Tanzania Part 1

Given that my trip to Tanzania encompassed so many different activities, I thought I would do a separate post for each part of my trip (well, except for Zanibar) to avoid the dreaded 'holiday photo overload'!

After 4 days hanging out by the pool & sleeping in my beautiful low-key yet & friendly resort in Arusha, I headed for the island of Zanzibar which is part of, and off the coast of, Tanzania. I won't rehash the history of Zanzibar or the story of my visit - you can read about that in my previous blog post here.

My rather interesting room in Stone Town-


The view for the room was pretty interesting too-


One of the beautiful hand-carved doors that Zanzibar is famous for-


Although I find the idea of building a church over a former slave trade market rather strange, I loved this sign outside the front door-


Then I headed off to a small resort on the coast for a couple of days of relaxation in what seemed like the world's largest bed-


Then it was back to Arusha to pack & head off on my trip to climb Mt Meru (which you can read about here).

The fun began even before the walking did- the first wild giraffes I had ever seen (and I love giraffes)!




Some of beautiful rainforest we walked through-


I felt safe (kinda) - well as safe as you can feel, walking through the middle of nowhere by yourself with a man carrying a gun!


The first time I saw Kilimanjaro literally took my breathe away; it was an extraordinary sight-




After setting out at 1.30am on summit morning, when the sun finally started to rise, we were awarded by the most incredible sight of Kilimanjaro-


Mt Meru casting its shadow as the sun rose-


The view from the summit of Mt Meru (Socialist Peak) with Kilimanjaro in the background-


Looking down from the summit to the ash cone with Kilimanjaro in the background-








At the flag which marks the true summit-


Now that the sun had risen, I actually had a chance to look at the terrain I had walked over & the views I had missed!










Back at high camp with the summit of Meru & the ash cone arising behind me-


My boys-


On the walk out down through the rainforest again where we saw the extraordinary black & white colobus monkeys (unfortunately they were too fast for me to take a photo of!)


The view of Meru had been hidden by clouds as we walked up it. It was only on the outward journey when I finally had a chance to have a lot at it from a distance-


My 15kg pack disappearing down the trail with our porter-


Up next - Kilimanjaro :-)