Had an incredible experience with Popote for our 7-day Machame Hike and 3-Day Safari. They took care of all travel logistics for the entire trip and we didn't really have to worry about anything. They were waiting for us at the airport, carried our bags, transported us to the hotel, clearly told us our start time for the hike, transferred us back to the hotel after the hike, picked us up for the safari and took us back to the airport. Nothing was missed!

The hike was awesome! We felt like kings the entire time. The guides and porters carried our bags, set up camp, made our food, filtered and provided water for us to drink; literally all we had to worry about was walking up the mountain. Our guides, Dixon and Dulla (aka Dolla' Dolla'), were great! They had fun with us and changed the pace in the last few days to accommodate our fitness level (three 20-something year olds). Also, Crazy Willy, our host at camp was a funny guy and always joking around with us. They were helpful the entire time!

The food on the hike, made by Joseph (our stomach engineer), was top-notch and there was always a TON of it. I probably gained weight while hiking a mountain. Two of us were gluten-free and accommodated the entire time for us. For breakfast every morning we had porridge (oat, millet, etc.), eggs, sausage, some gluten-free biscuits or flatbread. For lunch we fries, chicken/fish, fruit. For dinner, we always started with a hot soup, and then finished with rice and tasty stew and fruit. For every meal there was hot water for tea/coffee/hot chocolate. Overall, very impressed with the food and there was a lot of it! They made sure that we ate and drank a lot so that we were ready for each day.

Summitting Kilimanjaro was stunning! The guides got us there right for sunrise and the view was like nothing I'd ever seen. We did the 7-day Machame route and the scenery was beautiful and varied each day and it did a great job of acclimating us for the final day (none of us took diamox).

They also had a small award ceremony back at the Popote headquarters for us after the hike where they sang for us, gave us our summit certificates, and celebrated!

The hotel we stayed at, Parkview Inn, was really nice too! For the three of us on the trip, they provided 2 rooms. We stayed there the night before the hike and the night before the safari.

The safari was awesome as well. Would highly recommend to anyone who is already there to climb Kilimanjaro! Our guide, Tuma, spoke great English and answered all of our questions really well. I was also impressed with his driving skills on the safari when many of the roads had horrible potholes but he made the ride smooth the entire time. We did a 3-day safari and visited Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara (FYI, doing a 4 day safari brings you to Serengeti as well). The number and variety of animals was stunning. The only animal we didn't see was a leopard/cheetah which is really rare anyways and we would have had a much better chance at Serengeti too. We saw a pack of lions hunt a few warthogs, a hyena eating an antelope, a jackal eating a bird, and literally thousands of animals.

We chose the 'basic' option and stayed in tents at a luxury campsite each night. The view from the campsite overlooked Lake Manyara and was gorgeous. There were also showers at this facility which were great. Once again, our stomach engineer Joseph, made great meals and we never got sick of the food over the 10 total days we were there.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Popote and the high class of service that they provided the entire time! They are constantly looking to improve their experience and asked us several times after the hike if there was anything they could improve upon. Honestly, I didn't have a response for them. It was awesome!

P.S. On the day after our hike and before our safari, we started walking to downtown Moshi for lunch and a couple people on the street noticed one of us wearing a Popote shirt and were genuinely excited to see us and asked about the climb etc. One guy in particular, Jamaal, was another guide for Popote and ended up walking with us to lunch, showed me how to eat traditional Tanzanian food (aka eat Ugali with one hand and use it as a spoon for the meal), showed us around a local market, and walked us around town. He never asked us for money, but genuinely wanted to engage with us. It really showed that the people Popote hires are caring people.

My wife and I just got back from an amazing trip to Tanzania which is a truly magical country and well worth a visit. We fell in love with the people and the variety of adventure that is available here. The highlight of this trip was the 8 days Lemosho route we chose to climb on Kilimanjaro with Popote Africa, who are hands down, the best at what they do.
The communication with Sabino and Redeem made us feel very confident and comfortable that we had definitely made the right decision. We had a lot of questions as well as some uncertainty as to whether we would be able to proceed as planned due to illness the week before we were supposed to travel, but Sabino and Redeem put our minds at ease about any and every scenario and we knew all we had to do was get there and Popote would take care of the rest.
Our guides were Stanley and Elisafi, who are not only the most knowledgeable and capable guides we've ever met, but also are two of the coolest and nicest human beings ever!!! They shared so much info about the country and the mountain and that really made the hours and altitude less painful. The communication was outstanding and included daily briefings of what to expect the next day as well as updates during the day of any changes. They gained our trust immediately and we know 100% that we would never have had such a great and successful adventure without them.
The porters were supermen of the mountain and we were so lucky to have the team we did. Every day they would break down the camp and race ahead to have everything set up by the time we arrived at camp.
All the gear was great and any minor issues were addressed and resolved immediately.
Our chef Boca was a magician and provided 3 meals and snacks every day. The quality and quantity of food was better than anything we could have imagined considering the environment and conditions in which he had to operate.
Our waiter Nico not only provided excellent service but was also one of our biggest cheerleaders. He was always there to greet us after a tiring day and would do everything he could to help us recover and feel better including hot water for washing and tea, including hot ginger tea on the descent from the summit as well as a sparkling grape juice toast to celebrate a successful summit.
Yula, our summit porter, truly was a champion and always went over and above to help us in any way possible. He has an incredible energy and was always so cheerful inspite of carrying backbreaking loads up and down the mountain.
We are eternally grateful and thank Popote from the bottom of our hearts for all their strenght, kindness and support in making our dreams of summitting Kilimanjaro come true on 3rd Feb @ 7:55am. Truly an epic team effort.
Thanks to Redeem who made all the arrangements after a last minute request we also tagged on a last minute safari to Tarangire Natl Park which was incredible. Our guide Richey was very knowledgeable and spotted animals which we would never have noticed by ourselves.
We will definitely be back for a multi day safari and Zanzibar trip with Popote in the near future.
If considering an adventure like climbing Kilimanjaro I would consider Popote to be the best choice. They are a smaller, locally owned company and it really impressed us to see how they all look out for each other. The attention to the small details really can make the difference between a successful attempt and a miserable one. Unfortunately we saw many examples of the latter especially on the way to the summit and while it was very challenging at times through out the trip, we knew we had given ourselves the best chance of succeeding by following simple instructions from our guides and most importantly, choosing Popote Africa to make our dreams come true.

The team around the guides Dixon and Omar, were like a family.
It was fun and just an adventure.
The organization of the course and the catering,
it was all wonderful.
We had the adventure we wanted,
and are grateful !