Is your Kilimanjaro guide lazy?

22nd October 2007

I’ve just received an interesting email from a couple of readers who recently climbed Kilimanjaro. Barbara and Stephen Harkness climbed with a ‘reputable and large Moshi based trekking company’. (I have my suspicions whom they are referring to!) Apparently, according to them, the guide suddenly ‘acquired an ailment/s on summit day’ and as a consequence ‘could not accompany us on the most difficult aspect of the trek’. As a result of this ’sudden ailment’, the Harknesses were led ‘not by the Assistant Guide, who did accompany us, but by a porter who also served as the waiter’.

In case you hadn’t twigged by now, the Harknesses were more than a little suspicious about the nature of the guide’s ailment - or if he was, in fact, just putting it on in order to avoid that difficult last climb to the summit - even though that is the main reason he’s there in the first place.

I have to confess, I’ve never heard of this practice before, even though the Harknesses said they had discussions with other trekkers that led them to discover that ‘this was not an isolated incident and greatly extends the working life of the Guide. We were going to report this to the company but were told by the crew that this would lead to them all losing their jobs.’

I’m curious about this; one, it seems an unlikely ruse, especially as skiving off the final climb to the summit could affect the size of the tip the guide could receive - and if there’s one thing all guides don’t want to jeopardise, it’s the size of their tip! But I’m also curious as to how I’ve never even heard of this practice, let alone witnessed it firsthand (though I have, admittedly, reached the top with only an assistant guide, that was because my original guide had to accompany a sick trekker down the slopes).

So I would be grateful if anybody else had their suspicions as to the ‘laziness’ or otherwise of their guide. If you could send me your own experience on this subject, I’d love to receive them. Thanks.

September 2007 news >>