Peak Planet is the BEST tour operator for a Kilimanjaro summit or Safari. I just returned yesterday from a private (my nephew and me) 9-day Lemosha Route climb (7 days on the mountain) and a 3-day luxury safari. Ethics- There are a few less expensive operators, but we quickly learned how they were cutting corners. It was heartbreaking to see how these lesser operators treat their porters. In contrast, Peak Planet employees were happy, and strong, and praised the company they worked for openly as they described how Peak Planet even helped them during the pandemic when there were NO touring clients. The guides had experience with other operators prior to Peak Planet and said that Peak Planet was superior. Value- Excellent. With Peak Planet, you get knowledgeable guides, medical assessments, quality equipment ie. a tent, a private clean porta-potty tent, optional rental gear (we rented Altox O2 and one sleeping bag), and the most committed enthusiastic crew for safe successful summiting without the price tag of those household name operators. Communication- Excellent. I emailed Ben a few times from home. He was quick and appropriate with his responses. Once we arrived in Tanzania, everything went exactly as planned. The driver met us at the airport and drove us to the hotel. The following day we met Tumaini, Peak Planet's operations manager in Tanzania. He introduced us to our guides and gave us an extensive briefing. Our guides, Emanuel and Chacha spoke English very well and communicated with us every step of the way. They constantly checked in to see how we were feeling and briefed us daily on the next day's plan including how we should dress for the mountain weather. They often stopped on the trail to share their knowledge of plants and animals. We developed a real friendship with our guides. Safety- Peak Planet is very safe. We made sure we locked our car doors to and from the airport and while traveling to and from the safari parks. We also had a few layers of money belts since you carry a lot of cash (for tipping) when en route. However, you don't have to worry about it while hiking Kili. You leave it in the manager's safe at the initial hotel with a copied check-in receipt. Your bags are carefully watched by Peak's Planet's porters for other group invasions. On summit day, a porter is posted to guard your tent's belongings at the busy base camp. As far as Acute Mountain Sickness, the guides are knowledgeable, and attentive, and won't let you get into any trouble. We rented one Altox O2 to take with us on summit day, but we did not need to break it out. I liked having it, just in case. Food- This is an area I knew I would struggle with. I am very picky. My nephew is of average adventure in the palate. Our cook was excellent. He made delicious fresh food. I am not used to the rich foods and the portions he made. I lost my appetite pretty quickly but Chef was accommodating because I could only eat soups, bananas, toast, and fruit juice. My nephew continued to enjoy all the dishes. Portions were HUGE. Chef made the sweetest gesture with a congratulatory decorated cake and sparkling juice for our summit. Luxury Safari- Our guide, Victor, was very knowledgeable and had a great eye to find all the animals. He was a very skilled driver and followed the rules to protect animals and habitats. The Lion's Paw resort was extraordinary. The accommodations nestled on the top of Ngorongoro Crater were luxurious with breathtaking views and excellent food and service. On our last night, we stayed at Ang'ata Tarangire Camp. Unfortunately, their water truck didn't arrive as expected so we were unable to shower, or even flush the toilet. I understand that with remote access, things like this can occur, but it was the night before we had a dusty safari and a more than 24 hr flight back to Los Angeles. We had to lean in hard to our flexibility. I do not consider Ang'ata Tarangire Camp to be a luxury accommodation, but you can't beat the location. Summary- Go with Peak Planet! read more

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I climbed Kilimanjaro, went on a five day safari and visited Zanzibar with Peak Planet earlier this year. It was truly the best vacation me and my wife have ever taken. I am not an experienced backpacker and was naturally anxious about such a big trip to a foreign country. I had lots of questions but Dana was very patient and detailed in answering them all. As I departed on my trip I felt well prepared. In country, the team was excellent. The equipment was new and high quality. Compared to other groups we saw, you could tell Peak Planet ran a extremely professional, organized operation. The guides really made our trip. They checked out vital signs every day to make sure we were healthy. I felt great the whole time. And the porters were so strong and helpful. It was humbling to each them zip past us with our bags. The safari likewise was great. We saw the big five and much more. Our guide found every animal we wanted to see and took the time to explain their behaviors. Better than the Discovery Channel. Finally we went to Zanzibar's white sand beaches plus a tour of Stone Town to cap it off. Relaxing and beautiful. I highly recommend Peak Planet to anyone i Stern's Ted I'm visiting Tanzania. read more

We just returned from our trip to Kilimanjaro. We took the Machame route. We were nervous because of Covid but we had the trip planned for over a year so we decided to just be as careful as possible and go. It was an absolute amazing trip. The hotel Stella Maris was awesome and the staff was so friendly and accommodating. They seemed glad to see us during these uncertain times. Our guides were Bosco and Emmanuel and we could not have asked for better guides. All of our guides and porters were simply amazing and helped encourage us to get to the summit which we did. Truly an amazing experience. If you EVER consider climbing Kilimanjaro, Peak Planet is the way to go and if you can request a guide, I'm not sure you can find better than Bosco and Emmanuel. Thank you again. Mark A read more

