Lonely Planet Tanzania
Travel Report
Deadline to Dar-es Salaam
Trekking on Mt Meru
Safari to Ngorongoro Crater
Trekking the Usambara Mtns
Zanzibar
Lake Tanganyika
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Travel Notes
Arusha
Dar es Salaam
Photos
Mt Meru
Ngorongoro Crater
Usambara Mountains
Zanzibar
Dar es Salaam & Tanganyika
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Travel notes from Arusha
Hi Everyone
I left Nairobi at 07.00 for the twelve-hour bus journey to reach Dar es Salaam on the coast of Tanzania. Gerald arrived at the airport the next day as planned and we travelled nine hours back to Arusha, the safari capital of Tanzania and also our planned base for organising a trek up Mt Meru.
We planned to do an independent trip up the mountain rather than booking ourselves on a tour. I had arranged to meet Joseph, the manager of the Mt Kenya hostel in Arusha on the Monday; he had offered to come to Arusha to cook for us on the mountain. I phoned him first thing on Monday, he was still at home in Naro Moru but jumped on a bus and twelve hours later was at out hotel in Arusha. The next day was one busy day organising; mostly shopping on the market for supplies for the trek, arranging transport to the park gate and buying a stove. This being Africa it took all day but by the time the sun had set we were all ready and packed for our expedition up the mountain.
Mt Meru is the second highest mountain in Tanzania at 4566m and towers over the town of Arusha. It is a classic volcanic cone with an internal crater surrounded by a steep wall of cliffs. The eastern side of the crater has collapsed leaving a horseshoe shaped crater with 1500m high cliffs below the summit. The volcano has still been active during the last 100 years and a new ash cone has formed in the centre of this giant crater.
At the park gate we had to hire an obligatory guide/ranger; unfortunately we could not choose the guide and just had someone assigned to us who really wasn't the best man for the job. After our trek we found that this is a common problem with the park guides; a lot of them are not very good and just want to get up and down the mountain as quickly as possible.
Our first day we hiked up to Miriakamba Hut, a distance of about 7km and an ascent of 1000m. The trail lead through the lush forest that surrounds the mountain and through grassy glades on the ridges. Along the way we saw some wildlife, herds of buffalo and many giraffes peering down at us from behind shrubs. About halfway to the hut it began to rain, your typical tropical downpour that quickly turned the trail into a river. The Miriakamba Hut is at the collapsed eastern rim of the crater with spectacular views into the crater with the walls towering around us and the ash cone looking like a mountain in its own right in the centre.
Day two was a steep climb up 1050m over 4km to the Saddle Hut at an altitude of 3570m. The steep trail lead up through the forest around the northern rim of the crater until the forest gave way to the high moorland covered by giant heather. Mt Meru may be a smaller mountain than Mt Kenya but it is definitely a steeper and harder climb; the mountain has a vertical climb of 3066m in the space of only 16.5km. We arrived before the afternoon rain, which pleased our so called guide who hated walking in the rain; myself and Gerald went to climb the smaller peak of Little Meru, 3820m. We reached the top just as the thunder started; rather than hearing the thunder crash above us it was all around and below us; we almost ran back to the Saddle Hut.
Day three began at 02.15 in the morning when we began our climb to the summit. The crescent moon had just risen over the horizon to the east and the Southern Cross hung in the night sky above the summit almost guiding us to the top. It was a long slow climb around the western rim of the crater with 1500m cliffs to the crater floor to our east and the steep, almost 45-degree slope of the cone to our west. The trail lead along soft volcanic ash, almost on the knife-edge of the rim (at times only a couple of metres wide) with also sections of rock we had to scramble over and around.
It took four and a half hours to reach the summit, 4566m, at 06.45, just as the sun rose above the horizon. The view from the top was almost magical; all of Africa and her beauty lay below us. To the east the giant snow capped dome of Kilimanjaro dominated the landscape; to the west the Crater Highlands, punctuated by the domes of many volcanoes including Oldoinyo Lengai, 2878m and Oldeani, 3185m and beyond these volcanoes the Serengeti Plains. We stood on the summit, the weather absolutely perfect, gazing at the view around us until we eventually had to tear ourselves away and begin our descent.
Now in daylight we could see the trail we had hiked up, it really looked dramatic and we could see why this trek up to the summit is described as one of the most exhilarating treks in East Africa. We returned to the Saddle Hut at 09.15 for breakfast, seven hours after beginning our ascent. We walked off the mountain that day, stopping for lunch at the Miriakamba Hut where we finally lost patience with our guide over which route we would take out of the park. After an argument we continued down the mountain, no longer speaking to the guide and refused to tip him when we finally reached the park gate.
We needed a day to recover from our climb down the mountain before organising a two-day safari to the Ngorongoro Crater, one of the best wildlife viewing areas in Africa. Our trip included two game drives, one in the evening and the one the next morning, spending about 8 hours driving around the floor of the crater. We saw every kind of animal you can imagine; gazelle, rhino, hippo, elephant, lion, cheetah, hyena, buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, jackal and probably some more I can't remember. I'm happy now that I've seen most of the wildlife that Africa is famous for.
Leaving Arusha now to head for the Usambara Mountains in the Eastern Arc chain to do some more trekking.
Cheers
Geoff
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