The winners at the 2018 Tanzania Tour Guide Awards were revealed on Saturday night (Oct. 13).
This year's awards show, hosted by Mc David from EATV and celebrating heroes and ambassadors in safari, mountain, Porter and cultural took place at the SITE tourism fair . The event was proudly sponsored by: TANAPA | NCAA | TTB | Kilimanjaro Search & Rescue | Kilifair | CulturalHeritage | Adventure Aloft Baloon Safari | A&L Magazine |
The list of winners per their categories: Safari Guide Category Winner 📌Englebert Qorror - Jackal Adventure 1st Runner 📌Emilian Matay - Easy Travel 2nd Runner 📌Samuel Sikombe - Freelance 👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑 *Mountain Guide Category* Winner 📌Eliakimu Mshanga - Tusker Trails 1st Runner📌Nelson Melleor - Trek2Kili Ltd 2nd Runner 📌Innocent Thadei Mosha - Zara Tours 👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑 *Cultural Guide Category* Winner 📌Abraham Machande - Mto Wa Mbu 1st Runner📌Mhindoi Momoya - Eyasi 2nd Runner 📌Seuli Meyani Sarakikya 👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑 *Porters Category* Winner📌Frank J. Ngatunga - TPO 1st Runner📌Dotto Jovith Joseph - MKPS
Climate change is emerging as a potent driver of internal migration, in Tanzania we are experiencing rising sea levels that led to more intense rainy seasons resulting to flooding in the coastal areas.
There’s estimated to be 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste on Earth. By the middle of this century ton for ton, they’ll be more plastic in the ocean than fish. While most of the micro-plastic collects or is peppered throughout the surface, a study probing creatures from the deepest parts of the ocean found that many if not most of the organisms there had ingested plastic. Potential effects of climate change and rising sea surface
temperatures in the Indian Ocean coral bleaching has also led to reduced coral cover in most reefs of the country, with mortalities of up to 90% in many shallow areas.Life under land is critical to the global ecosystem.
Zara Charity through it’s Foundation has chosen to make a difference by engaging in regular
clean up activities to stop any further damage caused by environmental degradation from
human activity and promote the conservation
and preservation of the precious land and marine biodiversity and climate adaptation strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change which are already being experienced in this part of the world particularly seen in the rising sea levels. We are excited to take on this humbling challenge and encourage you to join us by supporting our mission by supporting our clean up activities and donating to construct flood proofing structures along the Indian Ocean Coastline.
Mount
Kilimanjaro porters’ society is a properly established society as it
was duly registered on 30th September 2005 as a Non-governmental
organization with a certificate no 13296 under the Non-Governmental Organization Act No.24 of 2002 of the United Republic of Tanzania.
In
an effort to promote sustainability of tourism in Tanzania, Zara tours
partnered with Mount Kilimanjaro Porters’ Society (herein referred to as
MKPS). In accordance with this partnership, since that time and to this
date (MKPS) porters are assisting Zara Tours clients during Mt
Kilimanjaro climbs. This ensures employment for the MKPS porters through
Zara Tours. A significant number of Porters support their families and
earn their livelihoods through the jobs they get from Zara Tours.
CORE VALUES OF MOUNT KILIMANJARO PORTER’S SOCIETY (MKPS) WORKING WITH ZARA TOUR
Zara
Tours as a company, obeys and promotes the rules and regulations as
provided by the laws of Tanzania and never at any time has Zara Tours
been sued or questioned by the authorities for not keeping and upholding
the law set forth by the state.
According to rule 7 of the Mountains National Parks Regulations of 2003
a tour operator and its guides shall only hire or employ porters who
are honest, disciplined and trustworthy and who are members of a
registered Porter’s association and who shall hold valid identity cards
issued by the registered porters Association.
Therefore,
Zara tours provides employment to MKPS porters who fulfil the above
criteria. Zara ensures quality climbing gear for the porters as well as
financial support and advice to MKPS whenever needed.
The Mount Kilimanjaro porters’ society abides to the rules and regulations set forth as follows;
It provides proper wages to its porters as per minimum wages set by the Labour Institutions Wage Order of 2013 GN No. 196 of the United Republic of Tanzania. Porters are paid more than the set standard wages.
It provides meals to the porters 3 times a day.
