The Climb.

So I came back from my trip on friday the 25th of May at around 4 pm. We arrived at Arusha the first day and we went to the Iboru Safari Lodge and spent a night their. We woke up earlyish. We hopped on a bus and started on our way to the foot hills of Meru. We filled our bottles with water and set off walking. It was a nice landscape and we also saw some buffalos. We reached our lunch spot at around 1:30PM we had a nice lunch. we reached our destination which is called Miriakamba Hut it was 2500M high. We played in the fresh mountain air for a while then we had a nice dinner that I think all of us devoured because we were so hungry from our 14 kg packs in our backs. We went to bed kind of early at 9PM. We woke up at 7:15AM and had a nice breakfast. We then set out to saddle hut which meant the 2000 some odd stairs and an increase of 1000m. I struggled with the altitude but I did eventually make to Saddle Hut 3500m. To top that off we had to hike to Little Meru 3820m after around an hour after we arrived to the hut. It was suposed to be a one and half hour hike but with us it took around two hours up and when we were up there a cloud came and it was like a white out so we had to leave, but before that we had an amazing view of where we came from and of kilimanjaro. It took us 20 minutes down. :). That night we went to bed at like 7:30PM so we could get up at 4AM to go to rhino point to see the sunrise over kili. Some of us actually saw the sunrise. We got there with ten minutes to spare. We all made it, however some people struggled to get to rhino point, but in the end the view of kilimanjaro was worth all the sweat and pain. We saw the summit but we weren't aloud to do it because you either have to be 16 or with a parent, we saw how technical it was and I for one was glad we didn't do it. We then proceded to descend down to saddle hut for breakfast. We then descended the rest of the trip went to the same hotel and now I am writing about it here. Pretty amazing how far it has come. Thanks for all the views.

4 Days Until The Climb

On Friday May 11th our coach of a sort jumped into the pool with his clothes and pack on, we had to follow him. we jumped in a pool with our boots, clothes, and packs. We floated around like a bunch of rubber duckies. It was really difficult to get out of the pool with our full packs. Before that he made us put weights in our bag to make sure they were up to standards. By standards I mean 13-15 kilos. I had to put in five kilos which made my bag incredibly heavy. After we jumped in the pool we had to get out but with a 14 kilo bag on your back soaked with water it's easier said than done. It was really funny to see everyone try to pull themselves up form the water but realized that they couldn't and raised their hand for help. Once every one got out of the pool our coach gave us a speech about how it wasn't a punishment it was to teach us that if it rained the three or four days we were hiking our packs were going to be just like this and that if we didn't pack properly then all of our stuff would get wet like it did on the kilimanjaro trip. The trip is coming up really soon I'm super excited. Pictures of the pool will be uploaded later.

10 Days Until The Climb

Hi guys, so on sunday, sixth of may, we (the Meru team and supervisors)had a six and a half hour hike up treacherous hills and slippery slopes. We are leaving on the twentieth of may. So we all had to have full packs. Mine was 13.1 kilos. We had barely any breaks and it was a lot of fun. I felt like I was going to collapse under that tremendous weight on my shoulders. Lots of people were probably feeling the same way. I really think we bonded over that hike. I guess you could call us sweat siblings. As we went along I'm not sure that everybody appreciated the beauty we were surrounded by. I think we were too busy staring at our feet and trying not to fall like dominoes. The bus ride there was filled with singing and yells of shut up to those who were singing because it was still early in the morning. After the hike we went to a really nice little lodge where we got some really tasty french fries and some well deserved soda. Some of us went into the pool for a cool off swim. It was just a day of learning and fun. I feel that we all learnt a lot on that trip, like how heavy my bag actually was and how much my feet hurt after a hike of that caliber. At one point during the day I was literally about to collapse, but I pushed through and got that hike under my bely, I conquered that mountain, and I am prepared for the treacherous trail of Mount Meru.

The picture is my Dad pointing to where I will go.

15 Days Until The Climb

Let me tell you the beginning,my name is Matan and I live in Tanzania, Africa. In my school I.S.T. (International School of Tanganyika) there is a trip to Mt. Meru in Arusha National Park for grade seven and eighth. Since I was in sixth grade I wanted to go on this trip. Now that I am in grade seven I can. It started out with around twenty six of us, in the first few training sessions three people who either were not cut out for the kind of physical exercise or got an effort grade lower than a four (out of seven) were taken off the team or just simply left. The first few training sessions were playing games like dodge ball and when you got ou you had to run. The games got progressively harder, at one point we played a game called murder ball which was a lot of fun, but also a lot of running. After many training sessions like this three people got cut which basically means that they are alternates. Today we had to participate in a biathlon so I swam 250m while my partner ran 4k (I know a little unfair) we finished with a time of 37:23. Our normal training sessions are a two hour hike with our back packs around the city. Tomorrow we are going to Pugu Hills which is around an hour from Dar Es Salaam. We will do a 6 hour hike up the hills with full packs so wish me luck!