Kilimanjaro is in Northern Tanzania. It is 5,895m high and the highest peak on the continent of Africa. It is a very popular mountain to climb because it is possible to trek to the summit without climbing or the use of specialist equipment such as an ice axe and crampons. The mountain is easily accessible from the towns of Moshi and Arusha and is well serviced by flights into Kilimanjaro International Airport, nearby. There are campsites with toilets all the way up and local Tanzanians that will carry your bag, cook your food and even help put up your tent.
A porter on the final day of ascent on Kilimanjaro
As Mount Kilimanjaro has gotten busier and busier, more and more Tanzanians and Kenyans have seized the opportunity to get relatively well paid work on the mountain as porters, cooks and guides. There are currently thought to be 7,000 people who rely on an income from working with trekkers on the mountain. These people have moved from all over Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya to benefit from the popularity of Kilimanjaro. Living on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro they can work up to three times a month on Kilimanjaro and use the income to support their extended families.
In the last fifteen years, Kilimanjaro has seen huge increases in visitors partly helped by Comic Relief’s celebrity ascents in 2009 when Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole and Chris Moyles, amongst others, trekked up Kilimanjaro to raise money on the Red Nose Day climb 2009. This well publicised ascent led to a surge in charity trekkers on Kilimanjaro. Again in 2019 other celebrities such as Anita Rani and Ed Balls made the climb for Comic Relief and Kilimanjaro has received more and more visitors. That is until now and the Coronavirus pandemic.
Tanzania is not a rich country and the government is not able to support its population with income support or unemployment benefits. The porters who have been there to support all these charity trekkers and Comic Relief celebrities are now in a desperate struggle for survival. For them the sudden end to all tourists visiting Tanzania is catastrophic. This is likely to continue over their normally busy July and August period.
It is time for us to support those who were already economically vulnerable through this crisis. If you are trekking on Kilimanjaro or are aware of anyone who has, please ask them to support the Kilimanjaro Porter Assistance Project and fundraise for the porters of Kilimanjaro.
Pride Expeditions are raising money through Go Fund Me to support as many of the porters who are based around Machame Village as possible. Here is the link go fund me
“Our idea is to pay as many porters as possible to cleanup Kilimanjaro. This project will work to solve two problems:
1. We will be creating essential employment for porters and mountain crew this year.
2. We will be cleaning up Kilimanjaro and removing the garbage and rubbish that has accumulated on the mountain through the intense use of the last few years”
Please donate and share this blog and help us at Pride Expeditions to educate people about the plight of the porters on Kilimanjaro. They have been there to help us on our ascent of Kilimanjaro, to support us and encourage us in our fundraising for comic relief, Unicef and many others. Now we need to support them and give something back to the mountain by giving it a jolly good clean!
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