Photos from Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru
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African Skies
or
What I love most about Tanzania
Kibo by Moonlight
After climing up the gradual western slopes for a day and a half, we reached the Shira Plateau, a flat expanse at 12,000 ft. I took this 5 minute exposure from our first campsite, with illumination provided by a waxing gibbous moon.
Lava Tower at Night
This is a well photographed place on the Western Slopes of Kili. Here you see a night scene of the Tower, Scorpio and the Milky Way, taken on a night with a full moon. The exposure is 2 seconds at f/2.2, yes, 2 SECONDS! It's amazing how much clearer the skies are at 15,000 ft.
Skyscape over Kibo
Clouds. Aristophanes ridiculed those who couldn't get their heads out of them, but I think they are tremendously exciting, dancing above the firmament.
Moonrise over Kibo
A telephoto shot from Shira II camp on the afternoon before the full moon.
Sunrise over Kilimanjaro
What could be more archetypical of East Africa?
Tarangire Sunrise
At the equator, the sunrises and sunsets really are faster than in in the temperate latitudes. The sun just bursts over the horizon, throwing an explosion of color onto the clouds, which then sprinkles down to the land below, where the temperatures rise swiftly. This was the view from the front of our tent in the middle of the Tarangire National Park.
Dawn Breaks
On our last evening on Mt Meru, Moses awoke me to show him some stars and constellations. The sky was pristine and cloudless; contrails and superstacks do not spoil these African skies. The sunrise was unblemished and awesome, stretching out over nearly 30 minutes because of our altitude.
My Favorites from Kilimanjaro and Meru
The Shira Route
This is a retrospective of our journey across the Shira Plateau. We ascended the west (right) flank of the mountain and crossed most of the flat expanse that you can see here. The white flowers in the foreground are actually the dried remains of blooms that now preserve the plants' heat on cold nights. Farther away, sharp eyes can spot the Shira Cathedral and Needle. In the distance, Mt Meru rises above the clouds.
The pair atop the Lava Tower
For a brief diversion from our primary goal of ascending the mountain, we scrambled to the top of the lava tower on the day before going to the summit. Here we are smiling in front of the (clouded over) western breach.
Meru's Forests
Reaching the summits of these two Tanzanian massifs was wonderful. Reaching a peak provides a goal, and a dramatic point of focus for your efforts and emotions. The best of trails can be even more enchanting than the summits to which they lead, since the magic of the path has time to infuse and pervade your senses over several days. If I were to return to these mountains, I would be content just to roam through the thick vegetation on their flanks. The skies and the forests were my true loves in Africa.
Descending from Meru
Here's is our inspired bunch descending from Marikamba Hut on a sunny afternoon. Little Meru rises behind Tom, Alistair, Cheryl, Helen and William along with a whisp of a cloud.
The African Savanna
A Baobab
One can scarcely capture the magic of these magnificent trees that preside over the landscape. This particular specimen was carved from the inside by poachers hoping to hide from government agents. Poaching has receded significantly in the last decade and a half.
My father
This photo shows how we both felt for most of our journey in Tanzania - happy. It's one of my favorite photos of a very important person in my life.
Flamingoes in Ngorongoro
Ngorongoro is the Maasai onomatopoetic word for the sound of ringing cow bells. The name was given to the collapsed volcanic caldera before the area became a conservation area in the 1960s. At that time the grazing cattle could be heard from kilometers away; today the crater is a relatively quite home for thousands of herbivores and birds that dwell around the soda lakes.
Ostriches in Ngorongoro
As much as I enjoyed the wildlife in the crater, the place was far more meaningful. I love the yellow-barked acacias that dominate this scene. From everywhere in the crater the rim rises 500 meters above in the distance as it does here.
Others
Those who have seen Helen's photo's might recognize the following as hers. They're just too good to pass over.
Shewa
There are few people in the world who ssmile as much as Shewa, an aspiring wildlife guide who lives and works at the base of Mt. Meru.
Meru's dense forests
Meru was the first mountain we ascended. The vegetation on the slopes of Meru was beautiful and impenetrable, except where the path lay. Throughout the second day of our climb, the clouds penetrated through the canopy and down to the forest floor. As if views like this one weren't enough, the diverse plant species and changing biomes surrounding the trail made this mountain at least at precious as Kilimanjaro, in my opinion.
Moses
Our Park Ranger/guide ostensibly carried a gun to protect us from the wild fauna of Meru (elephants and buffalo). Moses says he likes this job in the National Park much more than his previous work as a police officer in Dar es Salam, although he does walk the same stretch of trail every week.
Success!
Our entire party reached the summit of Little Meru (elevation ~12500ft), an older eroded peak of Mt Meru.
Sunrise over Kibo
While ascending Mt. Meru, we had some wonderful vistas of our next objective, Kilimanjaro. Minutes after this seeing this view, the sun popped up just to the right of Mawenzi peak, the small, rugged bump on Kilimanjaro's right side.
The Western Breach
Our nighttime summit ascent of Kilimanjaro followed a route up the middle of this scree slope to where we could scramble up to the crater rim that forms the horizon of this photo. On the right, a cloud obscures Uhuru Peak, the top of Africa (19340ft). We reached that point approximately 16 hours after taking this photo.
William
Our modern Maasai guide, looking clean and relaxed as always, unlike the rest of us.