Looking Back - Day 7 & 8 Mt. Meru Pt 2

Day 6:
1am comes fast and we're up early to tackle the summit. I'm not feeling great and feeling the effects of mild AMS. We snack on cookies and tea, but I'm having troubles with my appetite (a symptom of AMS). It had also begun raining the evening before, so it's wet, muddy, and slippery. 2am comes fast, and we're off.

It's pitch black and the wind & rain make for less than stellar trekking. Cha Cha leads, and I'm right behind. We arrive at Rhino point (3800m), and it gets very steep very quick. The ground is mush, and with every step, you're sliding down 1/2 of that step. With the rain blowing so hard, I'm literally on Cha Cha's heels to keep him in my sights. Staring at his boots I follow every step he takes. A foot or two more and I wouldn't see him at all.

I had asked Kassim a couple of days before, why do we leave for the summit in the middle of the night? Turns out there are a couple of reasons: First, the ground is frozen overnight, and easier to trek. Second is psychological. If you saw where you were going, you probably wouldn't want to be there.

It's getting lighter out, but we're incased by the clouds. We can't see far up, and we can't see down into the crater either. I'm thinking that this is a good thing. Much of the climb on the crater rim is scrambling, which is made much more difficult by the freezing rain covering the rocks, my gloves, and everything on me. In the best conditions, it would have been trying and trecherous, but with the cold, wind, and freezing rain... it's another level. I focus on following Cha Cha as we make our way farther and farther up. At this point, I don't concern myself with how I'm supposed to be getting myself down, just eyeing each false summit that creeps up just when I'm sure this has got to be it.

6:59am, and we reach the summit of Mt Meru (Socialist Peak, 4,566 metres (14,980 ft)). In the bitter cold, we pose for a few pictures and rest. Dale mentions to Cha Cha and Kassim that he hopes we'll catch a glimpse of Kilimanjaro when the clouds break. Our African guide know better, and tell us we won't have a chance and need to head down. My hands are very cold as my mitts are wet and incased in ice. Kassim offers me his and puts his hands in his pockets. We slowly make our way down, very carefully with the icy rocks leaving little room for error. I did slip at one point, landing on the step down directly on my shin. Checking to make sure I was still in one piece, we carried on. We kept crouched down to limit the exposure the to wind, but in the most exposed parts of the climb down, the wind so hard it was like walking in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Walking in the crosswinds, I was leaning sideways into the wind to keep myself upright. My walking poles became difficult to control as the winds just blew them sideways. At this point, I just wanted to get down, and get there as fast as possible.

Past the rocky crater rim area below Rhino Point, the trail is slippery mud and we're on the home stretch back to Saddle. A few hours after reaching the summit, we see the huts at Saddle, and there is a certain sense of relief. I mention that this is one of those experiences I'll appreciate later on, but for the moment, I'm just glad we're back safe. Our guides, also very glad to be back, and mention that we'll stay for a few hours to rest before heading back down to Mirikamba. In the hut, we peel off our wet clothes. Everything is soaked, including 2 cameras. We have a bite to eat, and rest for a bit.

The clouds break as we're about to leave, and we see Kilimanjaro in the distance. The wooden 'steps' made in parts of the trail to prevent erosion on the steepest parts and made the journey up the path to Mirikamba so great, are now beating my legs with every step down. After a few hours, and with body and mind battered and exhaused, we arrive at Mirikamba, but not before the rain comes pouring down once again minitues before we make it. In the hut, we empty our bags of gear and water, and hang it all out in our little room. Over dinner, we ask if they've ever been up to the summit in as bad weather, to which they both reply no. I'm glad to be back in one piece, and with that, it's much deserved bed.

Day 7:

We're off by 8:30am down back to the park gate. There are two routes from the gate to Mirikamba, and we take the shorter, steeper trail down to the gate. Still encased in cloud, mist and rain, the trail is once again slick. Up ahead, we notice a group of giraffe, standing right off of the trail. Cha Cha leads and we soon follow slowly behind. We get within about 10m of them as we cross a stream nearing the gate.

Arriving back at the gate, we say our thank you's to the porters, Kassim & Cha Cha for making it all possible, and getting us back safely. We crowd back into the vehicle and head back out of the park. We see more giraffe on the road, just hanging out. Kassim asks if we would like to check out a reptile farm just outside the park for $3, and we do. Snakes of all sorts, crocodiles, and we even handle a few chamilions.