It
provides proper clothing to its porters including but not limited to
technical clothing that are required when trekking in high altitude
conditions which includes water and wind resistant jackets and pants,
gloves, base layers, socks, hats, sunglasses and proper footwear.
It also provides proper shelter as porters are given access to tents or provided with sleeping quarters, sleeping bags and mats.
Proper
tipping policy is being observed as there are tipping sheets filled by
the visitors. Whereas full transparency is observed and the tip is being
shared to the group as suggested by the visitor.
Loads
are restricted to reasonable weight limits, which are measured in Zara
hotels and confirmed with park authority when they reach respective
gate/entry point. As per rule 12 of the Mountains National Parks Regulations of 2003 which limits the luggage to weigh between 18-25 Kilogram.
All the aforementioned corresponds to rule 5 of the Mountains National Parks Regulations of 2003
which provides that each tour operator and his guide shall make sure
that all climbers have all necessary, suitable and adequate climbing
gears and adequate foodstuff.
The
society exists as a shield for porters who are registered under it with
the goal of improving the living and working conditions of these
porters. The porters gain the following benefits as being the member of
the society;
HEALTH INSURANCE: -
With the nature of the work the porters do, it is easy to get sick or
injured on the job. Therefore, all porters under Mount Kilimanjaro
Porters Society are registered on the National Health Insurance Fund to
provide them security if they get sick or injured while working. At the
beginning of every high season (where there are more tourists climbing
Kilimanjaro), Mount Kilimanjaro Porter’s society ensures that all
porters are healthy and medically checked, so that at the start of the
season everyone is physically fit. This benefit goes hand in hand with rule 8 of the Mountains National Parks Regulations of 2003
which provides that the Registered Porters Association shall make sure
that all porters intending to climb any mountain are healthy and
physically fit and have justified their fitness by submitting medical
certificates. They do this once every twelve months.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: -
Proper methods of saving and spending money ensure that the porters
have concrete ways and strategies of spending money, this enables them
to better take care of their families. Mount Kilimanjaro Porter’s
Society arranges financial management classes for porters occasionally
and ensures that all porters have bank accounts where their salaries are
paid into. Bank accounts allow the porters to save money for the
future, especially during low season when fewer tourists climb
Kilimanjaro.
OPENING OF BANK ACCOUNTS: -
the Porter’s society has opened an account at DTB Bank were all porters
have their own bank accounts and bank cards, which will help them
handle their money better.
FIRST AID TRAINING: -
To reduce the risk of losing lives, for tourists, porters and guides,
the porters under Mount Kilimanjaro Porters society are provided with
basic mountain first aid training. This enables them to be of help for
each other, in the case of an emergency, but also to be effective if a
client is ill. The training is usually done during low season because
this ensures that there are many porters available in town, allowing the
course to attain a high attendance rate.
Apart
from the previously mentioned benefits gained by the porters by being
the members of MKPS, there also projects set by MKPS which engage the
porters, staffs, sponsors, partners and locals and includes the
following;
Mount
Kilimanjaro cleanness project; this involves the climbing of Mount
Kilimanjaro with the goal of picking up rubbish and other unwanted
materials on the mountain.
Tree Planting Project; It involves planting of tress and educating the community on the importance of trees.
Car wash; Cars are washed to raise money to support day to day operations of MKPS.
3. CONCLUSION
In
summing up, Zara Tours observes all the rules and regulations set by
the Kilimanjaro National Park towards promoting sustainability in
tourism and protecting the rights of all who are involved.
I
therefore have good reason to believe that there are many competitive
companies which run treks on Kilimanjaro and our 31 years of success in
the business is already sending waves to some of our competitors.
Unfortunately, they attempt to distort the market forces through foul
play and applying unethical techniques on business to destroy the effort
of others.
ZARA
is one of the Companies owned 100% by Tanzanians hence all the profits
gain goes 100% to the development of the country and her people.
Furthermore,
we would like to emphasize that MKPS is not a mere society of porters
with no core values. We believe that this organization plays a crucial
part in the daily lives of all porters and this is due to undeniable
fact that MKPS has a number benefits for the registered porters which
have been explained and discussed above. ZARA Tours is proud of this and
we will continue to support and play an important part in the lives and
well-being of all our staff.
The list of winners per their categories:
