed, sheltered and safe on the mountain. Together, porters carry equipment and supplies up Kilimanjaro and give climbers the support they need to reach the summit. They are who make it possible to summit Kilimanjaro in reality, without the assistance of porters few clients they will handle to carry and then summit to Kilimanjaro mountain.

Every morning after client leaves the camp to start the Kilimanjaro Hike, porters stay back to wrap up the camp. After that, they rush to the next camp at a much faster pace carrying all the stuff and camping equipment They are one who set up camps, prepare meals and boil water all before your arrival.

Carrying clients Luggage: Porters usually carry clients and guides luggage that includes your camping gears including tents to portable toilets, clothing gears which including all your clothes that you will need on your trip, and your hiking gears such as the hiking poles.

Setting Up Your Camp: Camps are the only way of making a shelter to rest. As the routes except the Marangu are camping routes without any other accommodations. Porters are not only responsible for carrying your luggage. They are the ones who usually set up your camps which involves the sleeping camps, toilet camps, and dining tents.

Arrange The Necessary Supplies: All these works are done by porters because is their work which make them paid. porters work towards making your trip successful one by dedicatedly working towards keeping you hydrated, food, shelter, and safe climbing. They are usually trained to assist the climbers if they face any kind of health issues such as altitude sickness.

Assisting the Cook to Prepare Food: Also, porters they help the cooker for preparing food. Usually, cooks need someone to help for preparing food in big amount, and porters are the one who helps the cooks for making the food to get ready.

Carrying Equipment and Supplies: Also, they are responsible of carrying all important equipment Each trek is different, but on average, it takes about 225 pounds of total luggage per trekker to get to Kilimanjaro peak and back. These equipment including clients, guides and porter’s food, camping gear, including all sleeping, dining, toilet, kitchen and tents, personal gear, cooking and serving equipment, safety gear, including oxygen kits, first aid kits and others. Remember that porters are not responsible to carry personal equipment. Every personal equipment should be carried by clients himself like bottle of water personal clothing and so on Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP) which is responsible to register porters keep this law that porter load weight limit of 20 kilograms weighing bags before and during every climb.

Making Camp Each Day: Tent are secured by porters when they make a camp but also after the tents are broken down and packed away, porters often race ahead on the trail to secure the best spot at the next camp ground and to finish making camp before clients arrive. And porters have responsible of supplying clean water and as we know that water has many works including for water for food preparation and washing dishes. Trekkers need water for washing and four liters of drinking water.

Supporting Mentally and Physically: There are countless other things porters do during the trek to support you both physically and mentally. Porters make you to feel comfortable at all time on your trip

Kilimanjaro national park authority (KINAPA)

According to Kilimanjaro national park authority (KINAPA) Porters are paid a minimum of 20,000Tsh per day, the wage amount accepted by the porter unions in 2014 Salaries must be paid within 2 days of the descent of a climb Loads carried by the porter should not exceed 20 kg for the company excluding porter’s personal kit. Porters are provided with three meals per day Porters have proper shelter conditions and sleeping equipment, Porters are outfitted with proper gear Sick or injured porters are properly cared for porters.