Back to our home base @ Keys, we arrive, and immediately hang up all of our wet gear to dry. The all important shower, and a quick run into town to find some nearly impossible things to find: garbage ags and a knee brace. We eat dinner about 5, and Dale is falling asleep at the table as we eat. I'm sure my conversation about the digital copyright in 21st century Canada didn't help much. Our IMG group from Kilimanjaro arrives an hour or two later, and we stay for introductions and to chat for a bit before calling it a night.

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Looking Back - Day 5 & 6 Mt. Meru Pt 1

Day 5:
Packed & ready to go, we left about 8:30am for the hour and a half drive to Arusha National Park. At times, the road rivaled my much talked about, and tire-eating road to Top of The World. Passing through the various park gates, a young Tanzanian man named Gift, would handle all of the fees and paperwork. Arriving at the Mt Meru gate, we looked around while our porters took our bags to be weighed. There is a strict weight limit for each of the porters to carry, and in our case, that meant that our bags needed to be under 30lbs. No problem!

The climb of Mt Meru is much different than Kilimanjaro. First off, every group MUST have a Park Ranger accompany them. They carry a rifle, playfully referred 'Buffalo Stopper.' His job: protect you from the wildlife. From monkeys, to dik-dik, giraffes spotted on ridges far above (and meters away from us on the trail), to close encounters with an angry Cape Buffalo... it's quite obvious we're visiting their home.

Second, the accommodations on Meru are 'huts', some still in the process of being built. The reasons for this, first I'm sure is the animals mentioned above. The second is to limit the amount of people who can be on the mountain at one time. When we were on Meru, there were very few others, but the numbers from the park show that Meru & Arusha National Park are becoming more popular every year. By limiting the of people on the mountain, I'm sure they hope to minimize the impact by trekkers on the ecosystem.

Third, the trail and terrain are quite a bit different, with summit day on Meru being particularly steep and treacherous in places.

Starting up with our Ranger 'Cha Cha', we took the longer of the two routes up. Passing by the Fig Tree Arch, we had lunch in a great spot beside a waterfall just off the trail. Along the way to towards the crater, Cha Cha would be spotting wildlife left and right while we our way through the rain forest. After about 6hr on the trail, Cha Cha pointed out a Cape Buffalo on the other side of a small creek. Standing there looking at it, looking at us, you can immediately tell that this is not a friendly animal. Cha Cha cocks his rifle right at the Cape Buffalo, and lets us know it's time to move on. Later we ask if he's ever had to use the rifle, to which he replies many times in his 3 years as a park ranger in Arusha National Park.

Another hour and we're Mirikamba Hut (2500m), our home for the night. The huts are excellent, and it's an added luxury that we hadn't anticipated. We also get a view of the summit of Mt Meru (albeit brief).

Day 6:
We start out at 8:30am for Saddle Hut (3500m), on the short but steep trail. We are passed by workers of the park carrying long 2x4s and bags of cement on their heads to Saddle Hut. We get some great views of the crater below, and arrive by about noon. Lunch & a bit of relaxing before making our way up to Little Meru (3801m) with our guide Kassim & Rasheed (one of our porters). It's a short climb, maybe 45 minutes or so. The clouds around us obscure the view, then seconds later, they break and we see Kilimanjaro and the valley below.

Heading down, we have an early supper so we can get to bed for the 1am wake up, and 2am summit attempt. It's about this time that I start feeling mild effects of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). A strange dull headache, loss of appetite, not feeling 100%. I eat a what I can and head to bed for a few hours before heading for the summit...

Looking Back - Day 3 & 4 - Moshi

Day 3:
We arrived in in Tanzania about 10am and met our bags with a sigh of relief. A 45min drive to the town of Moshi left me staring out the window of our van the whole way, a whole other world from what we know.

Arriving @ Keys Hotel, which would be our 'home away from home,' we quickly got our gear in our room before meeting our guide for the Mt Meru climb. His name was Kassim, and we got to know him quite well during our time in Tanzania. He let us know what we would need to bring, and what we would be in for day to day on the 4 day trek. With the plan in place, we left for a bit of a walk around.

Keys is just north of the town of Moshi, and with not too much time left of daylight, we decided to head down the road for a bit. We were situated just south of the equator, which meant that the sun would rise and set at nearly the same time all year round (6:30am/pm). Wandering down the road we passed kids coming home from school, and people coming home from work in Moshi. Everyone was friendly and we would greet each other with 'Jambo' which is 'hello' in Swahili. We met an older gentleman who spoke very good English, and he told us about a market down another road. We followed along and chatted about the area and the people with him.


