"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference" - Anon

In order to assist with our acclimatisation and to improve our chances of successfully summiting Kili, we were first going to attempt Mt. Meru. A spectacular volcano, the second highest mountain in Tanzania at 4566m (14947ft) situated in the picturesque Arusha National Park. This proved to be a very tough challenge in itself and reduced a few of the party to tears before we even got onto doing what we were really out here for.

After a day sampling the delights that Moshi had to offer and a welcome dip in the Keys Hotel pool with Heather and Owen, we drove to the collapsed volcanic crater at the foot of Mt. Meru. After 2 1/2 hours of being bounced around in the mini bus on the unsealed roads we all made a mad dash to the toilets. "Toilet talk" would become a regular discussion over the trip and anyone who's been on such an expedition will know why. I was just glad I'd perfected my technique after so much practice on my previous trip to the Himalayas in Nepal - don't breathe in & don't look down were my mottos?!

Meru is certainly a spectacular volcano. Supposedly, once upon a very long time ago, it rose higher than Kilimanjaro itself. A few million years ago it erupted sideways (like Mt. St Helens in the USA) leaving the northern, southern and western slopes intact, but obliterating the eastern slope of the volcanic cone. Viewed from above, Meru is now shaped liked a horseshoe opening to the east, with an ash cone formed at the bottom of the devastated crater and huge cliffs extending from the crater floor almost to the summit. The crater floor and lower slopes are densely forested, but the upper slopes are barren expanses of black volcanic ash, with the occasional massive boulder of lava.

Meru enjoys a few advantages over it's loftier neighbour because of it's location in the National Park, and the fewer trekkers who make it here, means in the crater itself it can boast a far greater variety of wildlife. No soon as we had left the bus, we were greeted by Giraffe, Zebra and Buffalo. This however can pose it's dangers, so Moses our local guide for this trip, carried a rifle just in case things got out of hand...
 

We were joined by our porters and the cook team and then trekked for approx 3hrs through interesting vegetation and rain forest up to the Miriakamba Hut at 2514m (8248ft), our first stop for the night. "Polé-polé" - slowly slowly in Swahili - was how we advanced, ever upward and became one of the sayings of the trip. Not much sleep was had by me that night, because of the various snorers (& mice!) who were also inhabiting the hut?! We set out early the next day for a 4 1/2hr walk, which led up to the crater rim at Saddle Hut 3570m (11712ft), where we'd be spending our second night. We'd get used to the early starts and early nights over the coming days. In the afternoon we climbed up to the summit of Little Meru 3820m (12533ft) for acclimatisation purposes. We had fabulous views of the Meru crater. At it's highest point, it forms a sheer cliff face - more than 1500m (5000ft) high and is one of the largest of it's type in the World. We then came down to chill out and try and get some rest before the big summit day tomorrow.

Meru summit day was tough, very tough - much tougher than I thought it'd be. We were awoken (that's if any of us got any sleep - I certainly didn't for the second night running and I was already feeling dead on my feet before I'd taken one solitary step) with the usual "Jambo" - Hello is Swahili - at 23:30 and crawled sleepily into our many layers of clothing. After a quick cuppa, we departed at 0:30 in the pitch dark with a head torch to light our way. It has to be said, the star lit sky with no Moon was breath taking. The odd shooting star whizzed over our heads and lit up the night sky whilst we fixed our eyes on following the persons feet in front of us. The long slippery scree slopes and scrambling across rock buttresses, trying to avoid gazing down at the huge gaping drop to the crater floor below, was exhausting, but exhilarating stuff.

After a few hours, I somehow managed to find myself stranded between the faster elite mountain goat group of Tanzanian Guide John, Miriam and David and the rest of the party. I turned round to find no sign of Heather who was previously slogging up the scree slope behind me. I stared into the darkness straining my eyes to try and see any sign of a head torch, but alas no sign of the Aussie, Mungo or anyone else could be seen.  I had two choices. I could either wait and hope the slower group caught me up, or try to hang onto the shirt tails of the faster group. I decided on the latter, for better or for worse.

It didn't take long for the affects of lack of sleep, every increasing altitude and lack of air to take it's toll and for me to struggle to keep up. Each step was becoming harder and harder. A big blessing was that there was now the first sign of a new day dawning and the Sun started to peep it's head from  behind a stunning view of Kili on the horizon. So after nearly 7hrs of climbing, we could start to see considerably more than the persons feet in front, but also now the huge 5000ft drop offs just a few paces away on either side of the track we were following...oops! There was one heart stopping moment, when John lost his way and we ended up having to lower ourselves over a rocky outcrop with, just a few feet away, an awe inspiring view of Meru's Ash cone and the crater below. I just kept reminding myself of Mungo's words "don't fall off".
 

When the Sun was fully up I could then see the trail of "green blobs" painted on the rocks that John had been struggling to follow with his hand torch and I told them to carry on ahead without me. Shortly afterwards, after a last crawl up a boulder field with much needed rests at every turn, I was standing on the summit. Exhausted but elated. John, David, Miriam and Graham were there all smiles to greet me (Graham had set out an hour earlier than the rest of the group).

The view across over the clouds far, far, below was awesome and made it all worth while. The only thoughts racing through my mind though were: "I'm shattered, how will I get down" and "if this is the easy one, how hard is Kili going to be!!".  Heather, Nic, Jenny and Owen arrived 1/2hr after me. They didn't have to say anything, because from the look on their faces you could tell they were thinking the same things.

I descended shortly afterwards, with Graham and his guide, in the ever increasing heat of the day back to the Saddle Hut. Various skiing techniques came in handy when sliding down the scree slopes which was fun. Layer after layer had to be peeled off and a place found in my rucksack to accommodate it. Dreaming of much needed breakfast and a drink made the path down seem to go on forever and ever. We finally got back at 12:30, exactly 12hrs after I departed. Taking off my boots seemed like heaven, but it wasn't long before they were back on and my sore feet were being subjected to more pain as we then descended back to the Miriakamba Hut for the night.

After another early start, we descended back to the Arusha National Park gate. We bid farewell to Moses, the porters and the Giraffe, and made our way back by bumpy bus to the Keys Hotel. The afternoon was spent repacking our bags, waiting forever for a hot shower (the Keys Hotel was described as the best jaunt in town, not sure what the others were like - ...mmm...Beef & Banana soup?!) and preparing for the main objective, which would start the next day: Kilimanjaro...

Want see more Meru pics, checkout the following link: More Meru Pics