Mount Meru

Mt. Meru: Less publicized, but just as exciting is this wonderful Kilimanjaro neighbor.

A domant volcano formed 15-20 million years ago, and rising 4566 meters above sea level it rests within Arusha National Park. Mt. Meru is regarded by many as perhaps the most gratifying mountain to climb in East Africa.

The climb up Meru is more scenic and spectacular, and you are much less likely to suffer altitude sickness on 4,667-metre-high Mt. Meru than on 5,895 m Kilimanjaro. In fact, Meru makes an ideal high-altitude acclimatization warm-up climb before tackling Mt. Kilimanjaro incase you are thinking of doing it.

Meru is a spectacular volcano. Once upon a very long time ago, it rose higher than Kilimanjaro; there is a saying that also Mt. Kenya and the Ngorongoro Crater, so you may want to take this assertion with a grain of salt. However tall it once was, it certainly erupted sideways, leaving the northern, southern and western slopes intact, but obliterating the eastern slope of the volcanic cone. From above, Meru is now shaped like a horseshoe opening east, with a new tiny cinder cone forming in the bottom of the devastated crater, and huge cliffs extending up the crater walls almost to the summit. The crater floor and the lower slopes are densely forested, but the upper slopes are barren expanses of black volcanic ash and occasional massive boulders of lava. Meru is just outside Arusha, the staging post for safaris to the Serengeti, yet despite this proximity – only 23 km by road – it is annoyingly difficult to get to the base of the mountain.

The climb from Miriakamba hut, at 2,500 metres, to Saddle hut, at 3,600 metres, is short, but steep and frequently muddy. In late June, Mt. Meru is perpetually cloud-bound below 3,500 metres, and also when walking through the clouds, which makes the area very wet, sweaty and physically demanding climb.