Arriving at the market, he passed on through and we were left right in the middle of the 'market'. People had everything from vegetables to little battery powered radios. There would be a pile of used clothes on a blanket, and people would be rifling through them. One man had a pile of 'flip-flop' type shoes made out of used tires. What really struck me though, is that for the first time in my life, I was the minority. Hundreds of eyes were looking at us as we made our way down the road in this market. It wasn't a feeling of being threatened, but it was a little uncomfortable. Here I am, walking down a road through a market for the locals, with a camera on my side that is worth more than many of them would make in a year. It was a tough thing to swallow, and I am still trying to process it all. Heading back, we had some dinner, and then to bed.

Day 4:
The next day was a free day for us, so we headed to Moshi. We met a lady named Janice from San Francisco at Keys who tagged along with us, and we caught a cab to town. Not really knowing where to go ourselves, the cabbie conveniently dropped us off right near one of his "friend's shop", where we were soon meet our Moshi entourage.

Obviously we stick out like a sore thumb, and were quickly targeted by a host of guys looking to sell us things, and take us to their shops. The guys took us on a whirlwind tour of Moshi, we chewed on sugarcane, and took some photos. It just so happened that we ended up at their 'shop' at the end of it all. I wandered around, and my Dad started picking some things out. Of course, there were no prices and we would have a package deal at the end. Picking out some paintings, carvings and the like, they grab a calculator and come back with a price. 850. "uh is that in shillings of dollars?" "Dollars." This was pretty crazy, and although we didn't know what things were worth, we certainly didn't think $850 was reasonable. Taking a few things out, it magically became $130ish. We offered $65 and he seemed offended, while we countered that we didn't know what things were worth because we hadn't seen anything else yet. After much ado, we left Jay and told him we'd be back to see him. We wandered around town a bit more, hunting down places in my fantastic Kilimanjaro book. We were always followed where ever we went, until we finally hopped in a cab to Shah Industries, and then back to Keys. Packing up, then early to bed, we were off to Arusha National Park & Mt Meru in the morning...

Looking Back - Day 1 & 2 - Getting There

Looking back on it now, seems like it was a long time ago already.

Day 1:
Leaving Saskatoon @ approx 5:30am, meant not much sleep the night before. I think I went to bed about 1:30am for the 4:00am alarm. Once we were @ the airport though, I was good for the time being, but it's a 4 flight journey with approx 21hr in the air. Though I'd flown quite a bit in the past (1-3hr flights), I was a little concerned that I might be a little bored with it all, but with three books, iPod, Nintendo DS... thought I'd have it all covered. Turned out I read about 10 pages and watched my iPod for about an hour. Not sure where the time went!

Starting it all off, we checked our bags in and took the first flight to Minneapolis. It figures that once we arrived there, our bags didn't, and panic quickly set in. What if our bags didn't arrive? All of our gear was in there, and we'd be beginning our first climb in 48hours! After finding only broken internet terminals, we finally found one and e-mailed the guide company to give a heads up, in case we'd need them to find us gear in Tanzania, and also our travel agent to see if she could offer any help while Northwest wouldn't at all. With that, we had done what we could, and headed off to Amsterdam.

Day 2:
It just so happens that in planning the trip, we had about 16hours in Amsterdam on the way over. So after landing @ approx 6am local time, we took a train into the city to have a peek around. We wandered for hours, rarely coming across a street we had been down already. We ate the food, took a ride down the canals, and took in the World Press Photo 2008 exhibition. We also hopped on the internet to check the e-mails we had sent from Minneapolis. Word had gotten around back in Saskatoon, and my e-mail was filled with 'Where are your bags?!?!?!' messages. Back to Amsterdam Centraal Station about 6pm for our flight later that evening. Ironically enough, my feet took the biggest beating of the trip on this day, as the cobblestone road made me realize what little support my shoes had. I also had a couple of hotspots on the tops of my toes from my shoes rubbing. My boots were so much better! An exhausing day.

This made it easy to catch some zZz's on the way to Kenya, and we were both out for the majority of the flight. Arriving early in the morning, we had a short time in the Nairobi airport, before catching the last flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO). We got our first glimpses of both Kilimanjaro, and Mt Meru on the flight... a teaser for what was to come.