THE TIMELINE FOR YOUR KILIMANJARO CLIMB

Kilimanjaro Tipping Guide

Tipping is a “compulsory tradition” on every Kilimanjaro Climb. It is important to know from our Kilimanjaro Tipping Guide before you are attempting for Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Tips for the Mountain crew are regular practice and Tipping on Kilimanjaro is vast as you will need to whole team to climb with you, like guides, porters, cooks and other crew members. However, the decision on How Much Should You to Tip on Kilimanjaro does not depend on whether you have reached the summit or not but how well the Kilimanjaro guides served you.

You should include tipping to Kilimanjaro guides, porters, cooks and all the crew members in Kilimanjaro Climb Cost.

In Our Kilimanjaro Tipping Guide We Recommend You to Tip Moderately but Definitely To the Hard-Working Kilimanjaro Staff Who Strive 24/7 Hours to Make Your Climb Successful

1 Climber 2 Climber 3 Climber 4 Climber
Guides $120-150 $120-150 $240-300 $240-300
Ass. Guide - $90-120 $90-120 $180-240
Cooks $90 $90 $180 $180
Porters $120-180 $300-360 $480-540 $840-900
Total For Group $330-420 $600-720 $990-1140 $1440-1620
Per Climber $330-420 $300-360 $330-380 $360-405

Tipping Guidelines For Guides, Porters And Cooks

Tipping Guidelines For Guides, Porters And Cooks

Every group has a lead guide and generally has one assistant guide per three climbers. You will have one cook for every 10 climbers. The tour operator also offers one waiter per group and one toilet porter per group. To know How Much Should You Tips to Porters on Kilimanjaro, you should go for our Kilimanjaro Tipping Recommendations.

The number of porters in your group depends on the Kilimanjaro route you have selected and the number of days for Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. However, there are two porters per person in lesser itinerary routes, and three porters per person on all other routes. The number of porters is larger for small groups. Make an effort to know your porters and their roles if possible. They will appreciate the recognition. You can also take the help of Kilimanjaro Tipping Guidelines while tipping.

Here Is The List Of Kilimanjaro Tipping Guide

A simple guide to tipping right on Kilimanjaro—because appreciation goes a long way. summit success.

Guides Assistant Guide Cook Porter
$20-25 per day $15-20 per day $13-15 per day $10-12 per day

Tipping Ceremony On Kilimanjaro

Celebrate the dedicated crew with a heartfelt tipping ceremony after your summit success.

The Kilimanjaro Tipping Ceremony will be help on the last night on the mountain, after the summit day. The group will receive two envelopes. One envelope is for tips for the guides and cooks. The other envelope is for tips for all porters.

Each envelope will have a form attached detailing the number of staff in each role. The clients should then fill in the amount of tip money to give each person. Note that the actual money is not placed into the envelopes at this time. The envelopes only contain the tip distribution sheets.

The guide will assemble the entire staff. It is customary for the spokesperson to say a word of thanks to the staff. The guide will translate. Then the spokesperson shall hand one envelope to the lead guide and the other envelope to porters' representative.

Once back at the hotel, one representative from your party should collect the tip money from the group and give the total tip money to the lead guide. Tips can be made in US dollars or Tanzanian Shillings. It is very important that US bills be new, crisp and untorn. Do not tip with marked, wrinkled, torn or old (older than 2002) US bills; they are not accepted in the country. It is very helpful to bring an asmoney-jarment of dollar denominations for tipping.

Each crew member signs a tip distribution report which we review after every climb to make sure everyone received their fair share of the tip money. KPAP provides oversight of the entire process to enforce fair and proper payment.

Why Kilimanjaro Tipping Is So Essential?

Tipping is the backbone of a successful Kilimanjaro climb—an essential part of every trek.

For fairly paying the Kilimanjaro crew tipping is an essential and customary way that has been practiced for ages. This is essential at it recognises their hard work and supports them and their family financially. This has become a universal custom.

