Booking with the right agency is perhaps the most important factor in determining the success of your trek: they are the ones who arrange everything, supply the equipment, and designate somebody to be your guide. So take your time choosing one. Climbing Kilimanjaro will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is also quite an expensive experience, so it’s important to make sure that you get it right.
Independent Trekking Not An Option
In 1991,the Park authorities made it compulsory for all trekkers to arrange their walk through a licensed agency. Furthermore, they insist that all trekkers must be accompanied throughout their walk by a guide supplied by the agency. When these laws were first introduced, it was for a while still feasible to sneak in without paying, and many were the stories that arose about trekkers who managed to climb Kilimanjaro independently, tales that were often embellished with episodes of encounters with wild animals and even wilder park rangers.
Fortunately, the authorities have tightened up security and clamped down on non-payees, so these tedious tales are now few in number. Don’t try to climb Kilimanjaro without a guide, or without paying the proper fees. It’s very unlikely you’ll succeed, and all you’re doing is freeloading - indeed, stealing isn’t too strong a word - from one of the poorest countries in the world. Yes, climbing Kilimanjaro is expensive. But the costs of maintaining a mountain that big are high. Besides, whatever price you pay, trust me, it’s worth it.
Booking With An Agency At Home
Most of the trekkers on Kilimanjaro book their climb before they arrive in Tanzania, through an agency in their home country. Despite this overwhelming majority, there is a good case to be made for waiting until you arrive in the country before booking.
Booking from home gets rid of the hassle. It depends what kind of package you have booked, of course, but few tour companies will sell you a climb up Kilimanjaro and nothing more. Nearly all will include in their Kili package such things as airport pick-up, accommodation, sightseeing trips, transport to and from the mountain, and maybe even the odd safari or Zanzibar excursion. Pay them some more and they’ll throw in the flights and insurance and sort out your visas too.
With no need to arrange these things yourself, booking from home will save you a considerable amount of time. It also ensures that you know exactly when you’ll be walking, rather than having to wait around for a few days, as you may have to if you book in Tanzania.
Booking from an agency in your country also means you can plan your trek more precisely months in advance, and ask your agent any questions you may have well before you even arrive in Tanzania. Your agency at home will also either have their own guide to lead you up the mountain or, more probably, will be acting on behalf of one of the larger and better trekking operators in Moshi providing you with peace of mind. And if the trek still turns out to be a disaster then the big advantage of booking from home is that you have a lot more comeback, and a lot more chance of receiving compensation.
My advice; don’t book with an agency at home. For bottom prices; wait until you arrive in Tanzania and shop around, otherwise use the internet to book with an agency in Tanzania.
Booking With An Agency In Tanzania
The main advantage of booking in Tanzania is one of economy: you’re cutting out the middleman. Many foreign tour operators don’t actually use their own staff to take the treks; instead, they use the services of a Tanzanian tour operator. By booking in Tanzania, therefore, you are dealing directly with the people who are going to take you up the mountain, and not the Western agent.
So it can be quite a bit cheaper booking your trek in Tanzania after you’ve arrived, particularly if you are willing to shop around, and especially if you are I willing to bargain. There are other advantages too. If you ask, there should be no reason why you cannot meet the guides and porters before you agree to sign up - and even your fellow trekkers, all of whom have a huge role to play in making the trek an enjoyable one. You can also personally check the tents and camping equipment before booking.
Furthermore, the fact that you can book a trek up to 24 hours beforehand gives you greater flexibility, allowing you to alter your plans so that you can pick a day that suits you - when booking with an agency at home you often have to book months in advance, the tour is usually organized to a pretty tight schedule, and altering this schedule at a later date is often impossible.
Another point: while the money you spend on a trek may not be going to the most destitute and deserving of Tanzania’s population, at least you know that all of it is going to Tanzanians, with none going into the pockets of a Western tour company.
And finally, with the rise of the Internet, you don’t even need to wait until you arrive in Tanzania before booking: the bigger agencies in Moshi and Arusha now have Internet booking services, and while it may seem a little scary sending a deposit to people in East Africa you’ve never met, the bigger companies at least are used to receiving bookings this way and can be relied upon. There’s even a slim chance that you might end up joining a group who did book their tour abroad, and paid more as a consequence.
The best place to look for an agency is either Arusha, which has the greatest number of tour and trekking operators, or Moshi. A third option, Marangu, is smaller and has fewer agencies. Agencies in Dar es Salaam and other Tanzanian towns are usually nothing more than middlemen for the operators in Moshi and Arusha.
Of the two, Moshi is probably preferable. The town is home of some of the most established trekking agencies - including many of those used by tour operators in Europe and the West. It’s usually a little cheaper too. Besides, most of the Arusha agencies are, first and foremost, safari organizers; Kili isn’t really their thing, and once again many are just acting as middlemen for one of the agencies in Moshi. Nevertheless, it is still worth looking around Arusha for a suitable agent, particularly if you plan to go on safari as well. Booking a safari and a Kili trek with the same agency should give you a better deal for both.
The golden rule when shopping around is: stick to those agencies that have a licence, and check that licence thoroughly to ensure it covers trekking. If they don’t have a licence, or the one that they show you looks a bit suspect, is out of date, or looks like a fake, take your business elsewhere. Don’t take a chance on this matter.
And one tip: don’t be afraid to tell the tour operator that you’re shopping around; it’s the quickest way to get them to give you a good deal.
