Achieving Socialism (Peak)

Arusha, TZ, May 2007

Much has been written of Mt. Kilimanjaro and tens of thousands attempt Africa’s highest and best-known peak every year. By contrast, few have heard of and fewer attempt its little sister and neighbor, Mt. Meru. Nevertheless, Meru is the second highest peak in TZ and fourth highest on the continent; it arguably is a harder and steeper hike; is way less overrun by peak-bagging waznugu, and; costs a lot less. Meru was our objective!

Our expedition was large but missing one important member: Heather couldn’t go because of work. Major bummer! Joel and Susan, visiting from the good ol’ U.S. of A., joined me. Also along were two guides, an armed park ranger (regulations; beware lone buffalo), a cook (a.k.a. “the stomach doctor”), and six (count ‘em!) porters. It felt downright colonial but at about $500 a head, not too spendy.

It’s a four-day trek. We stayed in, perhaps, the nicest mountain huts I’ve ever seen and we totally lucked out on the weather. Despite it being rainy season, we saw not a drop for three days.

On summit day, we had the proverbial “Alpine start,” leaving camp around 2am, a lovely night. We had a nearly full moon, so rarely used our headlamps as we slowly (pole pole in Kiswahili) made our way up the mountain. An hour or so before dawn, the moon set, which was both lovely in its own right as well as awesome in that the newly-darkened sky showed off a stellar starscape. It also made things a bit colder, or so it seemed to my fingers and toes. Or maybe it was the altitude.

By the time the sun rose over Kili—yes, right over it—we still had maybe an hour to tag the summit. ‘Twas a truly gorgeous sight: sun rising over a glaciated, flat-topped, extinct volcano poking above the clouds. Alas, Susan didn’t feel well so turned back with one guide in tow.

Meanwhile, Joel and I kept on keepin’ on. The final push involved a lot of scrambling, some third class (i.e. some hands and feet required). The hardest part, predictably, was the breathing, Meru being more than 15,000 feet/4,500 meters and all. A few days of acclimatization is hardly enough time. Joel also was sucking down as much O2 as he could and made it just a bit after I did.

As with all Tanzanian mountains, the peak has its own nom de plume and the true summit of Meru is none other than Socialism Peak. Finally! I’d found socialism. Sadly, the air is rarified so we soon headed down out of the clouds and back into capitalism. I look forward to my return…