It is essential to understand that the lower the costs of a climb, the higher the probability that a cheap tour operator may not be adhering to proper treatment standards. This leads to porter exploitation. We at Jerry Tanzania Tours however follow the strict guidelines set by KPAP regarding fair porter wages and treatment.

Guides and porters earn more money

Did you know that as per the Tanzanian tax legislation, tipping is tax free? This implies that tipping on Kilimanjaro eliminates the need for porters and guides to register as tax payers. In turn they take home more of a wage.

Incentive to work hard

Although tipping Kilimanjaro guides and porters is not compulsory it gives them an incentive to work hard.

Is it compulsory to tip on Mount Kilimanjaro?

No it is not compulsory to tip the crew members while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, however it is deeply ingrained in the culture and highly expected.

  • As per KPAP each porter should receive at least 32,000 TSH per day (approx. $14) from wages and tips.
  • Also the KPAP registered companies have to pay their porters at least 20,000 TSH per day ($9 – which is considered a good basic wage, but not a good living wage) and state that the clients should make up the extra 12,000 TSH ($5) per day in tips.
  • In case you feel you have not been provided with great services you are not obliged to tip as well.

Kilimanjaro Tipping Cost For 7 Days Trek On The Mountain

Plan your 7-day trek with tips that honor the effort and spirit of your team.

As you can see the 7 Days Kilimanjaro Tipping Cost for guides, porters, and cooks is as follows:

  • For a single lead guide – the per day, per staff tip is $20
  • For assist. Guides it is $15
  • For Cooks it is $15
  • While for porters the tip is $10.
  • The Total tip per climber varies with the number of members in the group.

Other tipping factors vary depending on various factors such as number of climbers, duration of climb, number of Kilimanjaro crew members, etc. The tables below describe the same.

Kilimanjaro Trek 7 Days
Climbers in Group Lead Guides Guide Tips Asst Guides Asst Tips Cooks& Waiters Cook Tips Porters Porter Tips Total Tip from Group Total Tip / Climber
1 1 $140 0 $ - 1 $105 8 $560 $805 $805
2 1 $140 1 $105 1 $105 12 $840 $1,190 $595
3 1 $140 1 $105 1 $105 15 $1,050 $1,400 $467
4 1 $140 1 $105 1 $105 18 $1,260 $1,610 $403
5 1 $140 2 $210 2 $210 20 $1,400 $1,960 $392
6 1 $140 2 $210 2 $210 24 $1,680 $2,240 $373
7 1 $140 2 $210 2 $210 27 $1,890 $2,450 $350
8 1 $140 3 $315 2 $210 30 $2,100 $2,765 $346
9 1 $140 3 $315 3 $315 33 $2,310 $3,080 $342
10 1 $140 3 $315 3 $315 36 $2,520 $3,290 $329
11 1 $140 4 $420 3 $315 39 $2,730 $3,605 $328
12 2 $280 4 $420 3 $315 42 $2,940 $3,955 $330
Tip/Day/Staff Member $20   $15   $15   $10

 

Total/Staff Member $140 $105 $105 $70

Kilimanjaro Tipping Cost For 6 Days Trek On The Mountain

Six days on Kilimanjaro means rewarding your team’s effort with thoughtful tips.

Although the Total Kilimanjaro Tipping Cost may vary per climber, the overall cost of tipping each member is same as the 7 Days trek.The total tip for a 10 membered Kilimanjaro crew is $690 per climber.

Also the total tip for a 12 membered Group climb for a 51 membered Kilimanjaro Crew is $283 per climber.

