A:
Dear Laura, This is Alex from Altezza Travel. Thanks for your question and concern. In fact, few trekkers enquire about the standards of crew treatment before booking their trip. If you have a look at the reviews of Altezza here on TripAdvisor, you will see that it is our climbing crew that receives most of the compliments. We do understand that our guides, porters and other team members are the core of every expedition, and we value them very highly. We are proud to have the highest standards of employment welfare among the guiding teams on Mt Kilimanjaro. The main elements of these standards include: *** Financial benefits *** Apart from getting paid regularly and generously, our crew members can always count on deposits, so their families stay financed while their bread-winners are on the mountain. More than that, they have all the chances to get promoted to higher positions like a cook, camp master or a guide. *** Equipment for the crews and their safety *** Porters and guides employed by Altezza live in high-quality tents and are provided with excellent equipment. In the morning before the start of the trek, our head of expeditions personally conducts a medical check for each and every crew member, making sure that they are in good health. Their personal gear is checked as well, so no crew member leaves for the trek without proper equipment. Altezza’s crews are also provided with the first-aid kit, and every evening while on the mountain a chief guide checks health condition of the whole crew and gives them medicines, if necessary. In addition to that, we are proud to be the only company on Kilimanjaro to make our own sleeping bags for our crews. These sleeping bags have -7°C comfort, -15°C limit and -25°C extreme levels, which is completely suitable for overnights below 5000 m (all summit camps are below that line), the point where temperatures do not fall lower than -3°C. Unfortunately, TripAdvisor interface makes it impossible to attach photos to this reply. You can drop me a line at ceo@altezza.travel, and I’ll send them to you. Finally, the whole climbing crew is insured with helicopter evacuation coverage. Even if somebody happens to fall ill during the first days of the climb, their medical expenses are always covered by Altezza and they are paid their salary in full. Overall, I hope that I’ve managed to give you an idea of our attitude to our climbing crew members. We will be happy to see you among our climbers! All the best, Alex
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