Mount Kilimanjaro Tipping Guidelines
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. Before the climb, you will be given a tipping sheet that lists the names of the guides, cooks and porters.
Most groups discuss their tipping amounts collectively and gather all the money together into a pool. Then the group will decide how much to give each individual by writing it on the tipping sheet. At the tipping ceremony on the last day of the climb, the spokesperson for the group will say a few words of praise and then read out loud what the tip is for each crew member. This ensures that each crew member knows what amount is meant for him.
The spokesperson can give the entire tip to the head guide at the hotel. The tips will be distributed to the crew later on. This tipping procedure conforms to the guidelines set forth by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project. White Plains Tours and KPAP have found this to be the most practical and transparent method for tipping.
If you don’t know the size of your group, you can use this KPAP guideline to decide how much to tip:
- Guide: $20 to $30 per day
- Assistant Guide: $15 to $20 per day
- Cook: $12 to $15 per day
- Porter: $5 to $7 per day
Tipping can be made in Tanzanian Shillings or US Dollars. However, US Dollars must be dated 2009 or later and not be damaged.
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