EDWARD ERNEST KUTINGALA

I was born in the Ngorongoro Highlands, northern Tanzania. Born from a pastoralist Maasai family, so herding calves, goats and sheep at early stage was inevitable.

At 8 years I teamed up with tribe warriors herding cows and travelled long distances searching for good pastures and water. As I started wearing/ building up warrior's mentality at 9 years old, my uncle who was living in the outskirts of Arusha moved me from Ngorongoro highlands and immediately enrolled in school. My uncle worked so hard to contain and at the same time convince me how modern education was good than becoming a warrior. I was missing running after cows in a dry and dusty land as well as carrying sticks, spear and knife out in wilderness. Missing tribe songs and dances sung by warriors were things that did hurt my mind so badly and nearly ran away to go back to village. Gradually and automatically I got absorbed into new life and that school became at my heart and soul.

Going to church Sunday school was another new stage and strange to my life. " Engai doesn't stay in the house and doesn't need money as offerings" Engai is a word for God in Maasai language. That was a reaction I explained to my uncle after being forced to go to Church and attend Sunday School classes.

Moving away from my origin born village didn't separate me from tribal cultural life and norms. Neither Christianity did make me behave differently with what Maasai as a tribe believe about God. Despite of strong Maasai culture, I participated advising non-Christian Maasai about the new and modern teaching about God as written from the Bible and Christianity teaching received before baptism.

I did undergo all the Maasai tribe rituals- pre-circumcision, circumcision and warrior stage. My warrior was of modern one as I was already in secondary school and Christian; and only participated in warrior duties while out of school and during vacations. It was this one last school vacation in the village that triggered my mind deeper to seek no any other job except tourism and become a guide after school. Six warriors I, were served food and water out in semi arid Ngaserai Game controlled area by tourists and their guide while pursuing cattle rustlers who raided and made away with 40 cows from my village. From 10nish pm to late afternoon the next day, we were so exhausted from hunger and thirst; and had no hope of coming across with any human being, but to our surprise and shock bumped into a tourist camp.

The food and water gotten from the camp made us travel further for more 3 days and eventually rescued the stolen herd before crossing into Kenya. Heroic songs and praise from the village and other villages along the way back home didn't shut my mind and ambition to go back to school and finish my final 4th years of secondary school education from central Tanzania.

It was sad leaving my fellow, friends and warrior mates behind in village at the height of ceremony of celebrating bringing back the stolen cows; as I had one goal in my mind- SCHOOL/ EDUCATION first! " I will be back and join you again" I said to my friends/ warrior mates as was leaving home and village and back to school, for my final semester and year. My mind was how to help the village warriors and community in general after school.

After school I returned back to village and resumed warrior and other home/ domestic daily duties; never thought of going to luxurious Tanzanite mining area- Merereni to try my luck like other young men of my age and school mates.

My uncle had no money to support my ambition to pursue for more education. Dark as it was coupled with hard life as well as monotonous life in the village where poverty was rampant brought bitter feelings about how to move forward. My long time vow and ambition to join tourism was still haunting everytime day and night. I thought of finding a job so as to raise funds for some training in tourism and support my family left behind by the deceased father. It was such a big challenge in life but I lived to my faith of facing the reality no matter what....bite the bullet.....

In 1996 the quest to work in tourism came after joining one of the Arusha based crew for Kilimanjaro climb, where I worked as a porter for couple of years. The great moral support gotten from friends met on Mt Kilimanjaro was such an impetus to the success that eventually my dream came true. During Kilimanjaro expeditions I was able to support my family successful and at the same time served funds for tour guide course where I decided to study Japanese language parallel with tour guide course.

My dream of guiding tourists eventually came true after securing post with Abercrombie & Kent( A&K) leading clients to Mt Kilimanjaro climbs and safari. Later on I changed and opted to a freelance guide and worked for various companies based in Arusha and abroad. As a passionate and visionary person, I recalled my long time mission of eradicating poverty and empowering parents and guardians from my home village. My priority was Education as paramount tool to help the community where I grew up.