Kilimanjaro Trek 6 Days
Climbers in Group Lead Guides Guide Tips Asst Guides Asst Tips Cooks& Waiters Cook Tips Porters Porters Tips Total Tip from Group Total Tip / Climber
1 1 $120 0 $- 1 $90 8 $480 $690 $690
2 1 $120 1 $90 1 $90 12 $720 $1,020 $510
3 1 $120 1 $90 1 $90 15 $900 $1,200 $400
4 1 $120 1 $90 1 $90 18 $1,080 $1,380 $345
5 1 $120 2 $180 2 $180 20 $1,200 $1,680 $336
6 1 $120 2 $180 2 $180 24 $1,440 $1,920 $320
7 1 $120 2 $180 2 $180 27 $1,620 $2,100 $300
8 1 $120 3 $270 2 $180 30 $1,800 $2,370 $296
9 1 $120 3 $270 3 $270 33 $1,980 $2,640 $293
10 1 $120 3 $270 3 $270 36 $2,160 $2,820 $282
11 1 $120 4 $360 3 $270 39 $2,340 $3,090 $281
12 2 $240 4 $360 3 $270 42 $2,520 $3,390 $283
Tip/Day/Staff Member $20   $15   $15   $10  
Total/Staff Member $120 $90 $90 $60

Kilimanjaro Tipping Cost For 8 Days Luxury Trek on The Mountain

An 8-day luxury trek deserves thoughtful tipping—reward your crew’s exceptional support.

Similarly for an 18 membered Kilimanjaro Crew for a single private climber, the Kilimanjaro tipping $1365 while for a 78 membered crew team (12 membered group) the tip per climber is $490.

Kilimanjaro Trek 8 Days LUXURY Trek
#Climbers in Group #Lead Guides Guide Tips #Asst Guides Asst Tips #Cooks& Waiters Cook Tips #Porters Porter Tips Total Tip from Group Total Tip / Climber
1 1 $140 0 $- 1 $105 16 $1,120 $1,365 $1,365
2 1 $140 1 $105 1 $105 18 $1,260 $1,610 $805
3 1 $140 1 $105 1 $105 22 $1,540 $1,890 $630
4 1 $140 1 $105 3 $315 26 $1,820 $2,380 $595
5 1 $140 2 $210 2 $210 32 $2,240 $2,800 $560
6 1 $140 2 $210 2 $210 38 $2,660 $3,220 $537
7 1 $140 2 $210 2 $210 44 $3,080 $3,640 $520
8 1 $140 3 $315 3 $315 50 $3,500 $4,270 $534
9 1 $140 3 $315 3 $315 55 $3,850 $4,620 $513
10 1 $140 3 $315 3 $315 60 $4,200 $4,970 $497
11 1 $140 4 $420 3 $315 64 $4,480 $5,355 $487
12 2 $280 4 $420 4 $420 68 $4,760 $5,880 $490
Tip/Day/Staff Member $20   $15   $15   $10  
Total/Staff Member $140 $105 $105 $70

Kilimanjaro Tipping Cost For 8 Days Trek on The Mountain

Eight days of trekking? Be sure your team feels appreciated with the right tipping plan.

Also for a 8 Day Kilimanjaro trek, private climb, the tipping cost is $920 and for a group of 12 members accompanied by  around 51 Kilimanjaro Crew members is $377 per climber.

Kilimanjaro Trek 8 Days
#Climbers in Group #Lead Guides Guide Tips #Asst Guides Asst Tips #Cooks& Waiters Cook Tips #Porters Porter Tips Total Tip from Group Total Tip / Climber
1 1 $160 0 $- 1 $120 8 $640 $920 $920
2 1 $160 1 $120 1 $120 12 $960 $1,360 $680
3 1 $160 1 $120 1 $120 15 $1,200 $1,600 $533
4 1 $160 1 $120 1 $120 18 $1,440 $1,840 $460
5 1 $160 2 $240 2 $240 20 $1,600 $2,240 $448
6 1 $160 2 $240 2 $240 24 $1,920 $2,560 $427
7 1 $160 2 $240 2 $240 27 $2,160 $2,800 $400
8 1 $160 3 $360 2 $240 30 $2,400 $3,160 $395
9 1 $160 3 $360 3 $360 33 $2,640 $3,520 $391
10 1 $160 3 $360 3 $360 36 $2,880 $3,760 $376
11 1 $160 4 $480 3 $360 39 $3,120 $4,120 $375
12 2 $320 4 $480 3 $360 42 $3,360 $4,520 $377
Tip/Day/Staff Member $20   $15   $15   $10  
Total/Staff Member $160 $120 $120 $80

Kilimanjaro Tipping Cost For 5 Days Trek on The Mountain

Five days of climbing Kilimanjaro deserves well-planned tips for your dedicated team.

