Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Continuing with the Africa saga, today we are climbing Mt. Meru, at 15,000' the 5th highest Mountain in Africa. This stratovolcano is frequently used as a training/ascclimatization climb for Kilimanjaro, but our ambitions were more modest. The other posts from this trip: Arusha , Tarangire National Park , South Serengeti Part 1 , South Serengeti Part 2 ,  the rest of the Serengeti tour , and Ngorogoro Crater .   Our Mt. Meru climb was a 3-night, 4-day outing, totaling about 22 miles (nearly half of that on summit day) and nearly 9200' up and down.  Entering the park We're going clear up THERE? We saw and heard culebra monkeys, but this was the best photo I got of one. The warm invitation to trek and explore is interesting, as you are required to get a permit and hike with an armed ranger. Because we were a little late, we started with a ride in a jeep, cutting 2 or 3 miles off our first day's hike (to catch us up to the group already hiking with the ranger of the day).

Hoping to finish up our Tanzania Safari today, but we shall see. The final two days were as jam-packed as all the rest, and photos were manageable only because I had some technical difficulties that greatly reduced the number of acceptable shots. You know it's been an amazing trip when you are actually glad to find horrible pictures that can be deleted without hesitation. Also: I'll respond to comments eventually, but this is posting automatically while I'm out backpacking. So far we have Arusha , Tarangire National Park , South Serengeti Part 1 , and South Serengeti Part 2 . In that report we actually moved north and into Serengeti National Park, and we resume the trip in the park, where we stayed at the Embalakai Camp, another tent camp but permanent, and very luxurious. As usual, we were up before dawn and ready to leave as soon as there was enough light to see the animals. Dawn on the Serengeti The lodge. The animals are perhaps most active in the morning, and the light