TIPPING ON
KILIMANJARO.
These guidelines help you decide a fair tip for the guides, cooks, and porters who make your climb possible. Tipping is customary, though not obligatory — the figures below reflect good service, and it is perfectly acceptable to give more or less.
HOW MUCH TO TIP.
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.
Please note: US Dollars must be dated 2009 or newer. Older or damaged bills will not be accepted in Tanzania.
WHAT TO BUDGET.
| 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 |
FULL TRANSPARENCY, EVERY TREK.
In the past, tipping was overwhelming — especially after a long summit day. Working out how much to tip each crew member was a recurring challenge, and with groups of ten or more that can mean calculating tips for more than 50 people.
To simplify the process and maintain full transparency, Peak Planet has adopted the tipping procedure below, which has been approved by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP).
At the end of the trek each climber is given an envelope for their tip, split into two parts. The Team Tip is the amount you give to the whole trekking team, divided between the crew by a fixed formula based on each member’s role and the total number of crew on the trek. Personal Tips are an optional extra you can add for specific crew members who made your trek particularly memorable.
You place your money in the envelope and hand it to the crew member elected by the porters to oversee tip distribution. They verify that the cash matches the amount written on the envelope, then sign and seal it. The Crew Rep enters every climber’s amounts into a database, supervised by the operations manager, which calculates the final amount per crew member and distributes it accordingly.
Full records are provided for each trek to the KPAP office and are available for review by any crew member or climber. This tipping procedure conforms to the guidelines set forth by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project.
AVERAGE NUMBER OF CREW.
If you don’t know the size of your group, just ask us. The table below shows the typical crew supporting a climb of each size.
| 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 |
Tips can be made in Tanzanian Shillings or US Dollars. However, US Dollars must be dated 2009 or later and undamaged. Larger bills ($50s and $100s) are easier to exchange, which means your crew receives more shillings in the end.
TIPPING ON SAFARI & AT LODGES.
On safari
The general guideline for tipping on safari is $25–$30 per day for the guide in total. So for a 5-day safari, a good tip to the guide is $125–$150, regardless of the number of passengers.
At your accommodation
Each accommodation has a communal tip box — we recommend tipping between $5 and $10 per room, per night. Many people work behind the scenes, such as security guards or staff hand-washing and ironing bed sheets, and waiters are paid equal wages to all other staff. Tipping one person directly leaves out the many others who worked hard to make your stay great, so the communal box makes sure everyone is included.
STILL UNSURE ABOUT TIPPING?
If you’re unsure about anything, just ask — we’ll walk you through it in detail at your trip briefing.