General Guidelines on Tipping

Before climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, most climbers often start worrying about the porter and guide’s tip before the climb starts. They want to know how much it will affect their budget, and to make sure they are paying a good tip. Kilimanjaro Heroes philosophy is just like service in a restaurant, a climbing tip should only be given if you received good service from us. A typical porter on 7-day climb should receive around a $56-$70 tip; a cook could receive about $90; and a head guide could receive $140 or more. These tips are divided by the total number of people in the group, not per person.

A general estimate, for your budget, per Kilimanjaro climber runs from about $180 to $300 per person depending upon the following factors: the number of people in your group, the number of the porters, number of guides, cooks and sometimes the route. It’s impossible to predict an exact tip in advance because it really depends upon how much gear is brought up the mountain and how much weight is brought up the mountain.

There is no de facto standard of tipping for companies, it’s only a recommendations from organizations, NGOs and the Tanzanian government. Some higher-end companies have seen tips in excess of these recommendations. Some budget companies have seen tips lower than this.

A couple things to remember when tipping Kilimanjaro porters:

• Tip directly to the porters, not the guides.
• Bring a packet of letter size envelopes to distribute the tip
• Determine a tip for each component of your climbing group: the porters, cooks, assistant guides, and the lead guide.
• Distribute it on the final morning of the descent usually at Mweka Camp or the Park Gate
• Tip in either Tanzanian Shillings or US Dollars
• The average Tanzanian makes $40 per month. A $40 tip for difficult work for many days is a great wage and supports the local economy.

Generally speaking, an example of a tips break down like this:

• Senior guide : $20 – 25 per day from the whole group
• Assistant guide : $15 – 20 per day from the whole group
• Cook : $12 – 15 per day from the whole group
• Waiter : $10 – 12 per day from the whole group
• Porter : $8 – 10 per day from the whole group
• Summit porter : $12 – 15 per day from the whole group
• Toilet crew : $10 – 12 per day from the whole group

Crew for various group sizes

To calculate tips, it’s important to understand how large your support team is going to be. Below we have listed the crew size from Group of 1 to 10.

• Group of 1 – 1 Senior Guide, 1 Cook, 3 or 4 Porters
• Group of 2 – 1 Senior Guide, 1 Assistant Guide, 1 Cook, 6 Porters
• Group of 3 – 1 Senior Guide, 1 Assistant Guide, 1 Cook, 9 Porters
• Group of 4 – 1 Senior Guide, 1 Assistant Guide, 1 Cook and 12 Porters
• Group of 5 – 1 Senior Guide, 2 Assistant Guides, 1 Cook and 15 Porters
• Group of 6 – 1 Senior Guide, 2 Assistant Guides, 2 Cooks and 18 Porters
• Group of 7 – 1 Senior Guide, 2 Assistant Guides, 2 Cooks and 21 Porters
• Group of 8 – 1 Senior Guide, 3 Assistant Guides, 2 Cooks and 24 Porters
• Group of 9 – 1 Senior Guide, 3 Assistant Guides, 2 Cooks and 27 Porters
• Group of 10 – 1 Senior Guide, 3 Assistant Guides, 2 Cooks and 30 Porters

Expected tip amounts per client for some different trek durations and group sizes

To help you calculate, here are the tip amounts broken down for each crew member