Mount Meru

Arusha National Park - landscape - day 1
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A bit about Mout Meru:

Meru is Tanzania's second highest mountain after Kilimanjaro, 1300m lower at 4500m high. It is situated at the western edge of Arusha National Park, north-east of Arusha town.  It was once much higher than Kili but a cataclismic eruption millions of years ago blew the top and eastern side of the cone off.  There is a new ash cone in the crater, formed after the old cone was destroyed.  To reach the summit, we had to walk along the northern edge of the old crater, and then southwards along the western ridge to the summit which is in the south-west of the original crater rim.

Giraffes on the walk -day 1
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oh, and this account is brimming with geography geek bits (unsurprisingly!)

Day 1 - Thursday 1st February 2007

Going down with a stomach upset the evening before embarking on a mountain trek is, admittedly, not the best preparation. However, having had various stomach issues over the past few months (and having paid for the trip), wisely or unwisely, I judged myself fit enough to begin.

After several hours of collecting people, provisions, permits and porters, we started waking at around Midday. Not the ideal choice of timing, but that was how things panned out.  The sun was beating down on us as we walked through the grassy base of the mountain.  We passed giraffes, buffaloes and warthogs early on.  A rare treat to be walking in a National Park where there are animals, so all groups have to be accompanied by an armed ranger/guide. We walked onwards and upwards and the afternoon rain was a relief from the sun.  It was harder going than it should have been, but that was a consequence of not having enough food energy in me (see opening sentence!).  After three or s hours we reached Miriakamba Hut, our base for the first night.  The porters and cook had raced ahead of us (as porters tend to, despite being loaded up with their maximum allowed amount of gear, putting most walkers to shame!), so we were served with popcorn and tea shortly after we arrived.  I then had a good rest before dinner.  There were quite a few other groups on the trek at the same time as us and it was according to our guide, busier than normal.  We went to our huts after dinner.  Even though it was only about 8pm, were sufficiently tired to put our heads down.  We had been warned about taking care when walking to the toilet huts at night as buffalo and elephants wander around the area. I didn't encounter any, but we did hear a hyena making a lot of noise at one point during the night.

Ash cone with Meru peak & streams behind, from Miriakamba Hut - day 1
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Day 2 - Friday 2nd February

Woke early and had a look at our surrondings in the early morning light, before breakfast and departure. The walk took us up through some lovely thick forests and I chatted to other groups along the way so the time passed quickly.  I still struggled a bit from lack of energy so took my time. A lot of the path consisted of wooden steps laid into the slope.  Obviously a good example of management to reduce erosion of the paths from the rains and walkers, but not fun for walking on! The walk brought us out at Saddle Hut (3500m), just south of and in the shadow of Little Meru Peak (secondary cone, 3750m).  We reached the hut in time for lunch, so had the afternoon free. I didn't do the afternoon stroll to Little Meru (45 mins each way) as I chose to rest instead. Chatted in German and English for much of the evening before another early night.

Ash cone with Meru Peak behind from Miriakamba hut - early morning day 2
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Day 3 - Saturday 3rd February

Was woken by guides waking their walkers and listened to chirpy Germans chatting over their tea at 1:00am.  Got up shortly afterwards and after our tea and biscuits we set off into the night for our summit hike. It was chilly at first but it soon warmed up, although we had to swap fleeces for waterproofs quite early on.  Headtorches were at the ready, but were not needed as the full moon was bright enough even behind the clouds. The walk started off pleasant enough, ascending through the moorland on a good path.  As we got higher, the moorland (well, what we could see of it in the moonlight) petered out and was replaced by much rockier terrain with very little vegetation.

Crater rim (which I walked along on day 3) - from Miriakamba hut - early morning day 2
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Where it wasn't rocky, the path was even tougher; volcanic sand! Very fine, and progress was excruciatingly slow.  Literally, one step forward, slide two steps back at times.  I even began wishing for more rocks at one plint!

