Apart from factoring in climbing expenses, travel fares, and miscellaneous expenses, climbers must also allocate funds for gratuities to the guides and porters. While tour operators claim that tips are discretionary, the livelihood of the crew significantly relies on them, sometimes constituting up to 50% of their earnings. In unfortunate instances with subpar companies that neglect to provide proper wages despite Tanzania National Park’s minimum wage regulations, tips might constitute the entire income of these workers, amounting to 100%! Hence, unless the service was exceptionally poor, tipping is strongly recommended. In nearly all cases, the crew has more than earned their gratuities and then some.
The tip amounts will vary depending on who you climb with, however, the typical amounts are:
This is the money they should receive from the entire climbing party. So, if you climbed the 7 day Machame, the guide receives 7x $20 = $140 from the entire climbing party. If your climbing party consisted of 4 people, each person should contribute $140/4 = $37 (for the guide’s tip). To get a good estimate of the total tips each client should expect to pay, you will need to know the number of porters, cooks, assistant guides and guides on your climb.
I have read that 10% of your climb’s cost is an adequate tip, but this really depends on a lot of variables. How many people are in your climbing party? How many days is your climb? How many personnel are accompanying you on the mountain? How much equipment/food are they carrying? This changes between companies, so therefore it is best to ask your operator what the tipping amounts are. It is smart to get these numbers before you book, so you can tally up the entire cost when you compare companies.
The average Tanzanian makes $40 per month. A $40 tip for difficult work for many days is a great wage and supports the local economy. Certain countries are very willing to tip, such as people from the USA, where tipping is the norm. For other countries, where tipping is not typical, I cannot state enough how important the tips are to these young men who support the climb. Please do not withhold a tip from them for the simple reason that you are not used to tipping.
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