I decided several weeks ago that I wanted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, one of the volunteers here had just come down and told us all about it. Once I saw how expensive it was to climb Kili however ($1,000 - $1,500) I began to look for alternatives and discovered Mt. Meru just out side of near by Arusha. Since I had a five day weekend over the Easter break it seemed like the perfect time to go. So I borrowed some equipment from other volunteers here at Karanga (thanks to Alex and Elise for that) and took the bus to Arusha last Thursday.
Most safari companies also do mountain climbs where they provide equipment and food for around $600 per person for Mt. Meru. I discovered however that for about half the price I could climb with out a safari company and do it on my own. So my plan was basically to spend a night in Arusha and get my supplies then make my way to the park the next day (Mt. Meru is in Arusha National Park about 30km from Arusha).
My night in Arusha went well and the next morning involved various modes of transportation (I was let off at the wrong stop, an old woman stole a clip from my bag, the land rover i was on broke down, we almost crashed into oncoming cars twice, and the roof of the land rover almost took my head off once) to get me to the Momela gate at the base of Meru.
At the first park gate I had to get out and pay the fee's for climbing the mountain. these included entry fees for the park, ranger fee's for the ranger who went up with me, and a rescue fee. All together it cost me $280. The man behind the desk then asked if I had a visa, and I started to panic because my passport was one of the things I didn't think to bring. All I had was a copy of my residency permit, so i showed that to him. He looked at it confused for a moment then realized the mistake. "I mean, do you have a visa card? We cannot take cash anymore." I was enormously relived and swiped my bank card. Lucky for me I don't have American express.
My ranger was a man named Gideon who would go with me up the mountain. You are required to have a ranger with you when you climb Meru, not so much to show you the way, though they do know it very well, but mostly to protect you from wild animals if the need arises. For that purpose Gideon carried with him a rifle slung over his left shoulder. It's not very often that a ranger has to use their rifle, and even more rare for them to have to actually kill an animal, but from time to time it does happen. Mostly its the water Buffalo that cause the problems, but sometimes and elephant will take offence to people walking too bye.
The first part of the climb was over open yellow grassland, Gideon told me that often there are hundreds of buffalo in that area, but that day there were only a few off to the side in a watering hole. We quickly entered an area of scrub brush and began moving up the slope. The forest at the base of the mountain was surprisingly like a forest back home in New England, I was very much reminded of various hikes I have take in CT or NH. After about an hour of walking we stopped by a small stream so I could rest and eat. I hadn't had a chance to eat lunch that day because of all my transportation issues. Gideon told me about his family in Arusha, and I talked about America.
Most of the first day was walking up hill through open grassland and we even came upon a group of three giraffe's grazing not too far away from me. Gideon took my picture with them in the background, he has an interesting sense of composition. Actually he insisted on taking pictures of me at most of the interesting points, I have more pictures of myself from last weekend then from the last six months. Just after the giraffes we also saw a family of warthogs.
Having never done any mountain climbing or serious hiking before I think i did well over all, but the weight of the pack was something I wasn't prepared for. It wasn't terrible, but every step up was made that much harder. Each day only consisted of 1000 meters of elevation, but the heat and the weight make it seem like forever sometimes. The sweat was dripping off my nose, it ran down my arm and hand and across the back of my camera before falling to the ground. I think i drank about 3 1/2 liters of water on just the climb that day. I found it best not to think about the whole mountain at once, just to take one step up, make sure my balance was good, and take another step up.
Once we were up higher we entered a part of forest that seemed almost like a rain forest. I asked Gideon about it and he confirmed my thoughts, saying that because of the clouds that hang on the side of the mountain and the rich earth from the volcano the eco-system there was a cool rain forest. Up in the trees we saw monkeys that were colored like skunks. Many of the trees in this area were enormous and covered in moss that hung down to the ground in places.
We came to the first group of bunk houses at about 5:30, and I had just enough time to take a cold shower and eat before night fell. The view was wonderful, I could see across the planes between Meru and Kilimanjaro and as it got dark there was a lightning storm down below us. I slept very well that night.
After a quick breakfast of carrots, oranges, dried fruits, and peanuts Gideon and I were off. We left around 8:30 and it was much cooler walking in the morning than in the full afternoon sun like the day before. It was another 1000 meters in elevation and even though I had eaten a full day's worth of supplies my bag seemed at least as heavy as it did the day before.
