Tipping the driver - should you, or shouldn’t you?

Wednesday 10th October 2007

Here’s an interesting (if minor) point that was raised with me the other day – a question that I had never even pondered upon before: What should one tip - if anything - to the driver who takes trekkers to and from the mountain at the start and end of the trip.

It’s not as dumb a question as it may to some readers first appear, for of course the tipping of one’s crew on the mountain (porters, guides etc) is quite a controversial topic, and one we discuss at length in the book and on this website. (See Tipping your Kilimanjaro Crew on this site.)

Discussions with various trekking agency leaders gave answers ranging from ‘nothing at all – we pay them too much already’ to ‘whatever you think is appropriate’.

So in the spirit of the latter, and because nobody could give us a definitive answer, we suggest the following guidelines: if you are happy with the driver, his car and his driving, a tip would be appropriate. Nothing much – somewhere between US$5-10 would seem about right, depending on the number of people in the car.

Kilimanjaro hero returns to the mountain >>