Mount Meru
Tanzania's second summit, 4,566 m
From - $2,600
per person, sharing
Destination Overview
Mount Meru is Tanzania's second highest mountain at 4,566 metres, a dormant stratovolcano that lost its eastern wall in a colossal eruption two hundred thousand years ago. What remains is one of the most dramatic profiles in Africa, a horseshoe of cliffs above the Momella Lakes with the ash cone of Little Meru rising inside the breach. The summit ridge looks straight across at Kilimanjaro fifty kilometres to the east, and the sunrise view from the top, with the silhouette of Kibo lit behind cloud, is the photograph that sells the climb on its own.
Meru is climbed in three or four days from Momella Gate at 1,500 metres, with the four day variant including a rest day at Saddle Hut for acclimatisation. The route is steeper than Kilimanjaro and the summit night involves a long scramble along an exposed crater rim, so it suits trekkers who have walked at altitude before or are happy to push hard for a day. As a stand alone climb it is a serious mountain in its own right, as an acclimatisation trip before Kilimanjaro it is unmatched and lifts our guests' summit success rate above 95 percent.
The lower section of the climb goes through the woodland and forest of Arusha National Park, which means it is the only mountain in Tanzania where you walk with wildlife. An armed ranger leads the first two days, partly for tradition and partly because the buffalo on the lower slopes are not joking. Giraffe, waterbuck, bushbuck and the occasional elephant are part of the first day, and black and white colobus call from the canopy as you climb out of the cultivation zone and into the forest.
Western Bridge Africa runs Meru as a private climb with a lead guide, an assistant guide, a mountain chef and a porter team registered with the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project. The huts on the route are basic but warm, and we cook hot meals at every stop. The four day variant is our standard recommendation, especially for guests continuing onto Kilimanjaro, and we build in two clear days at the base afterwards before any high altitude climb begins.
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Tours that visit Mount Meru
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