Trekking Companies on Kilimanjaro
 

My Wife and I are planning to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in February, and we're a bit lost trying to decide on a trekking company to guide us. We are also interested in a 3-4 day Safari after our trek. Can anyone comment on the following companies or give a good recommendation for one that's not on this list? Thanks!
Roy's Limited
Zara
Team Kilimanjaro
Tropical trails
Good Earth
Destination Tanzania

Please choose a company that has agreed to follow the guidelines for Proper Porter Treatment and are monitored by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project. To choose such a company and for more info, go to http://www.kiliporters.org/partners.htm Take a good look at Thomson, Kiliwarriors and Tusker. Choose a route with the most days on the mountain that you can afford for better acclimatization and chance to make it to the top.

We went with Destination Tanzania Safaris for our Kili climb and safari. We had a wonderful time and their service was the best. Their equipment was top notch and the food was better than the food at the lodges! (And the food at the lodges was really good too!)We climbed using the Shira Route and spent a night in the crater. If you have time, spend a night in the crater. It is beutiful and worth the extra day! We were able to work directly with Innocent when planning our trip and also have him as our guide on the mountain. I highly recommend them !

Just finished our trek up Kili with Good Earth, using Machame route. A fabulous route, I do recommend it. I plan to post a detailed trip report soon, but in brief we did have some problems with Good Earth (including vehicle breaking down on the way to start the trek), and issues with equipment (good quality but older, tent zippers not working well, etc) and some issues with the main guide for the trek. Nothing terrible, and we did summit, and the assistant guide was great, except that he didn't speak English well. On the other hand, our guide for the safari portion, Joseph, was great. More details later.

We just came back from our Kili hike on Sept 30th and used Roy's for our trek and safari. We did the 7-day Machame route and we had a team of 12 porters, main guide, 2 assistant guides, and a cook. So a big staff!!

The equipment was all good, but the cook was just OK for the trek. I'm comparing our cook to our experience on Machu Picchu where we may have been spoiled. We had great food in Peru, but that's another story.....

We successfully summitted Kili making it to the top to see sunrise. Our guides were great and really patient! Our trip was well organized with no surprises. The 4x4 was new and clean, and the food on the safari was great.

I had narrowed my choices down to Roy's and Good Earth. I heard good things about both companies. My brother-in-law used Takim Holidays and other friends used them as well with good things to say.

Tusker is probably your top of the line trekking company and you'll pay for it too!! I would stay away from Zara's.... they've recently had 2 or 3 porters die on the job. Our guide told us possibly from exhaustion.

Good luck on your trip!

Hi,

Yes I can recomend some other companies, try East African Voyages, they are the best climbers I will advice.

Most of the Tour Companies are not specilised on these, they are specilizing on Safari and try to sale Kilimanjaro and Meru, it is always better to choose someone who is specilizing on these.

Let me know if I can be of more help.

Hi

Not sure I can comment on the companies...but here is my trip report from Kilimanjaro: http://gardkarlsen.com/kilimanjaro_index.htm . I went there a few years back and I have posted pictures, cost, review of equipment etc in the trip report. Get in touch if you have any questions :d

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures