Kilimanjaro Porters

Imagine waking up at 13,200 feet on Kilimanjaro on the sixth day of your trek. A friendly face, Kilimanjaro Porters might hand you a cup of coffee as you tie your boots. Another might refill your water bottles. Later, a team breaks down your tent, toilet tent and dining tent, stows away the food and cooking equipment and races ahead on the trail to the next campground. After trekking up to 15,300 feet over the course of the day, you find camp and dinner waiting for you.

After your tents are broken down and packed away, a few porters often race ahead on the trail to secure the best spot at the next campground and to finish making camp before trekkers arrive. Consider supplying clean water, for example. Cooks need water for food preparation and washing dishes. Trekkers need water for washing and four litres of drinking water at a minimum every day. Kilimanjaro has no plumbing. The porter team gathers water themselves, purifies it and supplies it throughout camp. That’s what it takes to get something as vital as a drink or a bowl of water to wash your hands in on the mountain, and it’s all thanks to the porters.

There are specific porters who stay with the group all the way to the summit, carrying safety equipment and the like. When you need a little extra encouragement to power through the windswept, arctic conditions at the peak, they’re there to cheer you on. This last piece may sound like a small detail, but it makes an incredible difference on the mountain.

Porters Assistance Programme: We care about our porters and are very proud of them. They are a key element of every expedition. Kilimanjaro Dreamers is part of The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP). In line with the regulation we provide our team of porters with decent conditions on the mountain such as three meals a day, well paid wages and mountain equipment. We helped many of them realising their dreams of becoming guides or mountain chefs by sending them to attend guide or cooking college.