December 10, 2008; Arusha, Tanzania — This is my first blog entry since the end of the program five days ago. I am back in the Outpost Lodge in Arusha sitting at a table in the bar and enjoying a cold Tusker while typing on my laptop. Last Friday after breakfast I bid farewell to the students as over half of them boarded the shuttle back to Nairobi. It was an odd feeling to see our group splitting up and going our separate ways after all these weeks together. In some sense I was sorry to see the program end since I know that I may never experience such an incredible journey again. But I must admit that another part of me was eager to strike out on my own and enjoy a bit of Africa alone or in the company of people my own age.
I decided to mark my last days in Tanzania by climbing a mountain. I had originally planned to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro but since I had only five days before I needed to return to Nairobi there simply wasn’t enough time. Instead I decided to climb Mt. Meru in nearby Arusha National Park. The summit of Meru is a mere 14,980 ft. (nearly 5000 ft. lower than Kilimanjaro) but local residents I spoke to told me that Meru is in many ways a more satisfying climb even if it does not bring with it the same name recognition and bragging rights. So in the midst of wrapping up the administrative loose ends of the program the previous week, I stopped in at a local safari company, hired transport, gear, and porters, and arranged for them to pick me up at the hotel on Friday.
The ascent and descent of Meru took four full days: the first was the climb to the lower base camp called Miriakamba Hut, (elev. 8,336 ft.), the second was to the higher base camp called Saddle Hut (elev. 11,712 ft.), the third was the grueling final ascent to the summit then back to the lower base camp, and the last leg was back to the gate of the park and then to Arusha. Every climbing party is required have a park ranger escort and I shared my ranger with Klaus and Werner, two pensioners from Germany who had come to Africa to climb Kilimanjaro. They’d decided to climb Meru first as a practice run. Together we began the ascent in the lush and tropical surroundings at the base of the mountain. Unlike a lot of other climbers I carried all my own gear (and I should add that, unlike a lot of other climbers who hired porters to carry their gear, I had occasion to question the wisdom of my decision countless times on the way up).
Meru turned out to be a spectacular but challenging climb. The most amazing part of the experience, apart from reaching the summit, was passing through the different ecological strata on the way up. The first leg took us through a tropical forest with colobus monkeys jumping across the trees above us and water buffalo and giraffes grazing in open fields nearby. The second leg gave way to scrub brush, ferns, and mossy rocks with no animals and few birds and insects. The third and final leg of the ascent led us through barren rock and volcanic ash with no visible signs of life. There were no plants, no birds, and not even any insects. It is hard to describe how strange this felt after being in equatorial Africa for over three months.
We began the final push to the top at midnight in order to arrive at the summit just before sunrise. It was a tough climb since we were already feeling the effects of the thin air when we awoke and the strenuous climbing weakened us further still. From midnight to dawn we scrambled over jagged volcanic rocks with ash blowing in our faces as we slowly made our way to the top. The summit of Meru is officially called “Socialist Peak”—a name inspired, no doubt, by the politics of Tanzania’s first president after independence, Julius Nyerere. It sits atop the remaining edge of a giant volcanic crater with sheer drops of hundreds of feet on either side. For acrophobes like me it was actually easier to make the climb in pitch darkness with only a headlamp to illuminate the area in directly front of me (rather than actually seeing what was really around me). Thank God for small mercies.
Our group reached the summit right on time and within twenty minutes we were able to watch the sun break the surface and slowly rise into the sky just behind Kilimanjaro. The moment was truly breathtaking (and not just because we were oxygen starved at that height). We stared through the clouds thousands of feet downward at the greenery of Northern Tanzania and watched with each passing minute as the sky became lighter and as night turned to day. It was a sublime feeling and one that I wished could have lasted longer. However, we had to begin the descent moments after sunrise in order to get back to camp on schedule and to avoid becoming ill from the altitude. We reached Saddle Hut just before noon and then arrived at Miriakamba Hut by dinnertime. By the time we got to the bottom the next morning and then back to the hotel, my knees hurt so much that I could barely stand up. Nevertheless, it was great feeling of satisfaction to have climbed Meru and I am grateful to have been able to see at 15,000 ft. the sun rising over Africa’s highest mountain. It is a sight that will stay with me forever.
