How the Mount Kilimanjaro Porters Society preserves the beauty of Tanzania

How two local Tanzanian companies are helping to establish ethical tourism around Kilimanjaro.

Whether you want to climb Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, see African wildlife on safari, or enjoy the beautiful beaches of Tanzania, a specialist who can call these places home will enhance your experience. In addition, we can assure you that by choosing the right organization, your visit will also be beneficial to the local communities.

Our local partner company was founded in 1986, which gave them very good experience after years in the travel industry. However, as they expanded their business, they never forgot to take responsibility for the country and the people where they operate. They accomplish this by supporting several community organizations with donations.

One of them is the Mount Kilimanjaro Porters Society. Kilimanjaro porters are dedicated men or women whose job it is to help tourists carry their equipment to the summit. Without their help, climbing Kilimanjaro would only be a dream for many visitors. However, many low-cost tour operators ignore the human rights of Kilimanjaro porters, leaving them exposed to poor and dangerous working conditions and poorly paid.

Therefore, the Mount Kilimanjaro Porter Society ensures that on every climb, porters are provided with fair wages, food, clothing and sleeping conditions. Furthermore, since porters easily fall ill or get injured during their work, every porter belonging to the society is registered with the National Health Insurance Fund to cover them. To prevent injuries in the first place, porters are trained with basic mountain first aid skills that enable them to help each other and even the customers. All these measures are necessary to eliminate the ethical problems that prevail around the treatment of porters on Kilimanjaro and to make the climb a fair and enjoyable experience for tourists and porters.

In 2009, our partner also established a non-governmental charity. It plays an important role in promoting community economic development, especially by supporting vulnerable groups such as orphans or Maasai women's groups through various community projects.

In conclusion, we at TripLegend are really happy to work with such a great partner who shares our values of making tourism more ethical and environmentally friendly. You can find our Tanzania trip here.