Along the trail we came across buffalo tracks only about 300 feet from the bunk houses we slept in the night before, sometimes the buffalo wonder into the camp at night Gideon told me. You have to be careful when you go out to the bathroom at night. Later we saw elephant tracks on the side of the trail as well, Gideon believes they were the tracks of a mother and her baby. I had
no idea that animals that big came so far up the mountain, but Gideon told me it's not uncommon.
A bit more than half way to the next bunk house the trees changed from large hardwood's to scrubby pine trees and tall grasses. The air was getting cooler as well, but the strain of climbing kept me more than warm and the cool breezes we got from time to time were very nice. We got to the second bunk house at about noon, and I fell asleep almost as soon as I put my bag down. I wanted to eat first, but I was just too tired.
I got up around 1:30 and ate. While I was eating it began to rain outside, then it began to hail. It must have rained and hailed until 4:00. It was much colder at this point, I don't know how cold, but I could not yet see my breath. To keep warm I was wearing most of my clothes and my rain jacket. Gideon suggested that I go to bed early because we would begin our assent to the top at around 2:00am in the morning, so after eating as much as I could of peanuts and crackers dried fruit I went to bed around 8:00pm.
Everything after this point seems kind of like a bad dream. Gideon woke me up at 1:30 and we left the camp at 2:00am as planed. I had emptied my bag and only took water and a little food and my med kit so walking wasn't nearly so bad. The weather had also improved and by the time we were really climbing I was quite warm.
We quickly got past the point where plants of any size grow, and were on bare mountain. mostly at the start of the climb that night the ground was rock, but as we went up there would be more and more sections that were pure volcanic ash. We entered the a cloud layer and my visibility was very low. I could only see for about 100 meters in any direction, and what I could see was just the mountainside before and behind me. For the most part it was just Gideon and me, him leading and following the trail, and me following him. There were places where we walked along the ridge lines, some rock and some ash, where the mountain sloped down away from us on either side into the fog disappeared into the darkness. In other places we climbed up ash slopes that I could not see the top of in the fog, only the dark shape of the mountain seeming to go on forever. Like on the other sections of the mountain I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, and on we went.
What kept me from getting to the top was the rain. Maybe about an hour and a half into the climb (I didn't bring my watch) the rain began to come down and the wind picked up. The wind blew the rain into my right side and the mountain was always on the wrong side to shelter us. I walked on hoping the rain would stop, but after half an hour my legs were soaked and the wind was not slowing down. I asked Gideon how much farther we had to go to the summit and he told me that it was only 300 meters higher, but it would still be about two hours because the last part was very steep. I decided to turn around.
We were back in the bunk house before dawn, so I would guess it was around 5:30 or so. I took off my wet clothes and crawled back into my sleeping bag and tried to sleep. With the exception of my feet I was able to get warm again, though the best I could do for clothes was my shirt and a only slightly damp pair of boxers.
Gideon woke me up around 10:00 and asked me what I wanted to do, to go back down or stay there for the night. I decided to head back down, if not to the entrance than to the first bunk house where the weather would be warmer. I put on the dryer clothing I and packed the wet clothes away, a couple pairs of socks were beyond hope and were left there, and we set out back down the mountain in a light rain.
Once we were moving again I felt much better, and we stopped not long into our walk to take off our jackets. Going down hill is much faster, but it isn't really any easier. I was very glad when we reached the first bunk house just after 1:00 and stopped for lunch. I ate more peanuts and my last two oranges. I threw away what food I could do without and which had gone bad, and emptied my water bottle's into my nelgene. With my much lighter bag I felt like continuing on and going home that day. Also, I had no dry clothes to sleep in so going down the mountain seemed like all the better idea.
On the second half of the trip down, from the first bunk house to the gate, my knee's began to hurt. It's a lot of stress to put on your legs at one time, even with the lighter bag. But the sun was warm and the animals were our and we came across several groups of people going up who were breathing heavily while we almost ran down. I was in a good mood as I anticipated a warm shower and clean clothing only a few hours away.
Just before getting to the gate we were walking through the open grass field at the base of the mountain and came upon a group of giraffes eating small low to the ground plants. We walked by less than 100 feet away and they looked up at us, then went back to eating. There were adults as well as children, And it was a wonderful way to leave the park.
On my way out I hitched a ride with a group of German tourists who had also climbed the mountain (and made it to the top), and then caught the Arusha-Moshi bus back to Moshi. Walking the last kilometer back to the home base I was picked up by a fellow volunteer Nicole who was driving a taxi. Rigabe, a local taxi driver who we like, sometimes lets her drive the last mile back to CCS, and that day just happened to be one of those days.