A 5-Day private Kilimanjaro Climb may tipping costs around $575, whereas, a 12 membered group climb which is accompanied by over 40 kilimanjaro crew may cost $200 per climber for Kilimanjaro Tipping.

Kilimanjaro Trek 5 Days Trek
#Climbers in Group #Lead Guides Guide Tips #Asst Guides Asst Tips #Cooks& Waiters Cook Tips #Porters Porter Tips Total Tip from Group Total Tip / Climber
1 1 $100 0 $- 1 $75 8 $400 $575 $575
2 1 $100 1 $75 1 $75 10 $500 $750 $375
3 1 $100 1 $75 1 $75 12 $600 $850 $283
4 1 $100 1 $75 1 $75 14 $700 $950 $238
5 1 $100 2 $150 2 $150 16 $800 $1,200 $240
6 1 $100 2 $150 2 $150 19 $950 $1,350 $225
7 1 $100 2 $150 2 $150 22 $1,100 $1,500 $214
8 1 $100 3 $225 2 $150 25 $1,250 $1,725 $216
9 1 $100 3 $225 3 $225 27 $1,350 $1,900 $211
10 1 $100 3 $225 3 $225 29 $1,450 $2,000 $200
11 1 $100 4 $300 3 $225 31 $1,550 $2,175 $198
12 2 $200 4 $300 3 $225 33 $1,650 $2,375 $198
Tip/Day/Staff Member $20   $15   $15   $10  
Total/Staff Member $100 $75 $75 $50

Join Group and Private Kilimanjaro Tours for The Best Tipping Guide with Jerry Tanzania Tours

Whether group or private, Jerry Tanzania Tours offers the best tipping guide for all climbers.

We hope Kilimanjaro Tipping Guide can make you clear about the how to tip and how much to tip while Climbing Kilimanjaro. Get our Climb Kilimanjaro Guide for more information!

You should include tipping to Kilimanjaro guides, porters, cooks and all the crew members in your Climb Kilimanjaro Cost.

Kilimanjaro Tipping Guide FAQs

Tipping your Kilimanjaro team? Learn the basics right here!

In the Kilimanjaro Tipping Guide, it’s recommended to tip around $20 per day for guides, $15 for assistant guides, $10 for porters, and $15 for cooks. Tipping is an essential part of the Kilimanjaro Trek and should be included in your overall costs.

The Kilimanjaro Tipping Ceremony usually happens on the last night of the trek, after the summit day. During this event, tips are distributed to guides, porters, and cooks who have supported you throughout your Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro journey.

While tipping is not mandatory, it is a long-standing tradition and highly appreciated by the crew. The Kilimanjaro Tipping Guide helps climbers understand the importance of tipping fairly for the hard work done by the entire crew.

During the Kilimanjaro Tipping Ceremony, climbers hand over tips in envelopes that are fairly distributed among guides, porters, and cooks. Each staff member signs a tip distribution sheet, ensuring everyone receives their share after the Kilimanjaro Trek.

Yes, you can tip in either Tanzanian Shillings or US dollars, but US bills should be crisp and new. It’s important to bring an asmoney-jarment of denominations to make tipping easier during your Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro experience.

The amount varies depending on the number of days and crew size. For example, on a 7-day Kilimanjaro Trek, the total tipping per climber can range from $330 to $405, depending on group size and crew numbers.

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