Does anyone have any experience with these three tour operators for Kilimanjaro? My group and I have narrowed our choices down to those three and would like to make a final decision soon. I just want to know what people thought of them, in particular, safety record, reliability, quality of equipment and food, and treatment of porters.

Thanks.

Make your choice between Mem Tours and Ashante, Tropical Trails has a checkered history, and I have read occasional horror stories. Mem has arguably the best reputation in the business over there among local outfitters and has held and maintained the top spot for quite some time. It is not the cheapest available but upon my recommendation you can do no better.

Thanks for the info Peter. Can you elaborate a little more on Tropical Trails' "checkered history?" Up to this point I've only heard good things about them so I'm curious to know what these negative things are.

Hi Mike,

Which operator did you choose in the end?
I am about to book the climb with MEM and would like to have some recent feedbacks.

Thanks,

Izzie

Hello everyone, I just got back a few weeks ago from Tanzania and I have to say that Kilimanjaro was an incredible experience. My two friends and I made it to Uhuru Peak safely thanks to our guide Bruno from Ahsante Tours. After much research we decided to go with Ahsante Tours and we couldn't have been more happy with our decision.

On the day before the start of our trek we were taken to the Ahsante Tours office for a briefing. We were impressed to see that the office was in a private, gated, property just a short drive away from downtown Moshi. A woman from the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance (KPA) also came and informed us about the treatment of porters. It was reassuring to learn that Ahsante Tours was one of the few companies that paid their porters higher than minimum wage.

We requested Bruno to be our guide months before arriving because of what we had read about him on a trip review. Once again, it was a great decision. Bruno was very laid back and personable, but he was also very serious about his job. Right from the beginning he made sure we went "pole pole" never worrying about other groups that would pass us on the trail. Because we chose the Machame Route it was quite busy. We would normally leave camp about 30 minutes after the crowds left so that we would avoid congestion on the trail. It made the day hike to the next camp very pleasant and quite peaceful.

On summit night Bruno was all business and he made sure we all made it to the top safely. We left Barafu Camp at 12:45am, later than most groups, but kept a very slow and constant pace. It really helped us get into a good rhythm and also reduced the need to take frequent rests. Bruno constantly monitored our water intake and would regularly remind us to keep drinking. He made sure, despite our fatigue, to keep moving. I think this was key in reaching the top. I wanted to take a break once we reached Stella Point but he gave us no more than 2 minutes to rest. He had us walking up to Uhuru Peak very soon after. At the time I was pretty annoyed that he wouldn't let us rest after the 5 hours of grueling switchbacks. But looking back on it now I realize it was the right decision to just keep going. I would've felt even more tired if I had rested for longer at Stella Point, and it would've made the last stretch to Uhuru Peak that much more difficult.

In the end, we have to give all the credit to Bruno and Ahsante Tours for making our experience on the mountain so memorable. Everything went smoothly and everyone, from the porters to Bruno, to Timba, who was our point of contact, was very reliable and responsive to our requests.

To get an idea of what our experience was like on summit night, check out my photos on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikelac/3943792082/in/set-72157622305196409/

Cheers!

Hi Mike,

Great to read your post especially as it's so current. Was looking for reviews of Ahsante yesterday and there yours was.I am planning to climb Kili in March next year and have been assessing a wide range of possible companies.

Given there are so many with very good reputations I am moving towards avoiding those that have had concerns raised on other forums (Like Akaro and Zara). Two great ones I found who are as helpful as can be are ClimbMountKilimanjaro (Henry Stedman's company - writer of the very useful Kilimanjaro book) and Team Kilimanjaro - but both were a little more expensive then I'd hoped. Needless to say - the likes of Kiliwarriors are WAY beyond my budget. So, I am currently looking at 4 options:

- Ahsante were recommended as a very good budget company that treats their porters fairly
- KAS (Kilimanjaro Alpine Services) - are a budget version of Team Kilimanjaro that cut some thrills to reach lower budgets
- MEM Tours - have generally got a good rep from what I can see but have given me a very low quote which concerns me as it may impact the porter wages
- Ray's Safaris - The most expensive of the four but I've heard great things about their safari's and for convenience am considering booking the two together.

