An indoor Kilimanjaro tipping ceremony

What is a Kilimanjaro tipping ceremony?

Nov 8, 2024
Reading time: 5 minutes

The Kilimanjaro tipping ceremony is a celebration at the end of your trek where you celebrate your adventure, thank your crew for their hard work, hand out tips, and bid your family-for-the-week goodbye!

Mount Kilimanjaro climb
What is a Kilimanjaro tipping ceremony?

What is a tipping ceremony?

The Kilimanjaro tipping ceremony is an important and fun custom that happens at the end of every Kilimanjaro climb. It involves singing and dancing, trekkers giving their mountain crew tips and saying thanks for all of their hard work, and trekkers receiving certificates of achievement.

Here's a video showing a Follow Alice tipping ceremony in action ...

 

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If you have any questions about why you tip your crew instead of just paying them more, or how much to tip, please read Do I need to tip my Kilimanjaro crew? And how much? This blog post focuses solely on the tipping ceremony itself.

A tipping ceremony outline

It’s very important for you to understand how tips should be handed out during a Kilimanjaro tipping ceremony. This is because the ceremony should follow the guidelines given by the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP) to ensure the efforts of all crew members are properly recognised, and everyone receives the correct tip.

So your tipping ceremony will look something like this:

  1. On the final day of the trek, the lead guide assembles the entire mountain crew together with all of the climbers.
  2. Climbers who summited Uhuru Peak are given certificates, which are issued by Kilimanjaro National Park.
  3. The group’s spokesperson (we talk more about this role in a moment) says a few words of thanks to the staff, which the lead guide translates into Swahili.
  4. The spokesperson gives the lead guide the completed tipping form and total tip. The lead guide counts the money in front of everyone and then signs the tipping form to acknowledge the correct amount has been received.
  5. The lead guide then announces, in English and Swahili, the tip amount being given to each type of crew member. In this way, every crew member knows what to expect as a tip.
  6. There’s now lots of dancing, singing and celebrating by everyone!

Please note that the lead guide will distribute the tips within the next two days. It can't be done immediately because usually there isn't enough correct change, and sometimes dollars need to be exchanged for shillings. Each crew member signs the sheet when they've received the correct amount. 

An indoor Kilimanjaro tipping ceremony

Singing and clapping during a Kilimanjaro tipping ceremony

A note on fairness in tipping

Please note that it’s not recommended to give tips (or extra tips) privately to some crew members. Some crew members are more visible to climbers than others, but their personal attentions are only made possible by the behind-the-scenes work of others. For the sake of fairness, please keep your tips for each type of crew member the same. These men and women work as a team, and we encourage climbers to reward them as a team. Even if someone on the crew tells you differently, please follow these guidelines, which come directly from KPAP, the NGO created to ensure the fair treatment of porters.

Follow Alice porters climbing up Kilimanjaro and carrying heavy loads

Our Follow Alice porters working hard on Kilimanjaro

Why do we need to appoint a spokesperson?

On the evening before you start your Kilimanjaro climb, you have a dinner with your lead guide, who briefs you on what's to come. During this briefing, you're given a tipping form and asked to appoint a spokesperson for the group.

The spokesperson will have a few duties, namely:

  1. On the penultimate day of the trek, the spokesperson discusses with the group how much money to give to each type of crew member as a tip. A good time to do this is during your last dinner on the mountain. You’re all together, happy from your summit, and excited to chat about your tips, because you're invariably so impressed with the incredible service received! You can invite the lead guide to help you decide on amounts if you’re feeling unsure.* The spokesperson fills in the different amounts on the tipping form.
  2. The spokesperson then gathers the group’s collective tips to hand over during the tipping ceremony to be held the next day. If possible, please divide the tips into the correct amounts for each crew member. But we understand that this isn’t always possible given the denominations to hand.
  3. At the tipping ceremony, speak on behalf of the group by offering a few words of thanks to the crew for all of their hard work and care. (Hence the reason for dubbing this person the spokesperson!)

* You can also read Do I need to tip my Kilimanjaro crew? And how much? for guidelines on tipping norms.

Kilimanjaro tipping ceremomny

An outdoor tipping ceremony

Can I donate trekking gear instead of tipping?

Please consider donating some of your clothing and trekking equipment to the porters in addition to tipping them. But we want to stress that donations should never take the place of tips. Tips form a vital part of the crew's income, as we explain here.

Mountain crews climb Kilimanjaro many times a year and can go through their clothes and gear rather quickly. Your donated items are of great assistance to them and they appreciate such generosity tremendously. 

Think gloves, hats, thermal socks, hiking boots, trekking trousers, backpacks, and so on.

Some clients like to solicit or buy such items while at home and carry them with them to Tanzania. Others simple donate their own clothing or gear that they're no longer going to use at the end of the climb. Again, whatever you're able to donate will be very willingly and gratefully received.

Kilimanjaro crew at tipping ceremony

Some singing and dancing at a tipping ceremony