Tipping on Kilimanjaro
Please note that US Dollars must be dated at least 2009 or newer. Older bills will not be accepted in Tanzania.
These tipping guidelines are intended to assist you in determining a proper tip amount for your guide and porters. The figures below constitute an appropriate tip for good service. Tipping is customary, though not obligatory. It is perfectly acceptable to give more or less than these figures.
Team Tipping Guidelines
per climber, based on total number of days on the mountain
| Climbers | 6 days | 7 days | 8 days | 9 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $480 – $600 | $560 – $690 | $640 – $780 | $710 – $860 |
| 2-3 | $360 – $480 | $420 – $540 | $480 – $600 | $540 –$660 |
| 4-5 | $250 – $330 | $290 – $380 | $330 – $440 | $370 – $490 |
| 6+ | $220 – $300 | $260 – $350 | $290 – $400 | $330 – $450 |
In the past tipping has been overwhelming, especially after having just finished the long summit day. Trying to figure out how much to tip each of the crew members was a reoccurring challenge. Especially when climbing groups are 10 or more, as that means calculating tips for more than 50 crew members.
To simplify the tipping process and to maintain full transparency, Peak Planet has adopted the tipping procedures below, which have been approved by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP).
At the end of the trek each climber will be given an envelope for the tip. The tip is split into two parts. The first part of the tip is the Team Tip, which is the amount the climber is giving to the trekking team. This amount is divided between all members of the crew based on a fixed formula that considers the crew members position and the total number of crew members on the trek. The second part of the tip is Personal Tips, in which a climber can choose to attribute an additional tip amount for specific members of the crew who made their trek particularly memorable.
You then place your money in the envelope and hand it over to the member of the crew that was elected by the porters to oversee the tip distribution. They will verify that the total amount of cash matches the amount that you have indicated on the tip envelope. They then sign the envelope and seal it. The Crew Rep will enter the tip amounts from all climbers into the database, supervised by the operations manager. The database will calculate the final tip amount per crew member and the Crew Rep then distributes the tip amounts accordingly.
Full records are provided for each trek to the KPAP office. The records are also available for review by any crew member or climber.
This tipping procedure conforms to the guidelines set forth by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project.
If you don’t know the size of your group please ask us.
Average Number of Mountain Crew
| Clients | Guide | Assistant Guide(s) | Cook(s) | Porters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 21 |
| 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 24 |
| 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 28 |
| 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 32 |
| 9 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 36 |
| 10 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 40 |
| 11 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 44 |
| 12 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 48 |
Tipping can be made in Tanzanian Shillings or US Dollars. However, US Dollars must be dated 2009 or later and not be damaged. Please remember that larger bills $50s and $100s are easier to exchange meaning your crew gets more shillings in the end.
Tipping on Safari
The general guideline for tipping during the safari is $25-$30 per day for the guide total. So for a 5-day safari, a good tip to the guide is $125-$150 regardless of the number of passengers.
Tipping at Accommodations
Each accommodation has a communal tip box. We recommend tipping between $5-$10 per room per night in the tip box. Please remember that there are many people working behind the scenes, such as security guards or staff handwashing and ironing bed sheets. Further, waiters are paid equal wages to all other staff. Thus, tipping someone directly like the waiter or housekeeper means that the many other people who also worked hard to ensure you had a fantastic stay are left out.