The next phase of the trip can be introduced with the old Monty Python phrase, “And Now, For Something Completely Different”…
Friday morning, early, we head to Arusha National Park to climb Mt. Meru (pronounce it May-roo). Starting elevation is 1500m, summit is 4566m which is about a kilometer lower than Kilimanjaro. Although it lacks Kili’s glaciers, its vegetation and scenery are more varied, and its views are apparently just as spectacular, with an interior crater. Some people do this climb to acclimatize before Kilimanjaro, and since it only takes 4 days instead of 7, it’s a more manageable time frame for us and a more accessible climb for a family. We will travel with a guide, our cook, and a contingent of porters (something like 1-2 per Hangen). The day of the final ascent to the summit will begin at midnight when we will climb for 6 to 7 hours hoping to reach the summit by sunrise which will happen over Mt. Kilimanjaro.
We descend on Tuesday Aug 2, and take a safari game drive through Arusha National Park before coming back to KCMC for one night (of showers and probably frantic packing). The next HVO volunteer family arrives that night & will be sharing quarters with us for a night, and then Wednesday morning (Aug 3) we fly from Kilimanjaro Airport on “Precision Air” to Zanzibar for 3 days/2 nights of sightseeing there. I don’t know what the internet will be like there; we hear that things are almost 3 times as expensive, and our tour guide has made reservations for us at a hotel that we can’t find mention of in any guidebook, so we’re keeping our expectations somewhat low.
Then on Thursday evening we take a very short flight to Dar Es Salaam and stay one brief night there, flying out early Friday morning to London. We will see if there’s any chance to post during all that, but it’s possible that there will not be. In which case, be patient, or as they say here, hakuna matata. Actually, they really do say that here.
(Mt. Meru seen from the Arusha Rd)
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