Tusker Trail was the first company to establish a Definitive Medical Training Course for their guides. Since then, a handful of our competitors have realized the value of medical training, and advertise this. But if you dig deep, you'll find that this is a marketing ploy. We honestly feel that none of their training measures up to Tusker's standards of DEFINITIVE MEDICAL TRAINING. First Aid is not enough. High Altitude Medical Training is what they need.

Tusker Trail's professionally trained guides immerse you in one of the most beautiful and strikingly diverse habitats on our planet. And by using regular medical checks, they help you to remain as safe as possible on your climb. You trek to extreme altitude with the assurance that each one of them has undergone rigorous and comprehensive high altitude medical training.

EDDIE FRANK, Tusker Trail's founder, was born and raised in Africa, and has climbed Kilimanjaro 36 times over the past 31 years. Since his first climb in 1977, he has built Tusker Trail's reputation as the safest, most experienced and most qualified trekking company on Kilimanjaro.

Since his first climb in 1977, Eddie has been innovating ways to climb Kilimanjaro safely. The National Park summit success rate is only 40%. Because of our guides' High Altitude Medical Training, our success rate is 98%. Eddie has succeeded in building Tusker's 18 guides into the finest medically qualified team on the mountain. Our safety record is impeccable.

With smaller groups our climber-to-guide ratio is 2-to-1. With larger groups our climber-to-guide ratio is 5-to-1.

Tusker's 18 professional guides have a combined total of 1,350 climbs and 250 years climbing experience.

Together with Sue Purvis, a medical instructor from Wilderness Medical Associates, Eddie has designed an intensive 8-day course that trains and certifies the Tusker guides in mountain medicine, emergencies and high altitude rescue. Only Tusker guides are permitted to take the course, and each of them must pass this course annually as a precondition for their ongoing employment. Each guide is certified as a HAFR (High Altitude First Responder). This is the only medical certification course specifically designed for guides on Kilimanjaro.

Everyone raves about the great meals on our climbs. At the beginning of each season our pro cooks go through a rigorous 3-day refresher course, when we introduce them to different menus, and refine their already well-honed cooking skills. Some people are even amazed when they get presented with a birthday cake high up on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.