To honour the community that cared/ nurtured me very well with love, respect and dignity; 2006 I decided to start a school and built it right on my family's land. That was the beginning of the school- Maasai Joy Children's Centre ( MJCC); the name chosen for genuine reasons.

The Maasai Joy Children's Centre mission is provide good quality education from kindergarten to primary school level with the aim of assisting children who have no access to good quality education due to poverty within community members.

To run the school efficiently and effectively money is needed. So, I came up with the idea of starting a business company in tourism that I am more conversant in the respective industry.

2011 the seed of starting a business company started. In 2013 Kibo Expeditions Charitable Company Ltd came into operations as a brain child of Maasai Joy Children's Centre ( Under the umbrella of Maasai Joy Children's Centre). So, automatically I became pioneer of the company teaming up with my close friend and former A&K workmate together with my cousin as company Co-Directors. Little profit generated from the company and donations from well wishers clients go to support the school. The survival and progress of Maasai Joy Children's Centre depends from Kibo Expeditions success in tourism business which MJCC can't do by its nature of operations.

Follow Maasai Joy Children's Centre facebook page . Sky is the only limit to my vision and mission in thinking and planning of helping my community. At present I am in a final stage of establishing a Foundation for Maasai Joy Children's Centre to help locals around the school help funding some projects around community

KIDANA LUPANDE KIBINZA

Kidana Lupande is our Sales and Marketing Director. Kidana has an experience of more than 12 years in the tourism industry inTanzania, he knows extensively the destination and its products; and also he is an expert in Kilimanjaro climbs. Kidana has been arranging many successfully safaris, beach holidays and Kilimanjaro climbs and he had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro "the Roof of Africa" three times and made to the top safe and sound!

Kidana worked before in some of the leading Destination Management companies in Tanzania for many years. He is a self-motivated and forward thinking individual with a wide range experience in organizing all type of safaris for people coming from different corners of the world.

Kidana is a customer focused individual who enjoys the day to day contact of the working environment and its challenges. He is very punctual, self-sufficient and takes his work seriously. Also he enjoys sharing his experiences with all travel agents and guests and learning from them as well. Kidana takes a job as his profession and as a hobby.
Should more details be required from him, please do not hesitate to contact him directly on his cell phone

JUSTIN JULIUS KISOTA

I was born in 1976 in a Maasai village on the Outskirt of Arusha town, Northern part of Tanzania. My parents were both pastoralists, where I grew up helping my father herding cattle and flocks of sheep and goats in the evening hours after school.
As I was growing up I begun to develop a passion for mountain climbing, a desire that was mostly influenced by my uncle who was by then working as Mt Kilimanjaro Guide at the time. During this period, it is then that I first got an opportunity to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro as a porter in 1998.

This experience provided me with profound knowledge on mountaineering and was indeed one of my most memorable achievements of my life. We climbed the mountain through Lemosho route via western breach and for the first time in my life experiencing the beauty of the world’s highest free standing Mountain after having spent the night at the highest camp of the Kilimanjaro crater (18500FT).

Since kick starting my career as a porter I have grown to become a fully-fledged Mountain Guide and in early 2000, I officially became a certified Mountain Guide.  I have gained an immense experience in this field and I have summited to the top of Kilimanjaro over 200 times.
Apart from being a Mountain Guide, I have also had the opportunity to study our wildlife and have  led safaris in the Northern parks of Tanzania which includes the Serengeti, Tarangire, Ngorongoro among others.
Over the course of my career, I have learnt and experienced new ways of cementing the knowledge that I already have in this field, and it is for this reason that I and two of my friends in the same field decided to launch our own Tour Company “Kibo Expeditions” so to continue exploring the beauty of mother nature and share our experiences with the rest of the world.

I understand how important it is to work at something. Today am married and blessed with three children.   For this and so much more I have to thank my family and my uncle who showed me what it means to be brave and courageous and who have always been there for me every time I needed them. Surely without these people I would not be the person I am today.