Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, tailor made

Although mountain treks generate necessary jobs and income for local people, Tourism Concern receives regular reports of Kilimanjaro porters being exploited, working for unfair low wages, carrying too heavy loads without proper equipment or being withheld from their basic rights. We operate an 'equal rights and proper working conditions for porters' policy. The company making our Kilimanjaro climbs possible is Shidolya, a Tanzanian owned safari & climbing company employing only local porters, guides & cooks. All food is bought locally and cooked on gas fires.

One of many features that make Mount Kilimanjaro famous, are the glaciers at its summit, which began to form about 11,700 years ago. In 1912, Science reported that these glaciers measured 4.8 square miles - however by the year 2000 they had already shrunk to a meagre 1 square mile. Now the glaciers are melting so quickly that they may be gone altogether by 2020, according to recent research. However, further research is needed to determine to what extent global warming and/or natural climate variability are responsible for the demise of Kilimanjaro's glaciers.

For all of our tours we provide customers with an itinerary specific responsible travel guide aprox 4 weeks before they depart. This includes a generic travellers code of conduct which emphasises basic responsible travel advice – e.g. reduction of waste and consumption of natural resources, purchase local produce where possible etc. Our holidays are specifically designed to bring guests into direct contact with locals from a range of different tribes and cultures across Africa. We also therefore provide destination specific guidance including advice on local customs and some key phrases in certain languages (e.g. Swahili). We also offer guidance on how to barter responsibly for local curios and what curios should be avoided (e.g. certain wildlife artefacts such as coral, turtle shells etc.). As all of our guides and groundhandlers are local we also give guidance on what a fair and reasonable level of tipping would be at the end of the holiday.

We support the work of Tourism Concern both in distributing their advice to customers and as an active participant in the Ethical Tour Operators Group. Our managing director sits on this group and is a regular attendee of meetings contributing to work towards developing industry wide fair trade standards. We also distribute materials to customers and make periodic donations for the following charities: Tree Aid; International Fund for Wildlife and Survival International Trust. In Southern Africa we support the Southern Africa Sustainable Seafood Initiative and forward their guidance to all customers on which seafood is sustainable when offered a choice at restaurants.