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Women Who Walk Up the Mountain
How Tanzanian women have begun to master Kilimanjaro
Nine years ago, Koleta began taking climbers’ equipment up Kilimanjaro.
For you and me what the porters carry means that you and I, as climbers, only have to haul a small pack with less than twenty pounds, if that. The rest: your toilet, tents, eggs, melons, medicine kit and all your personal equipment up the side of one of the world’s seven highest regularly-climbed mountains.
Like most pioneering women in any industry, she was subjected to jeers, verbal abuse and claims she couldn’t make it from the men.
But in this part of Africa, Kili is king. From an economic viewpoint, about the only real money to be made is through being a porter, evolving eventually into becoming a guide (if that’s what you want). However, that road is fraught with issues.
According to the Kilimanjaro Porter’s Assistance Project, which has 156 Partner companies (those companies committed to fair pay, treatment and conditions for their porters), the minimum daily pay rate for porters is 20k Tanzanian shillings or $8.65 USD. Non-Partner companies can pay far less, and tip even less than that. Kilimanjaro National Park established those standards, but some companies don’t even meet the minimum.