5/10, 6/10 and 7/10: Mt. Meru

We started off on Saturday morning by meeting at the office with all our stuff, waiting for Iddi so that we could go to the mountain. He was going on Swahili time (though not the actual Swahili time) so he came a little late. But then we were off in a dala dala with everything. All nine could be there with the stuff on the roof and some people in the back. One of which was Patrick Jr., I didn’t know that he was coming or in what capacity because he is usually an assistant guide, but we already had Iddi and Maasai - Ernest. I later asked him and he said as an assistant guide, afterwards I heard an argument about it, apparently Iddi didn’t tell him he would be a porter, though a summit porter. This means that he goes with us to the top. It took some time before we were ready to start the climb up the mountain. On Mt. Meru you need a ranger as it is in Arusha National Park. Arusha NP doesn’t have predators, but the buffalos can still be really dangerous. Our ranger is Gideon; he has been up some 46 times in seven years. He has the funniest laugh so even though what he is saying isn’t funny, you still laugh with him; it is kind of like a Disney villain, but one of the nicer ones of course. Starting the climb we took the ‘right’ route and not the ‘wrong’ route, which is the shorter more forested one. It took some 3-4 hours up in beautiful terrain where we got close to giraffes. On Meru you only sleep in huts and in Miriakamba, the first camp, there are also showers and western style toilets (though without flush) so it ruins some of the authenticity there was on Kili. But it was very nice and not as overcrowded as its bigger neighbor. This time I insisted on an introduction to the crew, they seemed completely lost as this is obviously not the norm. We have Gideon the ranger, Iddi and Ernest for guides, Rafael as cook and another Rafael as waiter; Julius times two, Isac, Dastin, Ally from my Kili climb and another Goodluck for normal porters and Patrick as summit porter. We had a very nice view of Kili and a good dinner and then we went to sleep. The other volunteers with me are, some of them you know; Freja, Maria and Erik from Denmark, Alessandra from Italy and Marco, Robert, Stefan and Judith from the Netherlands. Marco wanted to see the sunrise in the morning. I didn’t have a special wish for that as I knew we would see it the next day. This meant however that Iddi came knocking on our door and windows too early in the morning whispering “sunrise.” Marco didn’t even wake up as he had on earplugs. As I have said Nasoro isn’t going to join us, but as he had another client up I met him. He didn’t come out at first and I couldn’t understand why, I had already said hi to my cook from my Kili climb, during dinner he came into the dinner hut. I figured out what it was he had changed places with the cook so now he cook is the guide and the guide is the cook. Though why he would be ashamed of it I’m not sure. I means it is still honest work, though I get it could feel like a sort of degradation. But he is doing well, the next morning he gave me a water bottle they didn’t need and before we left to go further up I waved goodbye. That’s probably the last I will see of him for a long while. The second day was beautiful, though with too many stairs, for my liking and this time it was real stairs. On the second day of Kili every time I reached one top there was another waiting so I never knew exactly how high I was going or where the next camp was. The second day of Meru was very different because you can almost always see little Meru the top we were going to summit by the end of the day, though the camp was further down. It seemed an immeasurable distance to all of us. But we got slowly closer. It took some 5 hours to reach saddle hut. By the end Marco and I started talking because we were kind of bored and that helped, besides, it looked like it was just a walk in the park for him. After he showed the slightest inclination of wanting to visit Iceland I was off on a long speech about the wonders of Iceland, both hidden and in plain sight. Then magically the camp appeared. Then we had a lunch break before setting off to little Meru, a climb that took about an hour and a half both ways. I was wearing my Ranum Efterskole sweatshirt and it took Marco almost all the way up to find my name - I hid it well. It was stunning, but it was getting late and we needed dinner early so that we could get some sleep before setting off towards the summit at 1 am. We got up at midnight to take on all our layers and eat a little. The day before Robert hadn’t been feeling so well and he had thought very seriously about going down again. He was still with us though he still felt bad. But now Judith also started to feel very bad with her stomach as well. Despite of this everybody started the climb at 1.15 am. Om Kili the way to the summit is very basic; up and in the same direction and soil almost all the way. On Meru you go up and down and through dirt and rock. There was one point where people had to climb down a rock face. At this point we had already split the group because Judith needed a lot of breaks if she was going to make it, and she really wanted to. Here some people were scared because it seemed one misstep meant certain death. But we continued. They told us it would take 4-5 hours to reach the top we were there 8.30 am. It is an amazing summit because you climb a lot of the last part so you reach a very pronounced summit and in good weather you can see for miles (or kilometers) around. I just stared at Kili for some time. A little later Robert made it. He had done it for his wife whom he met 20 years ago on this day. I don’t think he could have done it without her. When we went down Judith and Stefan, the last of our group, were almost at the top as well. So everybody made it. Judith had gone all the way puking, though it was a really unwise decision to continue all the way I really admire her perseverance. The fast group was down 11.30 am, it took her 12 hours in total. After we returned to saddle hut we had breakfast and a nap, though I couldn’t sleep because there was so much to think about. After Stefan and Judith returned we had to get moving, everybody said that we wouldn’t be able to make it down to the gate before it closed at 6 pm, if we were going to walk all the way, but some of us wanted to try. We were off around 2.45 pm and in Miriakamba an hour later. It went really fast, but Gideon was behind us somewhere and we couldn’t start the next part without him and his gun. Luckily it only took him half an hour more. While we were sitting there waiting someone was shooting something for the television there was some porters taking something that looked heavy on their shoulders then they started walking like they were going to the next camp. Two minutes later we saw them walking down again, then they took their bags on and went do0wn the mountain again. We didn’t really understand what was going on and the first thing I said was: “fake porters!” very up roared of course because porters are some of the people here I have the most respect for. After Gideon came we hurried on down the mountain, reaching the gate a couple of minutes before 6 pm. As the rest of the people were taking a rescue car down we had to wait for them. We waited and waited, it was 9 pm before they came. We spend the time listening to nice stories from Hassan too long to tell about here. I was home and in my bed a little before midnight, after being up a whole day. Many people have and will ask me what I would recommend and what is easiest since I have done both Meru and Kili. I really like them both, but I think if I was going to do one again (and I will) it would most likely be Kili. But Mt. Meru has a very close second place.