Kilimanjaro: How many porters?

I spent some time reading on the AfricaTravelResource.com website on Kilimanjaro today, and guess what I realized?

Look at the number of porters!

1. 2 climbers - 1 leader, 1 asst guide, 1 cook, 7 porters
2. 3 climbers - 1 leader, 1 asst guide, 1 cook, 10 porters
3. 4 climbers - 1 leader, 1 asst guides, 1 cook, 12 porters
4. 5 climbers - 1 leader, 2 asst guides, 1 cook, 14 porters
5. 6 climbers - 1 leader, 2 asst guides, 1 cook, 17 porters
6. 7 climbers - 1 leader, 2 asst guides, 1 cook, 20 porters
7. 8 climbers - 1 leader, 2 asst guides, 1 cook, 22 porters
8. 9 climbers - 1 leader, 2 asst guides, 1 cook, 25 porters
9. 10 climbers - 1 leader, 3 asst guides, 1 cook, 27 porters
10. 11 climbers - 1 leader, 3 asst guides, 1 cook, 29 porters
11. 12 climbers - 1 leader, 3 asst guides, 1 cook, 31 porters

I didn’t know that climbing the mountain requires so many porters! Or is this catered for the “not regular trekker” kind of crowd? Does that mean that I can trek without any load except for my water? That’ll be fun!

The website also stated that each porter that they use carries a maximum of 25kg, while some other operators load their porters to 40kg! Can you imagine carrying 40kg of “not your things” up 5000m? I think after trekking 100m up I will dump everything and walk home!

I also found out that there are over 200 operators for Kilimanjaro. That’s great to hear. I guess I must start collecting and comparing the prices and service packages. It is important to choose a good operator (I think I have mentioned this many times) because you don’t know what you are going to get up there man… They must operate the Shira route! I must find at least 10 to compare, and work out a very rough budget soon, so that I can at least give the people who are interested something to work on.

Hope to get a team of 8 people!

Tags: africa travel resource, porters