Porter Scholarship Programme: We believe it is essential that all our staff get the opportunity to progress in their chosen careers. Each year on Kilimanjaro we reward one of our hardworking porters by paying for their training to become a guide. The course which costs USD$900, is far beyond the means of most porters who make roughly USD$115 including tips per climb. After they feed and house their families, there is very little money left at the end of the month, which makes attending guide school themselves virtually impossible. Once they qualify as guides their pay with tips will increase to roughly USD$220, which means they will have much more disposable income to feed and educate their families. Another fantastic benefit of this programme is that it has fostered a healthy sense of competition amongst the porters which has led to even better levels of service on the mountain! In May 2019 two of our porters Fuso (2018 winner) and Thomas (2019 winner) qualified as guides. Established in 2007, Earth’s Edge is a small business based in Dublin, Ireland. We offer high altitude trekking, mountaineering, and our signature tri-adventure expeditions in some of the most stunning locations in the world. We are the only company in the world who send an international guide and doctor on all expeditions while keeping group sizes sustainably small. Sending an international guide and doctor allows us to deliver an unrivalled level of safety and service for each and every one of our clients. Having smaller group sizes brings a lot of advantages including better guide to client ratios, reduced environmental impact and stronger team dynamics. While our main focus is on safety and your experience with us, we also have a robust responsible travel policy encompassing the environment, communities and people we work with. This allows us to achieve our mission of providing you with a life changing experience while being kind to the planet and her people.