From Arusha, on our way to the Mount Meru camp, we caught our first views of Kilimanjaro—the top thankfully hidden from view by cloud cover.

Our two days at Mount Meru included sightseeing in Arusha National Park and further trip preparation: going through our equipment, trying out our sleeping bags and, yes, some test hiking (FYI—hike is a four-letter word) while we acclimated to 6,200 feet above sea level and adapted to the 10-hour time difference.

When we first approached the camp on a dirt road surrounded by nine-foot-tall grass, the driver suddenly slowed and turned right into the tall grass. After several minutes of driving through this “grass,” we came out at the camp. I often wondered how they found the place. I wanted a photo of us turning into the grass, but it was only my first couple of days in Africa, and I wasn’t getting out of the jeep!

Our “hotel” for our days at Mount Meru was a tent, and it didn’t get better than this for another eight days. Dave and David are standing in front of theirs. We had to take off our shoes and bring them inside the tent each night so the monkeys didn’t walk off with them. We could hear the colobus monkeys talking all night outside our tent.

Arusha National Park

The favorite part of the entire trip happened on our first day at Mount Meru, when we visited Arusha National Park. We were driving through the park and climbing a slight hill (in a vehicle!) when, over the top, came a troop of baboons. The jeep stopped, and we entertained ourselves taking numerous photos of the baboons, our favorites being the babies clinging to their mothers’ backs.