Mount Kilimanjaro

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Locally and internationally recognized as the premier responsible trekking company on Kilimanjaro, Fair Travel™ exists to offer an affordable alternative to the exploitation of porters, cooks and guides making sure all expedition staff receive agreed on fair salaries for their hard work. Fair Travel™ porters enjoy the highest salaries paid consistently in the history of Mt. Kilimanjaro. This saves you as climber 250-500USD/person as cost of tipping is included in the expedition price – without other hidden costs or force of tips. This makes the whole trekking experience much better as you will not be treated like an ATM machine, forced to open your wallet on the mountain, to pay ‘tips’ (read salaries) to people who should have already been paid by the company that hires them. Tipping culture puts all people involved in a vulnerable dependent position leading to insecurity of income, change of local culture and legally against universal human and worker rights in developed human societies. You will stand up for justice and human rights when you choose Fair Travel™ to help you reach the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The adventure of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Roof of Africa, is an experience you will carry for the rest of your life. It is the tallest free-standing mountain but the highly accessible summit attracts amateur and professional climbers from all over the world. With preparation, focus and motivation you can beat any mental or physical barrier to reach Uhuru Peak at 5895m/19341ft. It is the ultimate adventure in Africa, part of the world’s 7 summits, and extremely rewarding during and after the expedition. Choosing Fair Travel™ adds value to your trekking experience as none of your team members are exploited allowing you to feel part of the team rather than a money machine milked for tips. So be sure that when you choose Fair Travel™ you will have a direct positive impact in your own life as well as in the lives of the people that help you reach the top and back – on equal terms.

Safety first

Safety comes first when climbing any mountain. Therefore, your experience, personal physiology and health condition must be considered in the choice of route and number of days. In general, spending more days for acclimatizing allows you to enjoy more of nature and increase the probability of success. Our gear list is also provided in the program we create for you together with additional useful information, to help you prepare a successful expedition with safety and quality of experience.

Your Mount Kilimanjaro guides

Our Mt. Kilimanjaro Head and Assistant guides are licensed and professionally trained to take you safely to Uhuru peak, and back. Our Head guides have an experience of 50-150+ successful summits, First Aid training and some hold advanced WFR qualification. Our guides work with a hand picked crew of porters and cooks who have proven to be strong, genuine and friendly characters. An expedition crew is involved in your tourism experience and Fair Travel ensures highest quality of experience, link you to Kilimanjaro’s history and culture, and provide that extra motivation when needed so you can reach the top and come back – safely.

Porters

Kilimanjaro porters are the heart and soul of the mountain and the reason why Fair Travel was founded in 2010. There are few experiences as humbling as being passed by porters on a climb. They carry food, water and equipment to ensure a comfortable climb and increased summit success rate for trekkers. They are certainly among the hardest working men in the world and we make sure they are rewarded properly for their efforts according to living costs in Tanzania. Fair Travel™ porters receive $18/person/day, which is the compensation levels and un-preceded in the history of Mount Kilimanjaro expeditions. We are proud of this fact and know that this is a fair amount, agreed upon by our staff, compensating for the hard work performed!

Watch the video when Fair Travel™ founder climbed Kilimanjaro as a porter and some other videos raising awareness about the issues faced by porters up to date:

Routes

Northern Circuit, Lemosho, Machame, Rongai, Shira, Marangu and Umbwe are the routes to choose from depending on your preferences, time and experience. We highly recommend Machame or Rongai route for 7 days or Lemosho route for 8 days and Northern Circuit route of 9 days. These recommended routes allow great acclimatizing opportunities, highest chances of summit success and varied scenery of the mountain each day boosting motivation.

Accommodation

Marangu is the only route offering sleeping huts in dormitory style. Other routes have designated campsites requiring mountain expedition tents and camping equipment.

Your footprints

+ Fair salary, dignity and respect for your guides, cook and porters
+ National park fees help conservation
+ Food from local suppliers
+ CO2 offset adventure
+ Profits go to our impact

Fair Salary Levels

A tough and risky job must be properly rewarded by the company who is responsible for its staff. When it comes to paying fair wages, Fair Travel™ is the leading company and here are the numbers to back it up:

Kilimanjaro Head Guide $40/day (industry average $10/day)
Kilimanjaro Assistant guide $25/day (industry average $7/day)
Kilimanjaro Cook $20/day (industry average $5/day)
Kilimanjaro Porter $18/day (industry average $4/day)

Tip dependency also encourages risk-taking behavior and has been a contributing factor to compromise safety for guests – sometimes even with fatal results. This is because the guides could push climbers beyond their safety zones in order to make them summit and thereafter earn more tips. None of our guides, cooks or porters are, or will ever be, dependent on tips! This is not only about strengthening human and worker rights, it is also the best approach in regards of safety and responsible trekking experience for all parties involved in your mountain expedition. Join us hand in hand to end exploitation of staff and their tip dependency. Book your Kilimanjaro expedition with Fair Travel™.

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