You'll walk up Kilimanjaro with roughly three people working for every one of you. It's the thing first-timers find strangest, and it's worth understanding who does what.
Who's who
The lead guide is licensed by the park, runs the climb, sets the pace, does the health checks and makes the decisions. The person whose judgement your summit and your safety both depend on.
Assistant guides walk with the group so it can split when people move at different speeds, and so somebody can take a climber down without ending everyone else's climb.
The cook produces three hot meals a day from a tent, at altitude, for a week. Say hello to them. Most climbers never do.
Porters carry the tents, the food, the water, the kitchen and your duffel. They leave camp after you, pass you on the path carrying four times your load, and have your tent up before you arrive. Some have specific jobs: a waiter who serves in the mess tent, a toilet porter if you've got a private one.
The weight limit
Loads are weighed at the gate, and there's a cap on what a porter may carry. That's why your operator gives you a duffel limit, usually around 15 kilos, and why they'll weigh it at the briefing. It isn't bureaucracy. Every kilo you add above the limit is carried on somebody's neck for six days.
What a fair deal looks like
Agreed minimum wages, paid in full and on time. Three meals a day, the same food you're eating. Somewhere proper to sleep. Boots, a jacket and a sleeping bag suitable for the altitude, provided rather than assumed. Loads within the limit. Tips passed on in full. If that list sounds like a low bar, it is, and it isn't met everywhere.
How to check
The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project monitors operators against exactly those standards and publishes which ones have signed up. It's a two-minute check, it's independent, and it beats any claim on a website, including ours.
How to behave at camp
Learn a few names. Say asante sana. Keep your duffel inside the weight limit. Don't ask anyone to carry your daypack. Hand your tip over in front of the whole crew so everyone can see the total, and read the tipping article before you go.
Why it's worth knowing
Because the crew are the climb. The route and the weather are the same for everyone on the mountain that week. The difference between a good climb and a miserable one is almost always the people you're walking with.
If something isn't right
Raise it with the lead guide on the mountain, that day, rather than saving it for a review. Most problems, a tent that leaks, food that isn't what you asked for, a pace that doesn't suit you, are fixable on the spot and unfixable afterwards. If it's about how the crew are being treated and the guide is the problem, tell the office when you get down, and tell them plainly.