Mt. Meru Karibu Napuru Waterfall Tour, 02.07.2011

Today we went on a tour to the base of Mt. Meru.  Mt. Meru is the second largest mountain in Tanzania, second only to Kili.  A day of hiking only cost us 10,000TZS!  Worth every penny.  I met a few cool locals and got my days worth of exercise!

            We started by meeting at the Sakina grocery store.  There were about 23 of us volunteers who went.  We also had four guides who were all brothers.  Frenk, a 14 year old who looks 9, Kiko, James, and Abdul.  Abdul didn’t speak much English but Frank and Kiko did.  We called a dala dala and all squeezed into one.  A 10 minute ride later, we got off at the base of Mt. Meru.

            Our hike started uphill.  We walked through very remote villages and farm land.  Each village we passed spoke a different language from Swahili.  There were also Maasai tribes. Everyone was dressed in congas and all the women were carrying large sticks and bushes of green on there heads to their goats and livestock.  There were also many people on bikes, carrying Coke or large water jugs.  There were a lot of wild dogs savaging the streets, and also cows and goats.  The cows here all have horns and humps like camels. It’s quite a weird sight, really.  While taking pictures of the scenery, Angela got a stick thrown at her.  The people here don’t like pictures to be taken, and if they are taken, they want money.  Kiko said that they think that every photo taken will be sold after we return to the US, and so they want compensation for it.  After that, we either sneakily took pictures after people walked past us, or we asked permission.  I took a lot of pictures of the scenery, but none do the view justice.  I wish you could smell what I smelled and hear what I heard, especially the sound of the wild monkeys chattering.  Seeing monkeys in the wild is way more amazing that seeing them in the zoo!

            The hike was pretty strenuous and mostly up hill.  Ashlee was dying in back!  She swore during the hike and afterwards that she would never go on another hike again in her life.  Think she’ll go to Kili with me if I can afford it? Haha. We got to the check point and signed in.  I’m not sure why we signed in.  Maybe if we got lost?  If we got lost though, I don’t think anybody would have missed us.  I doubt very much there are search teams or anything like that.  It wouldn’t take much walking to find a village anyways.  I doubt we would be welcome, even if we needed help. We found that trespassing is highly frowned upon. As we were taking a rest we heard chanting.  There were two men and a group of 20 children, all holding hands and all blinded.  I asked Kiko why they were doing that and why the children were blinded.  I could hardly prevent myself from tripping in that terrain with shoes, and here they were, blinded and doing it, although struggling greatly.  Kiko said that was their punishment for trespassing in a village they were not welcome in.  During the punishment, two children got lost from the group.  They were reaching out in front of them, trying to find the hand of another. Nobody was helping to guide them back to the group. They turned slightly to the right and almost fell over the cliff edge. It scared the hell out of me.  The men guiding them didn’t seem to care so a member of our group grabbed their hands and lead them back to the group.  Seeing this made most of us feel really uncomfortable.

            We split from the group of blinded children and started our descent into the base to find the waterfall.  It was treacherous! I much more enjoyed going up than going down.  It had rained and it was very slippery.  The steps were almost vertical, and many of us fell.  Volunteers were helping volunteers as we each fell in turn.  James joked that he saved Ashlee’s life at least five times, although it was hardly a joke since I think Ashlee would have in fact died without him. J Love you Ashlee!  Frenk (the cute little bugger) saved me once.  This little boy went diving after me.  I’m sure the monkeys in the canopy were laughing at the Mzungos who couldn’t walk. Maybe that’s why there was so much chattering.  I should have used my camcorder to record our trek down, although we were warned to put all of our cameras away before hitting this part, so we did.  And there was no way in hell I was letting go of the ground or foliage, or whatever was keeping me from falling over the edge at each step to reach for my camera.

            We got to the base of that part of the journey.  There was a small river.  We stopped to take a break and pictures. This is where we saw most of the monkeys.  IT WAS AMAZING!  We saw leaves moving, and then spotted one.  All of us were so excited.  We saw more leaves moving, and there was another monkey!  Kiko told me that when they see humans, they often come closer because often times people bring them food.  I wish I had thought of bringing some bananas. 

