Thank you for climbing Kilimanjaro with a Partner for Responsible Travel Company. The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP) is a Tanzanian not-for-profit organization and an initiative of the International Mountain Explorers Connection (IMEC). We are committed to improving the working conditions of the porters on Kilimanjaro.
Choosing to climb with a Partner Company has a direct impact on the porters in your climb:
- In 2014 the Kilimanjaro National Park mandated a minimum daily wage for porters of 15,000 Tanzanian shillings, which amounts to approximately $7.50 US. Partner companies meet or exceed this standard 100% of the time compared with non-Partners doing so only 51.6% of the time.
- Porters working with Partner companies received a total compensation of $15 per day from salary and tip versus $12.27 for non-Partner porters.
- Partner porters averaged 2.9 meals per day compared with 2.0 meals for porters climbing with a non-Partner company.
- 92% of porters climbing with Partner companies say the amount of food they received was adequate compared with just 43% of porters working for non-Partner companies.
- For those climbing the camping routes on Kilimanjaro, 95% of Partner porters said their tents were of good quality compared with 70% among the porters of non-Partner companies.
Partner companies do not make financial contributions to KPAP and we rely on the generosity of climbers to fund our work. Please consider supporting KPAP by making a financial donation to help enable us to continue to offer our free services to porters.
Your donation also helps us ensure that over 6,000 porters working with the partner companies have proper working conditions. We have helped improve the climbing industry on Kilimanjaro since we started in 2003 but we still have much more we can do!
Kilimanjaro Climber Survey
Please help us build a better industry by sharing your experience of climbing Kilimanjaro. Kindly use the link below to complete a Kilimanjaro Climber Survey.
Kilimanjaro Climber Survey link: https://kiliporters.org/get-involved/kilimanjaro-climbers-survey/
Those who have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro know that the porters are the heart and soul of your trek. Without their hard work & strength we would not be able to fully experience the magnificence of Kili.
The truth is porters are often impoverished Tanzanians who depend on this labor-intensive employment in order to feed themselves and their families. Many climbers may not realize that porters can be ill-equipped, poorly paid and have improper working conditions.
The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP) has provided the following services free of charge to Kilimanjaro’s porters and stakeholders:
- Porters on over 30,000 climbs have borrowed KPAP’s mountain climbing gear free-of-charge
- Over 6,000 porters climbing with Partner for Responsible Travel companies are ensured fair and ethical treatment every year
- More than 16,000 mountain crew have participated with KPAP’s free educational and training classes in English, HIV/AIDS Awareness and Money Management
- Through funding provided by the Tanzanian Foundation for Civil Society, KPAP has instructed 5,225 porters in classes on Porter Rights
- 115 mountain crew have received Leave No Trace certification in environmental care of Mount Kilimanjaro
- More than 1,320 mountain crew have been certified in First Aid and 69 porters and guides have been trained as First Aid Instructors and have gone on to conduct First Aid Certification courses for additional porters and mountain crew.
- KPAP educates the climbing public on the working conditions of porters and advocates for the Guidelines for Proper Porter Treatment established by the Kilimanjaro stakeholders.
- KPAP observes climbing company practices and highlights those adhering to the Guidelines for Proper Treatment through IMEC’s Partner for Responsible Travel Program.
Please consider supporting KPAP by making a financial donation to help enable us to continue to offer our free services to porters.