Conquering Mt. Meru...At Least Part of It!

Yesterday Marsha and I joined the Church family (which consisted of Max, Davona, Brendon, Brianna, Sabrina, and Staci) on a picnic. We drove part of the way up Mt. Meru then parked and walked a short distance up a VERY steep hill until we found some grass to sit on. We spread out blanket and picnicked! We ate plantain chips with guacamole and potato chips and apples (a real treat!!) and pineapple and toast. Unique, but tasty.



After lunch we decided to go on a walk. Well, I was under the impression that it would be a walk. It turned out to be a 4-hr hike straight up Mt. Meru. It started out lovely. We followed a trail meandering through the pretty woods. Typical. Once we reached the national park (Arusha National Park), we had to go traipsing through the bush a bit to find another trail. Brendon, the twins, and Marsha forged ahead. Max carried Staci through the dense underbrush so she wouldn't lose her sandals (Staci is 5), and I brought up the rear, jumping around and making loud comments about how foolish we were being, and didn't we know there were mambas in this area?



Once we got back on the trail I was a little more agreeable, but if we deviated from it for even 10 feet, I was sure to pipe up. The pretty trail that meandered through the woods was replaced with an overgrown footpath covered in army ants that shot straight up the mountain. Much of the time the trail was at a 45° angle or steeper. I'm serious. It was like climbing stairs. Brendon spurred us on while we huffed and puffed, whining and complaining. He insisted he was taking us to a pretty stream up the mountain, and since his grandmother had done it, so could we. Let me tell you, I have a lot of respect for that woman.



Our hike was interspersed with breaks to pick all the ants off our legs. Those things are vicious. They bite and hold on relentlessly. I had one bite me through my sock. Somehow I got lucky and only got bit by one or two ants (they're rather painful in large quantities). Others in the group unfortunately had dozens on them. Brendon even had the joy of finding a tick on himself.



After hiking for probably two hours, Max and the three younger girls gave up and turned back. I don't really blame them. No one really knew where we were going and this alleged spring was nowhere in sight. We had turned around at least once and been attacked by ants several times. The path was steep and overgrown. It wasn't exactly a stroll in the park.



So Brendon and Marsha and I climbed on. The path became more difficult and overgrown, but it seemed more adventurous with just the three of us. I stomped loudly to scare off the snakes and Brendon continually made fun of me, saying it wouldn't work. I still think it works.



We hiked for another hour (about), and still couldn't find the spring. Brendon stopped being able to recognize the scenery (it all looked the same anyway) and concluded that we had taken a wrong turn somewhere. We only had one water bottle among the 3 of us, so we knew we had to turn back soon. Besides, we didn't know what time it was, and we had a long way to go back! We hiked on in search of a vista point, but never found one. At this point we were so high up the mountain that we noticed the air was thinner. I actually started to feel sick. Thank you, altitude. Marsha estimated we were probably 8100 feet high. I guess that's not super high, but it felt pretty high.



I wish we had found a vista point. It would have been nice to see Mt. Kilimanjaro or Arusha from so high up. But the foilage was too thick. So we stopped, took a break, and then headed back down. Naturally the way down always goes faster. Marsha fell a couple times and we were attacked by ants twice, but other than that it was rather uneventful. Despite the fact that we hiked (illegally) into the heart of Arusha National Park, the only wildlife we saw were spiders and butterflies.