Getting to know your Mt. Kilimanjaro guide
Your guide is your lifeline on Mt. Kilimanjaro. With your climb to the summit, you’ll need to every bit of expertise to make it there, and here we’ll explain just how to get the most out of your guides and support team up the mountain.
Booking your climb with us you’ll already be talking to your guide from day one. This is a great chance to ask some questions you’d ask a friend for example, like what kind of kit you really need, where to get it, and how much you should bring with you to the mountain. That last point is important, as the guide team will include porters who help move your supplies up and down the mountain, supporting you in making it to the summit with the best of your ability. You’ll meet your team often on arrival from the airport, depending on your booking conversation, and it’s a great head-start to getting to know your guide and picking up some Swahili phrases that may come in useful later.
Your Swahili guide from a local
We’ve talked with one of our guides to provide a couple of top Swahili phrases below, they’re a great way to get accilmatised to your cultural suroundings on the mountain.
“Jambo” is a first impression greetings for the first time, and means hello or how are you .
“Pole pole” this words are used every time on the mountain by guides, and pole pole means slowly slowly .
“Hakuna Matata” means no worries, no problem, or every thing going will be alright .
Your support team up the mountain
Once you’re on the trails of routes such as Machame or Lemosho, you’ll be in groups of six to eight climbers to keep pace with each other. Pacing is a really important part of trekking — it’ll help you keep your energy and morale up when the going gets tough, and your support team is a vital part of this too.
Alongside your guide you’ll have porters, who are local workers who’ll help carry the heaviest of your gear and supplies so that you can concentrate directly on the climb. They’ll usually be the a ratio of three porters to one climber per trip — so those Swahili phrases will definitely come in useful for this part of the trek!
Tipping made easy
Tipping is a very important cultural and economic practice for both guides, and the support team. The expertise and support you’ll be getting is no mean feat to achieve, and so tipping really does help to make a sustainable and positive impact to the community.
Your basic guidelines for tipping your support team and guide range from $5 to $15 per day on Kilimanjaro. It’s a good idea to try asking fellow climbers, or the Berguide community, about what they’ve experienced in terms of when and how to tip properly. It’ll make your experience just that much better knowing you’ve made a difference to the guides who made your summit possible.
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