Mount Meru // Hiking with Giraffes

Across the valley from Mount Kilimanjaro there is another, smaller mountain, called Mount Meru. Online reviewers, AKA the most reliable people in the world, were claiming that Meru was more challenging, beautiful, and biologically diverse than Kilimanjaro. It was also reported by onliners that Meru was a good warm up if you were considering climbing to the roof of Africa. I figured that if I was going to fly for 21 hours to Tanzania it might be worth it to spend more than 6 days in Africa. So a tacked on Mount Meru to my itinerary and added another 3 days to my trip. For me the hardest part about climbing these mountains wasn’t their height or elevation gain it was all the rules surrounding the climb. On paper Meru is a 2 day max kind of climb. I emailed 3 different guide operators (guides are required on both mountains) and asked if I could climb the peak in two days. Not possible! was the response from all three. I had read a 10 year old online review that said it was possible to climb the mountain in 2 days with the use of bribes but it seems that option has disappeared. All the outfitters who responded to my request claimed that 4 days was recommended but 3 days was possible. Seeing that climbing the mountain required a guide, cook, 3 porters and 1 armed ranger. I wasn’t surprised they would want to drag it out. You tip by the day. I also discovered that Kilimanjaro had similar rules. I was more than a little discouraged by the rules and required unwanted entourage and I considered cancelling my ticket. But after talking with a few friends who had visited Tanzania I decided to stick with the plan. It’s not often that you get to climb a big peak and possibly see giraffes and elephants on your way up.