Travel Tip 90
How to hire porters
Check if you can hire mules, or yaks in the Himalaya, rather than human porters. This is Mt Ausangate in Peru.
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Thousands of people around the world hire porters without understanding how to do it ethically. Even if you never hire porters, this advice applies to paying workers (guides, drivers, hotel staff, etc) in developing countries around the world.
Here’s everything you need to know about hiring porters.
Where do people hire porters?
The Inca Trail, the Himalayas, Kilimanjaro – all these amazing locations require porters. Every year a few people hike the Inca Trail, climb Himalayan peaks and summit Kilimanjaro without porters, but the vast majority of international travelers hire porters.
Why hire porters?
The main reason people hire porters is because they don’t spend enough time at altitude to acclimatize enough to carry their own gear. Many travelers are physically able to carry weight at sea level, or wherever they live, but can’t do it at the altitudes they face in the Andes, the Himalayas or at the top of Kilimanjaro.
What do porters do?
The main job of a porter is to carry climbing and camping gear. Many porters also ensure their international clients are healthy, hydrated, and fed, even when they lose their appetite because of the altitude. In many places, like the Inca Trail, porters also set up tents and cook for their clients.
Inca Trail guides like Liz Montesinos Pumayalle have to translate between clients and Quechua-speaking porters.
Who works as a porter?
In the Himalaya, porters are called Sherpas because most of the people who work as porters are ethnically Sherpa. Sherpa is a culture and an ethnicity, not a job. Not all porters in the Himalaya are Sherpas and not all Sherpas are porters, but most are, so the name has stuck. (Read why Sherpas work for $10 a day). In Peru, most porters are ethnically Quechua, from isolated mountain villages where people speak Quechua as a first language and learn Spanish in school or on the job as adults. For centuries, this has been mostly a man’s job, but in Peru, Nepal, and Kenya every year more women work as porters.
Why do people work as porters?
Like any job, most people just do it for the money. Some porters genuinely love hiking in the mountains and don’t mind the physical strain of carrying heavy gear. Some can’t find other work because they don’t have access to education as children and therefore don’t have other opportunities for work as adults.
How to hire porters ethically?
First, research the laws of the country, usually Peru, Nepal, and Kenya. You need to know what the weight limit is and not overburden your porters. You also need to know what the minimum wage is. While employers for most jobs pay above the minimum wage, for porters it’s common to pay only the minimum but then tip them at the end of the trek or expedition.
How should I tip porters?
Like any job, porters with more experience and better service should be paid & tipped more. , When deciding how much you want to tip, consider how much they do for you, and how hard it would be to do without them. Also, consider how much the trip cost. For example, most people pay $800-$1200 for the 4-day Inca Trail but don’t know that porters are paid less than $100 for those four days, which is half the legal wage. (This is where it’s important to know the laws of the country you’re going to). If you pay $1000 for the trek, consider if the porter contributes to more than 10% of your experience. Also, figure out how much of that $1000 goes to buying permits, food and transportation, how much goes to the guide and to each porter. Anything leftover is usually profit for the company and if it’s more than half you should find a different company. The people who do the hardest work should get the most money.
The bottom line: do your research before you decide on a company and pay a deposit.
Article
I am thrilled that BBC Travel published my article about the Inca Trail this week! Click on the title above to see what it’s like to hike the Inca Trail and what you need to know before you decide to do it. Last year, I wrote something similar for Horizon Guides, which you can read here.
Yes, I’ve done the Inca Trail. I’m not trying to be a hypocrite, just doing research.
Blog
The title completely gives away the angle of the blog, but the Inca Trail isn’t for everybody. This blog has a lot more suggestions for other treks you can do than I could fit in the BBC article.
