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Published: February 28th 2014
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We went for home visits on Wednesday again; this time we went to twelve homes and didn't finish until after 6pm. Thursday was different; Isaac had saved enough to bring all of the students to a play park with a train and a climbing mountain. They were in seventh heaven. We transported everyone by the small vans called Dallas and it took forever so we didn't make it home till 6 again. Friday, we were finally able to go to town and prepare for our weekend climbing Mount Meru, and connect with home. It is even more precious when we talk with loved ones since we can only manage it from time to time. The highlight of the week was the three days spent in Mount Meru National Park. We left early on Saturday morning. We picked up our cook and then groceries. We then drove to the park and registered. We had to wait for a ranger to come with us, you can't walk in the park without a ranger to protect you from wild animals and to make sure you follow park rules. We ended up hiking up to the first camp with 10 others. We hiked up close
to 2000 meters in 4 hours. Our guide had given us a box lunch that was so big, we had snacks for all of the rest breaks on the way. Jacob took to the steep climb like a goat. I had more trouble with keeping my heart from racing in the change of altitude. I had not covered completely from my cold so this hiking weekend was going to bed harder on me. On the way up, we saw zebra, wart hogs, and white tailed monkeys, which are rarer to see. They have a beautiful filmy long white tail and black bodies with white markings. We saw a female, male and baby. The hike was steep and beautiful. With the rains lately, everything was very green. We were climbing out of a plain to forested mountain slope. The trees are covered in moss like old man's beard. Some of the trees are metres around. We got to the first camp around 5:00. The camp is a series of buildings that have bunk rooms for clients, bunk rooms for potters and guides, kitchen and mess hall, as well as water toilets. We were given bowls of warm water to freshen up
with, tea and popcorn to snack on and a rest before supper. The cook sets you up with a section of table spread with table cloth. The food was plentiful and good. There weren't that many people so Jacob and I had a four bunk room to ourselves. The beds were comfortable. I awoke up once in the night and found a clear sky so full of stars that my eyes were dazzled. We have marvellous starscapes at home, but in the thin clear air of the mountain, the sky was spectacular. We woke at 6 to see the sunrise on Kilimanjaro. We could see the heights of Killi with total clarity from the observation decks built off of the mess hall. The next climb was even steeper and in the next 4 hours we went up to 3500 metres. All the while switching back and forth on the trail, seeing images of Killimajaro, and then the ridge of mount Meru, along with its ash peak . It was a beautiful hike. We arrived at the second camp, very similar to the first, in time for a huge hot lunch. After a lunch and a rest we then climbed the
remaining 500 meters to the peak of little Meru. The views we incredible. We climb back down to camp for another good meal and a well deserved early bed time. The others would be getting up in the night to be able to climb to the top of big Meru in time for sunrise. We had climbed as high as I wanted to go so we got to get up at 6 again so that we could make the climb back down. We went down by a different route and so got very views of the mountain. We didn't have to go all of the way. Our guide had arranged for a pickup, part way up the mountain so we would have time for a short game drive, before going home. Our driver wasn't there to meet us, his jeep had broken down, so we waited in the shade looking out over the park with the mountain rising behind us. The driver arrived 1 hour or more later in a low sound van. We took the road out very slowly. We passed through a huge fig tree, stopping to take photos. When we got out of the mountain forest we
drove to some small crater lakes to see huge flocks of flamingos. We also saw a lot of baboons, giraffes, water buffalo, water buck, bush buck, wart hogs, and herons. There are few big cats in this park and the elephants are really shy due to poachers. Then we drove home to a well deserved shower, hugs from the family, and an early sleep.
Good Night and Sweet Dreams
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