Mount Meru

In some other articles it is very well described how to climb Mount Meru. Therefore I will not repeat what others have already done very well but will focus on why it might be worth to do it.
 
First of all Mount Meru is a very high mountain with a spectacular shape. It is a dormiant volcano with its last activities about 100 years ago. Unlike Kilimanjaro it has not a cone like shape any more, because some 1000 years ago a major explosion happened and blew-off big parts of the original crater. Only the western part still exists forming an amphitheater with a spectacular east wall. In addition in front of the east wall some recent activities have formed a new small crater, called the ash cone.
 
My motivation started with a wish to get an Africa nature experience by foot rather than sitting in a jeep (typically during safaris), e.g. doing some trekking. I got hints that this would be perfectly possible at the slopes of Mount Meru. I looked closer and found exactly what I was looking for. Hiking through an intact rain forest in a nature and game reserve, opportunity to encounter wild animals by foot, great scenery with waterfalls and lakes and chance to stay in huts overnight.
Actually the idea to go for the summit I got only at the end of my planning. ´If you are already there, why shouldn´t you try´.
 
And all the promises were absolutely fulfilled. We walked through dense and foggy rain forest up to almost 3500 (also getting some rain :-), got spectacular views especially from the top of Little Meru and had encounters with giraffes (watching us only 5m away), buffalos (very relaxed and not at all aggressive), several monkeys (blue monkeys, black-and-white colobus, baboons), warthogs, antilopes, etc. Especially the trail from Mirakamba hut down to the Tulusia falls is very nice, offering views on the Momella lakes and lots of animals.
After returning from the mountain we made a short game drive with some more very nice observations, like hippos and flamingos at Momella lakes and lot of game down in the Ngongongare crater.
 
I also strongly recommend to climb Little Meru, which is only a nice walk away from the Saddle hut. Little Meru can be reached without alpinistic skills as a very nice hiking destination and it as absolutely worth to do a trip just to get on it.
 
Climbing to the summit of Mount Meru offers obvious more alpinistic challenges like an altitude of above 4500, strong weather dependency (you can´t go if conditions are bad like storm, snow, bad visibility and temperatures below min 10 Celsius) and a very long summit day (15 hours from Saddle hut to the summit and again down to Mirakamba hut). But however the experience is very impressive and of course I strongly recommend to go for the summit as well.