View of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the eastern slope of Mt. Meru, Arusha National Park
I decided to mark my last days in Tanzania by climbing a mountain. I had originally planned to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro but since I had only five days before I needed to return to Nairobi there simply wasn’t enough time. Instead I decided to climb Mt. Meru in nearby Arusha National Park. The summit of Meru is a mere 14,980 ft. (nearly 5000 ft. lower than Kilimanjaro) but local residents I spoke to told me that Meru is in many ways a more satisfying climb even if it does not bring with it the same name recognition and bragging rights. So in the midst of wrapping up the administrative loose ends of the program the previous week, I stopped in at a local safari company, hired transport, gear, and porters, and arranged for them to pick me up at the hotel on Friday.
The ascent and descent of Meru took four full days: the first was the climb to the lower base camp called Miriakamba Hut, (elev. 8,336 ft.), the second was to the higher base camp called Saddle Hut (elev. 11,712 ft.), the third was the grueling final ascent to the summit then back to the lower base camp, and the last leg was back to the gate of the park and then to Arusha. Every climbing party is required have a park ranger escort and I shared my ranger with Klaus and Werner, two pensioners from Germany who had come to Africa to climb Kilimanjaro. They’d decided to climb Meru first as a practice run. Together we began the ascent in the lush and tropical surroundings at the base of the mountain. Unlike a lot of other climbers I carried all my own gear (and I should add that, unlike a lot of other climbers who hired porters to carry their gear, I had occasion to question the wisdom of my decision countless times on the way up).
Meru turned out to be a spectacular but challenging climb. The most amazing part of the experience, apart from reaching the summit, was passing through the different ecological strata on the way up. The first leg took us through a tropical forest with colobus monkeys jumping across the trees above us and water buffalo and giraffes grazing in open fields nearby. The second leg gave way to scrub brush, ferns, and mossy rocks with no animals and few birds and insects. The third and final leg of the ascent led us through barren rock and volcanic ash with no visible signs of life. There were no plants, no birds, and not even any insects. It is hard to describe how strange this felt after being in equatorial Africa for over three months.
We began the final push to the top at midnight in order to arrive at the summit just before sunrise. It was a tough climb since we were already feeling the effects of the thin air when we awoke and the strenuous climbing weakened us further still. From midnight to dawn we scrambled over jagged volcanic rocks with ash blowing in our faces as we slowly made our way to the top. The summit of Meru is officially called “Socialist Peak”—a name inspired, no doubt, by the politics of Tanzania’s first president after independence, Julius Nyerere. It sits atop the remaining edge of a giant volcanic crater with sheer drops of hundreds of feet on either side. For acrophobes like me it was actually easier to make the climb in pitch darkness with only a headlamp to illuminate the area in directly front of me (rather than actually seeing what was really around me). Thank God for small mercies.
Our group reached the summit right on time and within twenty minutes we were able to watch the sun break the surface and slowly rise into the sky just behind Kilimanjaro. The moment was truly breathtaking (and not just because we were oxygen starved at that height). We stared through the clouds thousands of feet downward at the greenery of Northern Tanzania and watched with each passing minute as the sky became lighter and as night turned to day. It was a sublime feeling and one that I wished could have lasted longer. However, we had to begin the descent moments after sunrise in order to get back to camp on schedule and to avoid becoming ill from the altitude. We reached Saddle Hut just before noon and then arrived at Miriakamba Hut by dinnertime. By the time we got to the bottom the next morning and then back to the hotel, my knees hurt so much that I could barely stand up. Nevertheless, it was great feeling of satisfaction to have climbed Meru and I am grateful to have been able to see at 15,000 ft. the sun rising over Africa’s highest mountain. It is a sight that will stay with me forever.
View of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the eastern slope of Mt. Meru, Arusha National Park
5 December 2008
Sunrise at the Summit of Mt. Meru (14,980 ft.), Arusha National Park, Tanzania
Sunrise at the Summit of Mt. Meru (14,980 ft.), Arusha National Park, Tanzania
7 December 2008