It's taken me at least three trips to the Internet cafe to get this all written down, and after almost a week my legs still hurt a little when I go down stairs. I hope the length of this post makes up for a week with out any, and I'd like to send a special thank you to Alex and Elise with out whom my climb would not have happened.
Most safari companies also do mountain climbs where they provide equipment and food for around $600 per person for Mt. Meru. I discovered however that for about half the price I could climb with out a safari company and do it on my own. So my plan was basically to spend a night in Arusha and get my supplies then make my way to the park the next day (Mt. Meru is in Arusha National Park about 30km from Arusha).
My night in Arusha went well and the next morning involved various modes of transportation (I was let off at the wrong stop, an old woman stole a clip from my bag, the land rover i was on broke down, we almost crashed into oncoming cars twice, and the roof of the land rover almost took my head off once) to get me to the Momela gate at the base of Meru.
At the first park gate I had to get out and pay the fee's for climbing the mountain. these included entry fees for the park, ranger fee's for the ranger who went up with me, and a rescue fee. All together it cost me $280. The man behind the desk then asked if I had a visa, and I started to panic because my passport was one of the things I didn't think to bring. All I had was a copy of my residency permit, so i showed that to him. He looked at it confused for a moment then realized the mistake. "I mean, do you have a visa card? We cannot take cash anymore." I was enormously relived and swiped my bank card. Lucky for me I don't have American express.
My ranger was a man named Gideon who would go with me up the mountain. You are required to have a ranger with you when you climb Meru, not so much to show you the way, though they do know it very well, but mostly to protect you from wild animals if the need arises. For that purpose Gideon carried with him a rifle slung over his left shoulder. It's not very often that a ranger has to use their rifle, and even more rare for them to have to actually kill an animal, but from time to time it does happen. Mostly its the water Buffalo that cause the problems, but sometimes and elephant will take offence to people walking too bye.
The first part of the climb was over open yellow grassland, Gideon told me that often there are hundreds of buffalo in that area, but that day there were only a few off to the side in a watering hole. We quickly entered an area of scrub brush and began moving up the slope. The forest at the base of the mountain was surprisingly like a forest back home in New England, I was very much reminded of various hikes I have take in CT or NH. After about an hour of walking we stopped by a small stream so I could rest and eat. I hadn't had a chance to eat lunch that day because of all my transportation issues. Gideon told me about his family in Arusha, and I talked about America.
Most of the first day was walking up hill through open grassland and we even came upon a group of three giraffe's grazing not too far away from me. Gideon took my picture with them in the background, he has an interesting sense of composition. Actually he insisted on taking pictures of me at most of the interesting points, I have more pictures of myself from last weekend then from the last six months. Just after the giraffes we also saw a family of warthogs.Having never done any mountain climbing or serious hiking before I think i did well over all, but the weight of the pack was something I wasn't prepared for. It wasn't terrible, but every step up was made that much harder. Each day only consisted of 1000 meters of elevation, but the heat and the weight make it seem like forever sometimes. The sweat was dripping off my nose, it ran down my arm and hand and across the back of my camera before falling to the ground. I think i drank about 3 1/2 liters of water on just the climb that day. I found it best not to think about the whole mountain at once, just to take one step up, make sure my balance was good, and take another step up.
Once we were up higher we entered a part of forest that seemed almost like a rain forest. I asked Gideon about it and he confirmed my thoughts, saying that because of the clouds that hang on the side of the mountain and the rich earth from the volcano the eco-system there was a cool rain forest. Up in the trees we saw monkeys that were colored like skunks. Many of the trees in this area were enormous and covered in moss that hung down to the ground in places.
We came to the first group of bunk houses at about 5:30, and I had just enough time to take a cold shower and eat before night fell. The view was wonderful, I could see across the planes between Meru and Kilimanjaro and as it got dark there was a lightning storm down below us. I slept very well that night.After a quick breakfast of carrots, oranges, dried fruits, and peanuts Gideon and I were off. We left around 8:30 and it was much cooler walking in the morning than in the full afternoon sun like the day before. It was another 1000 meters in elevation and even though I had eaten a full day's worth of supplies my bag seemed at least as heavy as it did the day before.
Along the trail we came across buffalo tracks only about 300 feet from the bunk houses we slept in the night before, sometimes the buffalo wonder into the camp at night Gideon told me. You have to be careful when you go out to the bathroom at night. Later we saw elephant tracks on the side of the trail as well, Gideon believes they were the tracks of a mother and her baby. I had
no idea that animals that big came so far up the mountain, but Gideon told me it's not uncommon.A bit more than half way to the next bunk house the trees changed from large hardwood's to scrubby pine trees and tall grasses. The air was getting cooler as well, but the strain of climbing kept me more than warm and the cool breezes we got from time to time were very nice. We got to the second bunk house at about noon, and I fell asleep almost as soon as I put my bag down. I wanted to eat first, but I was just too tired.
