Mount Meru, Tanzania

Has anybody on the forum done Mount Meru? It looks pretty cool and a lot less crowded than Kili...
www.walkopedia.net/walks/display-walk.asp?WalkID=37&WalkName=Mt+Meru

Yes...

Is it cool? Yes
Is it less crowded than Kili? Yes

It is a big and beautiful mountain in its own right and less expensive than Kili.
I am afraid if avoiding crowds is your motivation for avoiding Kili then you are depriving yourself of an amazing experience.
Kili and Meru are totally different and unique.

Have you looked at Mawenzi? I want to try get a permit for climbing it in the next 2 years or so. Now that is one spectacular chunk of rock. Technical ascent...


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Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying rather than Kili, I'm saying before... It is a bit more in my pricerange and that dawn view on Kili... Man, oh man

Drakensbergie wrote: Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying rather than Kili, I'm saying before... It is a bit more in my pricerange and that dawn view on Kili... Man, oh man

Cool, let me know if I can assist.

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My guide on Kili rates that Meru is much more wild, you have a ranger with a gun in case the wildlife attacks you! I want to go back and climb it some time - looks seriously awesome. My guide was Dickson at Zara - he is very experienced (more than 20 years on Kili and Meru) and is a great guy, I can PM his email address to you if you like.

@Kobus: according to my research, Mawenzi is still closed. Have they re-opened it recently? Also looks like a seriously awesome mountain (and is the 3rd highest mountain in Africa if my research is correct - I seem to recall only 4 peaks above 5000m in Africa - Kili, Kenya and Mount Stanley being the others), but the masses of scree make it very unappealing to me!

The mountain is within Arusha NP hence you need an armed ranger on day 1. There are different ways of doing it. Socialist Peak is a cool spot to explore. I've had a few people up there over the last 9 years.

Mawenzi is 4th on the list. Margherita is 3rd. But really depends how you look at it. Kilimanjaro has 3 main peaks, Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira.

Technically Mawenzi is always closed because they don't like fatalities. Screws up the tourism numbers. Permits are available though if you ask nicely and know where to look. A friend of mine climbed it a few months ago. I've explored all around and up to the foot of the main face. It is flippen spectacular.


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kbresler wrote: Socialist Peak ... Margherita is 3rd.

I need to read up on some more peakds

kbresler wrote: Technically Mawenzi is always closed because they don't like fatalities. Screws up the tourism numbers. Permits are available though if you ask nicely and know where to look. A friend of mine climbed it a few months ago. I've explored all around and up to the foot of the main face. It is flippen spectacular.

Please do a detailed writeup with photos when you bag that peak

I got a good look at Shira from the 2nd camp on Machame - looks pretty straightforward to get up, I seem to recall thinking that the Shira Cathedral could be technical, but the main high point looked easy (although quite far from Shira camp).

I would be interested in any links to info on either of the other summits. I don't plan on climbing either (not that I would walk past Shira if I was back in the area), but I agree 100% that Shira and Mawenzi are separate mountains - thus meaning that the claim that Kili is the highest free-standing mountain on earth is incorrect. I can't remember where I got the number from, but I like the definition that a mountain is a summit above 1000m with at least 7% prominence on height (although perhaps a sliding scale may work better). Mawenzi I believe has about 800m prominence and Shira about 400m - so both are far above 7%.

The Ruwenzories really look amazing and they are one of the only proper mountain massifs in Africa. That is worth the journey as you have 5 large peaks in the region of 5k high and glaciers. I still think it's the wildest mountain option in Africa..

ASL wrote: The Ruwenzories really look amazing and they are one of the only proper mountain massifs in Africa. That is worth the journey as you have 5 large peaks in the region of 5k high and glaciers. I still think it's the wildest mountain option in Africa..

Planning a trip to Rwenzori in February. Hopefully it comes together.

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