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Africa's Other Mountains
Location: Both Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru are best reached from Kilimanjaro International Airport, halfway between Moshi and Arusha. Meru is closer to Arusha; Kilimanjaro to Moshi, but transportation between the two cities is easily arranged and takes only and hour and a half. From Nairobi, you can take the Davana Shuttle, which provides tourist-class transportation. If you have a choice, fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport rather than Nairobi, which has had a serious and increasing crime problem in recent years.
Guides and porters: You are not required to take guides and porters up Mount Meru, but you must be escorted by armed rangers. If, in addition, you'd like guides and porters, these can usually be arranged by the same Arusha or Moshi-based companies that arrange climbs of Kilimanjaro. You can arrange climbs in advance or when you arrive. We used Zara Tours in Moshi.
Gear: You might be on the equator in Africa, but the temperatures on Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro can be well below freezing, and the windchills can be fierce. You'll need a 20-degree sleeping bag (lower rated is better if you're also going to Kilimanjaro), and several layers of fleece or pile warm clothing, polypro. If you climb with a guide service, they will provide tents, cooking utensils, foods, and even sleeping bags and mattresses (if you like). You also need strong flashlights, for nighttime ascents of both Meru and Kilimanjaro.
Guidebooks: Trekking in East Africa (Lonely Planet) describes the route.
Game drives: Although each of the four volcanoes is in its own national park, Mount Meru is the only one where the national park includes a game reserve. Michael's AK-47 notwithstanding, you're not likely to run into a lion, but you will see a plethora of antelope, warthogs, buffalo, and dozens of giraffes, sometimes within only a few feet of your car. A cape buffalo hung around the latrine at night. If you book your trip though an agency, ask for a game drive to be provided at the end of your climb.
Tipping: On any climb, you should tip porters and guides. On climbs of Meru and (especially) Kilimanjaro, porters and guides have seen thousands of trekkers come and go. They have a keen sense of what a trip to Africa costs, and are not shy about asking for equipment and reminding you that you are expected to tip. This can be unsettling to westerners not used to negotiating quite so directly. You may feel that all of a sudden, at the end of a lovely climb. Remember: It's their job, it's nothing personal. Tips range widely from party to party (don't be surprised to hear the head guide tell you that you haven't tipped enough!). A little sympathy isn't out of place: This is their livelihood, and many of your porters and guides support large families on what you give them. If in doubt, ask other trekkers, or ask the proprietors of the guide service what is customary. We were told $70 for a guide, $50 for an assistant guide, and $30-$40 for porters. We also gave away hiking equipment and warm clothes.
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The Climb
The ascent of Meru's lower slopes is direct enough. This is a mountain that doesn't waste time with pleasantries: no gentle switchbacks to lull you into complacency. The trail is fairly steep and sometimes slippery, with one constant: The towering caldera cliff comes into view whenever the forest opens up, each time looming ever closer and bigger.
There are two bunkhouse-style lodgings on the mountain. From Momela Gate, you reach Miriakamba Hut after about three hours of walking. From there, it's another three hours to Saddle Hut. You could combine the two hikes into a tough one-day march, but you'd be putting yourself at risk of altitude sickness. A climb of Mount Meru is typically a three-day affair, although even that leaves most people completely exhausted and sick from the altitude. We elected to take twice as long-five nights and six days-in order to explore the mountain and acclimate for Kilimanjaro.
Saddle Hut sits in the cleft between Mount Meru and Little Meru Peak. On a slower schedule, and with plenty of bounce left in our legs, our party of four, assisted by Michael and "snow pea," took the short jaunt up Little Meru, 12,530 feet.
But the real climb started from Saddle Hut the next morning when Michael woke us at two o'clock. While not strictly necessary, an alpine start increased our chance of good weather and promised superb sunrise views.
Small problem: We hadn't been warned about the early start, so we only had tiny little Mag lights to show the way. In daylight, we probably wouldn't even have noticed the slight rock scrambling on the route-hardly any of it would even qualify as Class 2. Interestingly, Dan and Roxanne, who are not usually afraid of heights, found the rock-work unnerving in the dark. Roxanne's husband, Trapper, who had just joined us, had no problem with it, which didn't surprise me. I had no problem, either, which did surprise me and everyone else, because I'm usually afraid of heights—except, I guess, when I can't see where I'm going!
But soon enough dawn lit the way. The looming mass of Meru's great volcanic bulk was underfoot now, the summit reachable. Across the plains the sun was rising over Africa and the shape of Kilimanjaro emerged across the plains through the dark, more than 4,000 feet above us, snow-clad, inviting, challenging us to go still higher.
Details mentioned in this article were accurate at the time of publication
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