So - I am very interested to hear more about your trek - the quality of the equipment, food and treatment of the porters. Also I'd be interested to know what price you paid and how many were on your trip (if you're not comfortable sharing this I understand). Basically I am trying to ascertain what made you opt for Ahsante over MEM tours as if they are fairly similar - the quote I got from MEM makes them a great option.

I really look forward to hearing more!

Many thanks,
Ty

Hi Ty,

I climbeb kili with MEM in late June 09 and would highly recommend them: staff is friendly and relaxed - probably the quote is cheaper as it does not include certain options such a tables/sits for lunchtime etc and if it can reassure you the porters seemed to be well treated compared to others we could see during the trek, but in all cases it's difficult to know exactly their conditions...
perso the backpacking style /laidback, relaxed yet serious attitude of MEM suited me perfectly. and I guess your choice will depend on your preferred style of traveling.
enjoy your trip, it's a great/unique experience!

Izzie

Hey Ty,

I'm glad you're considering Ahsante Tours as one of your options for Kili. While I can't speak for the quality of service of other trekking companies I have to reiterate that my two friends and I had no regrets about our decision. I don't think we'd change anything about our trip.

We decided to do the 7-day Machame Route and that cost us about 1,600 USD per person. This was for a private group of 3 people (just me and my two friends). I think the price is the same whether you have a private group or if you join another group. We had about 3 porters per trekker, plus the chief guide, assistant guide and cook. It's 250 USD less for the 6-day option, but I highly recommend doing 7 days. It's just a much more enjoyable experience and you get to split the day before summit night into two short day hikes. This allows you more time to acclimatize and rest before the long, grueling summit hike, thus increasing your chances of summiting. But Ahsante will give you the option to decide on the mountain whether to do the 7th day or not.

As for the equipment, they use Vaude tents and sleeping bags. They provided the sleeping bag as part of the overall package so there was no extra cost. Definitely an added benefit. We thought all the equipment was in good shape and clean. The only minor gripe we had was that the zipper on one of our tents kept getting caught and wouldn't close properly. But our guide Bruno and the crew were always attentive to fixing the problem. Other than that, we were very happy with what was provided. We also rented telescoping trekking poles for maybe 10 USD (I think that was the price). Ahsante also provides you with foam sleeping mats, but they looked a bit thin so we rented an inflatable Thermarest for 14 USD at a shop in Moshi. If you have a good one at home and have space in your bag I'd suggest bringing it with you. But if not, renting is also fine.

The food they provide was very good. I originally thought that I'd quickly get sick of the food after a couple of days but it turned out that all the meals were quite appetizing. They prepare a well balanced meal with plenty of carbs (rice, pasta, or bread) for energy. There are always fruits and vegetables with most meals. We have no complaints at all about the food. We thought they did a great job with it.

We had a great group of energetic porters. They didn't speak that much English but we were still able to communicate enough to understand one another. Every morning our guide Bruno would get everyone together and start singing the Kilimanjaro song, along with other songs, and it never seemed like the porters were feeling forced either. They just had a certain sincerity and joy about them that it got us pretty pumped up for the day's hike. Very cool guys!

If you have any other questions feel free to ask. It's been almost a month since I was on Kili but I still think about it every day. The experience was very memorable for me and my two friends.

Check out my copmplete photo set to get an idea of the food, the porters, and the overall mountain experience with Ahsante Tours. I tried to add as many captions as possible to document our trip.
[url]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikelac/se ... 09/detail/ [/url]

Enjoy!

Thanks to all for the info.

What to do now? A fabulous review of Ahsante and of MEM Tours! Certainly seems they are the two I'll be choosing between.

Currently MEM are winning on price but Ahsante on the information they've provided about equipment (to that end, how important are dining tents?)

Ty

We liked having a mess tent, even though it meant not "roughing it" as much. At night when the temperatures drop it's nice to have some shelter while eating, especially if it's windy or rainy. It was also nice to have that common tent to just hang out and talk with the guide or with the other people in the group.

Well,

We're on the verge of booking with Ahsante. Expect it will all be done in the next day or two. Right now it is just the two of us travelling so if anybody is keen on a 7 day trek on the Machame Route from 11th to 17th March, please get in touch!

Thank you very much for all the responses and advice. It's still a very long time till we go but expect I should be on here leading up until we go and will post a review after the trip.

Ty