MEET OUR Mountain Guide:
Sujuni Alphayo Mollel

I was born in Arusha in 1992 and attended Levolosi Primary School. After seven years, I finished primary school and was lucky enough to be chosen to go to the Oloirien Secondary School, where I studied for four years. Next, I joined the Arusha Vacation Training Centre, a Tourism College, where I spent 18 months. My first experience climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was as a mountain porter, a job I did for two years. At the start of 2012, the Kilimanjaro National Park authorities (KINAPA) invited tour operators to put forward any of their staff (including porters) who wanted to undergo the necessary training to become mountain guides.

I managed to get onto the course and later succeeded in passing the practical and theory exams. As a result, KINAPA gave me a mountain guide license, and I have been doing this for the past 12 years. After obtaining my KINAPA license, I started looking for a job opportunity.

For six years, I worked as a freelance mountain guide for many companies, giving me invaluable experience in this career choice. In 2017, I was fortunate enough to secure a job opportunity with Easy Travel and Tours, and I have been with them since then until now. My first experience up on the mountain with Easy Travel was a revelation compared with the other companies I had worked with. This is because I witnessed people working together and communicating exceptionally well. The Easy Travel crew work together, as opposed to working in competition with each other. To describe my time so far, I can say that I have achieved a greater experience since I joined because Easy Travel is a company that commits to giving continuous training to its mountain crews. The training covers customer care, cleanliness, respect for nature, and first aid. Also, the company directors want first-class mountain crews and love seeing the great things their staff can achieve. They meet the mountain crews, person-to-person, to motivate the team to do better and to solve the challenges faced during treks. I feel very lucky to work in a company such as Easy Travel.

As for myself, my native tribe is the Maasai tribe which beliefs in having genuine respect for one’s elders and youngsters alike. What I love about the Maasai Culture is that we still practice our traditions, such as our style of dress, our food, our lifestyle as cattle herds, and our traditional settlement called the Maasai boma, which attracts many interested people from around the world. During my early years studying, I lived with my family, mainly my mother and elder sister. After I became an official mountain guide, I got married in 2013 in Arusha. I currently live with my wife and two children. My son is Brighton, and my daughter is called Michelle, and we all live together in Mlangarini Village, south of Arusha City.