I was feeling the effects of not enough sleep, not enough food and a much tougher terrain than I realised.  I expected rocky, and had read about a narrow ridge, but I hadn't realised that the narrow ridge was rocky and at 45 degrees or steeper. Not the best time to start getting nervous about what might happen if I slipped.  It wasn't the fear of slipping and associated pain that bothered me, more the potential time following that of surgery, crutches, being unable to do things I want to do etc... The knee was mended over a year ago, but my head is obviously not over it yet! Anyway, I lost what confidence I had and ended up leaning into the ridge and grabbing on with my hands for much of the time, whilste everyone else was happily walking along upright.  Little by little I managed to make very slow progress.  It was still dark but the rain had stopped.  There was the first hint of light on the eastern horizon but we were then on the western side of the crater rim for a while.  When we came to a gap in the ridge, the sky was becoming lighter and glowing as the sun was preparing to rise. Kilimanjaro stood in all its grandiose glory, a snow-capped island rosing above the low-lying morning cloud.  Looking down below us we could see the ash cone with its dormant crater, a tiny little cone compared to the even more ancient one that contained it.  Seeing the lightness in  the sky was wonderful and gave me a new lease of life. I sat and watched the sunrise, felt content that I was (nearly) on top of the world in a very beautiful place and then continued the ascent.  It was a good thing that I didn't realise how much further I still had to go.  Thinking I was nearly there kept me going, and telling myself 'not much further now' stopped me from turning back having seen a beautiful sunrise and experienced the crater rim.  I continued on, each peak potentially hiding the summit.  Peak after peak around the crater rim until the Tanzanian flag was visible above the summit.  It didn't seem to get any closer and the effects of altitude were making it harder.  My tired legs got heavier and my balance was going, so I was holding on more when I could have been walking freely. I then started to panic about one thought:  It's all very well reaching the summit, but how on earth am I going to get back down? Anyway, I eventually clambered over the last rocky edge and was at the summit, greeted by cheers and hugs from my group and the Germans who hadn't been all that far ahead.  It was 8:00am, nearly two hours later than we were meant to have been there, but the relief and sense of achievement was massive as I collapsed in an emotional heap and sat trying to swallow more fluids.  It took me several minutes to recover enough to really appreciate the view.  The morning sun was blazing but the wind was bitterly cold.  Then I had to think about getting down!

Kilimanjaro from Mirikamba Hut - early morning day 2
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The descent was also hideously slow, as I've been never been as confident going down as much as going upwards.  I did get sligtly quicker due to the light which had been absent going up, and I got better at using the trekking poles to balance and take some of the pressure off my knees.  I was once again behind the main group, with my guide patiently waiting and encouraging me all the way. Although there was a need to get back down, I did have a chance to take in the scenery that had been difficult to appreciate by moonlight.  The barren slopes of ash and rock bore no sign of life until a little lower down when the hardiest of plants poked through in places.  The stillness was eerie - total silince apart from my footsteps - not even a raven up this high.  The rocks seemed to go on for ever - much more than I remembered encountering on the way up. The sand was there again, going down slightly easier than ascending but still not fun!

Moorland vegetation with Meru Peak behind, from Saddle Hut - day 2
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Eventually we made it back to Saddle hut where we rested briefly before eating.  It was decided that we wouldn't be able to get back down to the gate before the Park was due to close, so after a slow but pleasant walk back down to Miriakamba hut (where two giraffes we watching us come down path), we descended the final stretch to the gate in a Park land rover.  A pleasant end to the day, a mini gmae drive through the wonderful forests of Arusha National Park that I had first seen three months previously.

View east from Saddle Hut over Momela Lakes in Arusha Nat Park. The top of Kili is barely visible behind the cloud on the left. Afternoon, day 2.
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Exhausted but satisified I was dropped off at my hotel in Arusha, satisfied with my achievement, but still slightly shellshocked by the whole experience!  Mount Meru: been there, done that, getting the TShirt before I leave the country!