Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project
Deeper Africa’s commitment to conservation on the mountain and ethical treatment of their trekking staff is recognized by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project. Every person should understand the ethical issues on Kilimanjaro before committing to the trek.
Deeper Africa’s business practices on the mountain are
focused on:
- Payment of above market wages to guides, cooks, and porter staff.
- Ensuring that porters and staff are properly outfitted for Kilimanjaro’s harsh climates with clothing and footwear, nutritious meals and ample filtered water, and proper sleeping accommodations.
- Ensuring that our porters carry comfortable and manageable loads.
- Setting up transparent tipping distribution methods that ensure your porters and staff receive the full value of establishing conservation and waste management practices that keep the mountain clean.
Deeper Africa is a Partner for Responsible Travel with the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP). KPAP focuses on improving working conditions on Kilimanjaro for all porters.
KPAP does this by:
- Lending clothing at no charge to the porters for their treks.
- Teaching English, First Aid, HIV/AIDS, and Money Management classes to the porters during the low seasons.
- Raising public awareness concerning proper porter treatment.
- Providing feedback to TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks) about wages and working conditions on Kilimanjaro.
Deeper Africa’s commitment to conservation on the mountain and ethical treatment of staff is recognized by KPAP. Visit www.kiliporters.org for an in-depth understanding of the ethical issues that should be considered by every person before committing to trek Kilimanjaro.
KPAP is a Tanzanian NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) registered in January 2003. KPAP is an initiative of the International Mountain Explorers Connection, a 501(c) nonprofit organization based out of Boulder, Colorado in the United States.
If you’ve read this far, we know you care about these issues. So do Jessica Reynolds and Ryan Miller, both independent filmmakers living in New York. In preparation for climbing Kilimanjaro they started to do some research. “We were astonished to find that of the hundreds of tour operators listed in the guidebooks and websites, only a handful were partners with the KPAP and followed proper porter practice. Even more surprising was how little information was readily available about the porters themselves and the conditions they were made to work under. We feel that we could help raise awareness of the situation by producing a short film about the porters of Kilimanjaro and the suggested treatment of them outlined by the Kilimanjaro National Parks and the KPAP. We hope that this piece will bring awareness to prospective climbers, so they can make responsible decisions in choosing a tour operator and in turn ensure that they aren’t a part of this exploitation.”
Click here to watch Jessica and Ryan’s film:
The Porters of Kilimanjaro v2 from Kilimanjaro Porters on Vimeo.