I got up around 1:30 and ate. While I was eating it began to rain outside, then it began to hail. It must have rained and hailed until 4:00. It was much colder at this point, I don't know how cold, but I could not yet see my breath. To keep warm I was wearing most of my clothes and my rain jacket. Gideon suggested that I go to bed early because we would begin our assent to the top at around 2:00am in the morning, so after eating as much as I could of peanuts and crackers dried fruit I went to bed around 8:00pm.
Everything after this point seems kind of like a bad dream. Gideon woke me up at 1:30 and we left the camp at 2:00am as planed. I had emptied my bag and only took water and a little food and my med kit so walking wasn't nearly so bad. The weather had also improved and by the time we were really climbing I was quite warm.
We quickly got past the point where plants of any size grow, and were on bare mountain. mostly at the start of the climb that night the ground was rock, but as we went up there would be more and more sections that were pure volcanic ash. We entered the a cloud layer and my visibility was very low. I could only see for about 100 meters in any direction, and what I could see was just the mountainside before and behind me. For the most part it was just Gideon and me, him leading and following the trail, and me following him. There were places where we walked along the ridge lines, some rock and some ash, where the mountain sloped down away from us on either side into the fog disappeared into the darkness. In other places we climbed up ash slopes that I could not see the top of in the fog, only the dark shape of the mountain seeming to go on forever. Like on the other sections of the mountain I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, and on we went.
What kept me from getting to the top was the rain. Maybe about an hour and a half into the climb (I didn't bring my watch) the rain began to come down and the wind picked up. The wind blew the rain into my right side and the mountain was always on the wrong side to shelter us. I walked on hoping the rain would stop, but after half an hour my legs were soaked and the wind was not slowing down. I asked Gideon how much farther we had to go to the summit and he told me that it was only 300 meters higher, but it would still be about two hours because the last part was very steep. I decided to turn around.
We were back in the bunk house before dawn, so I would guess it was around 5:30 or so. I took off my wet clothes and crawled back into my sleeping bag and tried to sleep. With the exception of my feet I was able to get warm again, though the best I could do for clothes was my shirt and a only slightly damp pair of boxers.
Gideon woke me up around 10:00 and asked me what I wanted to do, to go back down or stay there for the night. I decided to head back down, if not to the entrance than to the first bunk house where the weather would be warmer. I put on the dryer clothing I and packed the wet clothes away, a couple pairs of socks were beyond hope and were left there, and we set out back down the mountain in a light rain.
Once we were moving again I felt much better, and we stopped not long into our walk to take off our jackets. Going down hill is much faster, but it isn't really any easier. I was very glad when we reached the first bunk house just after 1:00 and stopped for lunch. I ate more peanuts and my last two oranges. I threw away what food I could do without and which had gone bad, and emptied my water bottle's into my nelgene. With my much lighter bag I felt like continuing on and going home that day. Also, I had no dry clothes to sleep in so going down the mountain seemed like all the better idea.
On the second half of the trip down, from the first bunk house to the gate, my knee's began to hurt. It's a lot of stress to put on your legs at one time, even with the lighter bag. But the sun was warm and the animals were our and we came across several groups of people going up who were breathing heavily while we almost ran down. I was in a good mood as I anticipated a warm shower and clean clothing only a few hours away.
Just before getting to the gate we were walking through the open grass field at the base of the mountain and came upon a group of giraffes eating small low to the ground plants. We walked by less than 100 feet away and they looked up at us, then went back to eating. There were adults as well as children, And it was a wonderful way to leave the park.On my way out I hitched a ride with a group of German tourists who had also climbed the mountain (and made it to the top), and then caught the Arusha-Moshi bus back to Moshi. Walking the last kilometer back to the home base I was picked up by a fellow volunteer Nicole who was driving a taxi. Rigabe, a local taxi driver who we like, sometimes lets her drive the last mile back to CCS, and that day just happened to be one of those days.
It's taken me at least three trips to the Internet cafe to get this all written down, and after almost a week my legs still hurt a little when I go down stairs. I hope the length of this post makes up for a week with out any, and I'd like to send a special thank you to Alex and Elise with out whom my climb would not have happened.
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