Fair climb calculator

Park fees, crew wages and tips — the floor under an honest Kilimanjaro price.

Most of what a Kilimanjaro climb costs is fixed before any company adds its margin: park fees set by TANAPA, and the wages and tips of the crew who carry the camp. Pick your route and group below to see those numbers — so you can judge a quote, and so crew know the published floor for their own pay.

Fee schedule changes soon

The published park tariff runs until 2026-06-30. We will update this page when the new rates publish — until then, treat fee totals near that date as provisional.

Route

Days on the mountain

Climbers in your group

The most-climbed camping route. Six-day versions are sold widely, but seven days acclimatises better.

1. What the park charges

Published per-person fees. Nobody can discount these — they are paid to the park for every climber on every permit.

Conservation (park entry) ($70 × 7 days): $490
Camping ($50 × 6 nights): $300
Rescue (one-time): $20
Forest (one-time): $10
VAT (18%): $148
Per climber: $968
Your group of 2: $1,935

2. What the crew must be paid

A typical minimum crew: about three porters per climber, a guide for every two climbers, and a cook. Operators often bring more people, not fewer — so this wage total leans low. If your operator gave you a crew list, type the real numbers in.

Lead guide · Kiongozifloor TZS 40,000/dayTZS 280,000

Assistant guide · Kiongozi msaidizifloor TZS 30,000/dayTZS 0

Cook · Mpishifloor TZS 30,000/dayTZS 210,000

Porter · Mpagazifloor TZS 25,000/dayTZS 1,050,000

Wage floor for a crew of 8, 7 daysTZS 1,540,000 ≈ $589

3. Tips, done so they arrive

Guideline rates, paid by the whole group together. The per-person figure is the one to say out loud — announcing each crew member’s tip in front of everyone is what stops it being skimmed.

Each lead guide × 1: $140
Each cook × 1: $84
Each porter × 6: $42
Whole crew: $476
Each climber contributes: $238

The floor under an honest price

Park fees: $968
Crew wage floor: $294
Tips: $238

$1,500 per climber before anyone buys food, fuels a bus, or maintains a tent. Food, transport, kit, and the operator’s own costs come on top — so a credible price sits well above this. A quote far below it usually means the difference is coming out of the crew.

Wage conversion at roughly 2,615 TZS to the dollar (checked 2026-06-11). Permits also carry small per-crew-member park charges not shown here.

Know your rate

The published daily wage floors, per crew member. Viwango vya chini vya malipo kwa siku, kwa kila mfanyakazi.

Porter · Mpagazi: TZS 25,000 per day — the December 2024 partner-company minimum; a rise to TZS 35,000 has been agreed in principle and awaits a government notice — check kiliporters.org
Cook · Mpishi: TZS 30,000 per day — widely cited KPAP figure
Assistant guide · Kiongozi msaidizi: TZS 30,000 per day — widely cited KPAP figure
Lead guide · Kiongozi: TZS 40,000 per day — widely cited KPAP figure

KINAPA regulations require crew wages to be paid within two days of coming off the mountain.
A porter's load for the company must not exceed 20 kg, on top of their own kit.
Tips are separate from wages — a tip never replaces the daily wage floor.

Source: Kilimanjaro Responsible Trekking Organization (KPAP), checked 2026-06-11.

How to hand over tips

Tip each crew member directly, hand to hand, on the last day — not as one envelope handed to the guide.
If tips must go through the guide, announce the total and each person's share out loud in front of the whole crew, in English and in Swahili.
Write the amounts down and keep a signed copy — KPAP recommends exactly this in case of a dispute.