I just came back from my Kilimanjaro expedition with Peak Planet. It was a first class operation both in the USA and in Tanzania. I found the company while searching on the internet. The site was very thorough and I felt comfortable booking after several email communications and one phone call with Dana. He was very helpful in assisting with my preparations - including what route to climb, how many days to take, what to pack, and my follow up safari trip (I ended up doing the 9 day Rongai route). The climb itself was excellent from beginning to the end. We were picked up at the airport by a driver and taken to Stella Maris - a wonderful lodge that funds a school for orphans next door. Next day we began climbing up Kilimanjaro. It started off easy enough for a couple days, then the elevation got to me. I got some symptoms of altitude illness on day three. I felt really safe as my guide took my oxygen readings twice a day to see how I was adapting. Also he seemed very detailed about watching us walk, eat and sleep. If anything were to happen, I was comforted to know that the crew would be able to help me as they had oxygen, a stretched and a satellite phone on them. I don't think this is common - we were covered by helivac (helicopter rescue). All in all, I recovered from my symptoms and continued on to the summit. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. We both made it to the top and could not have done it without my guide and summit porter. We will be eternally grateful and appreciative of Peak Planet and their awesome crew. Our safari was equally as amazing. We did a three day which was unfortunate because we did not have time to go to the Serengeti. But we still saw tons of wildlife especially in the Crater - don't pass up on this! We will go definitely back for more in the future. Do not hesitate to climb or safari with Peak Planet. Contact them and judge for yourself. read more

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with Peak Planet (Peakplanet.com): After much consideration I am writing about my honest experience with Peak planet ie peakplanet.com which is by far the single worst booking agency I have ever worked with in my two decades of travelling! I would like to take this opportunity to warn people considering booking via peak planet to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to look elsewhere. Also this should have no bearing on the African walking company ie the operator on ground to whom peak planet will hand you off to. The African walking company did a fine job with tremendous guides like Abraham and his team who managed to guide us safely to Uhuru peak and back via the Rongai route. Read my review of the African walking company separately, as I want to concentrate this review on peak planet only. From the moment I started searching for operators to climb Kilimanjaro I saw well placed ads and reviews for peak planet (peakplanet.com). They do spend a bit on "google ads" which follows you around like a puppy dog on your internet searches. Of course a company being physically present in the USA and processing your credit card here instead of Tanzania should be far more professional and accountable, how WRONG I was! Right from the beginning red flags went up. They would never NEVER pick up the phone. Always responding to voice messages after 36 - 48 hours. Resorting to emails provided the same result. Getting information out of this outfit was like pulling teeth. John and later Dana the know nothing representatives at peak planet had no idea about what a climb on Kilimanjaro would entail, also I do know that Dana has only just climbed Kilimanjaro for the first time in Aug, 2016 and John probably never has. Not only is the information on short supply, they are NOT interested in giving it to you. Around the time that the Tanzanian authorities were reported going to enact an 18% tax hike on all climbs and safari's in Tanzania my Safari operator ie Easy travels told me that this was possible (thank god I went with a different company than peak planet for my safari). I asked John at peak planet about this and was told that my safari operator ie a Tanzanian knew nothing about this tax hike and was misinformed, furthermore the hike is only going to be 2% and not 18%, WRONG!!. After the 18% tax was enacted, I got no apologies from these morons at peak planet who sent me a blunt email saying please pay the additional amount or you can cancel. This after I have booked flights and other hotels. The difference in peak planet and my Tanzanian safari operator was huge to say the least in every aspect of the booking (Btw. The safari operator split the cost of the tax hike with me even though they did not have to, because they thought it was unfair as I had already paid the booking). An operator who takes $5000 from you for a climb should have some standards, which peak planet is clearly devoid of. Communications, organizations, enthusiasm of representatives, informing clients is just severely lacking in peak planet and they should never be a choice for your Kilimanjaro climb. IF anything goes wrong on the ground in Tanzania, I assure you peak planet will not be handling it for you. This was evident when we were left stranded on the airport in Arusha with no driver in sight (we had paid $95 for a pickup from Arusha). On calling peak planet, again the Dana informed me that this must be a fault of African walking company and we ie peak planet have your date correct. Now, this is not an answer I am looking for at a strange airport while being hounded by 13 taxi drivers. Eventually AWC arranged a driver for me only after two hours and I was on my way. Needless to say no apologies or follow ups from peak planet on this. At one point of my communication with peak planet, when they realized that I might actually write the truth about my dealings with them they tried convincing me that I should consider cancelling with them and looking at other operators! This outfit is an embarrassment to travel agencies. Also they would not give me the email of their owner. And their manager ie Bret has never contacted me despite my requests for at least a month. I can go on and on, but I hope that this is sufficient to make you look elsewhere and check reviews in depth for peak planet ie peakplanet.com before you make your booking with then. Surprisingly and now not so surprisingly I could not find many reviews on tripadvisor for peak planet and now I regret not reading through and asking for references. The few reviews I read were about African Walking Company and they did do a good job. Please do not hand over your hard earned money to peak planet because of their glitzy website and google ads. They are truly a horrible middle men for as important an event as climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with any operator. read more