            Kiko and I became friends quick, talking about the many differences of living in America and living in Tanzania.  It’s astounding how lucky we all are to have been born in such a powerful and rich country.  He said that it is very hard for people to leave Tanzania because they cannot afford it.  Even with saving, it would be impossible for some of them.  Some do not make in a lifetime what it would cost for a plane ticket, and what they do make goes towards food and water.  We also talked about music.  We both love Bob Marley!  He played it on his cell phone while we were hiking.  What is better than singing and dancing to Bob Marley while hiking in a rain forest?  He laughed at my dancing.  Even in Africa, my dancing makes me look like a fool!  Guess who else everyone here loves? Justin Bieber.  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the song “Baby” since arriving.  Then we talked about the difference in prices and costs.  He couldn’t believe it when I told him how much avocadoes cost in the states.  Here they are pennies, even by TZS standards.  He said gas here is very expensive right now, at 2100 shillings.  I told him it was over 4USD and he was amazed anyone would pay that much. We’re facebook friends now. So are Frenk and I.  I can’t get enough of Frenk, he is so damn adorable.   

            Good thing Kiko and I become friends.  He helped me through the next part of the journey.  We went up stream, where there was a lot of rock skipping and hopping and a ton of boulders to climb up and past.  I tried to keep my shoes dry; I failed. I saw one more monkey during this time.  Most of the time my eyes were on the ground, trying to not kill myself.  When I wanted to look at the scenery, I stopped walking.  Kiko was in front of me, leading the way.  He made it look sooooo easy. In fact, he was singing and humming during it.  Then he would reach his hand down from atop a boulder, and help pull me up.  I asked him if he ever got used to this, the rain forest, the monkeys, the hike, all of it.  He said yes, he does it all the time.  I don’t think I could ever get used to it.  Neither do I think he could ever get used to a place like Chicago.   

            Finally, we reached the waterfall.  You had to walk through an almost cave-like structure and then BAM, there it was! There was this breath taking scenery of this powerful, tall waterfall.  I’ve seen many waterfalls, but none as beautiful.  Maybe it was the monkeys, maybe it was Bob Marley playing in the background, or maybe it was the almost dying to get there part, but it was simply gorgeous.  

            Kiko and I were the first to see the waterfall.  As the other people began to trickle through the cave opening, he asked me if I wanted to climb up behind the waterfall.  I said no way!  Then he grabbed my hand and we went.  It wasn’t as hard to climb as I thought it would be, but it was slippery.  And if I had fallen over the edge, I would have definitely died.  I got a picture, but it was zoomed in so you couldn’t see how high up it was. 

            We hung out a bit there to rest and take it all in.  I stepped my feet into the water, and it was freezing cold.  My legs started to numb in the time it took to take pictures with friends.  Frenk told me to go swimming.  I said to him he was crazy, but if he jumped in first, I’d follow. He said hapana asante right away. 

            The walk back was just as amazing as the walk there.  Same train, but just as new and it was hours before.  As we were going down the vertical portion, I was too busy thinking about how to prevent myself from falling that I forgot we would eventually have to go back up.  Going up was a hellish-time and left us all breathless.  All of us, except the guides. Kiko was still singing and humming!  Luckily, though, it had dried a bit, so it was much less slippery.  Making it to the top of that part felt like heaven. After I got up, I saw this little boy and a woman walking up a trail that was parallel to ours.  They were carrying big bushes of greenery on their heads and still were not out of breath.  These people are machines!

            The rest of the walk down through the villages again was just as amazing as going up.  I wish I had been able to take more pictures but I didn’t want to get sticks thrown at me.  The clouds had separated a bit by this time so we had a better view of the mountain range and farms.  One volunteer had to pee very badly, so she asked Kiko and James if there was a place she could go.  Since we were in the area with village huts, they lead her into a gated yard and into a house.  The people who lived there didn’t even know!  I asked if this was normal and okay to do and Kiko said of course.  For these people, they share everything. I told them that if somebody in the US did that, the home owner would get his shotgun out. 

            Kiko, James, Frenk, I, and some of the other volunteers are going to hang out again soon.  They invited us to a birthday party but we were all too tired.  Mark went though.  He is good friends with them, which is why I feel like I can trust them.  Always in groups though!