onsdag 23. mai 2012

Mt Meru

Day 1
Waiting, waiting, waiting...
Waiting to be taken to the gate...
Waiting for the guide and porters
to have their breakfast...
Waiting for the guide to arrange our luggage with the porters....
While waiting we could study the route...

Waiting is over :)
More than three hours after we were picked up in Arusha, we were finally ready to go... that means, only the two of us and Boniface, our ranger. Our guide, who was kind enough to carry my water bottle,  planned to catch up with us when he had finished organizing the porters. Obviously he had not told the ranger what route to choose, so we had to talk him into going the longest route, which is not so steep and better for altitude acclimatization. Nice trip, but missed my water bottle...
Rather "rainforesty."
The Fig Tree Arch
Mostly nice weather the first day, but we had to put on our rain gear now and then...
Excellent picnic site for an excellent packed lunch!! 
A cool guy in a cool landscape...

... and a cool girl in a cool landscape :) 


After a few hours we arrived at Miriakamba Hut, 2500 m.
The peak and the Ash Cone could be seen from the hut.
All by ourselves... :) 

Day 2

Rain, rain, rain...
Packing and making ourselves ready.

Foggy and rainy... 
Guide and ranger 
Getting closer, but still wet.
Little Meru in the background.
Almost there :)
Saddle Hut, 3500 m
 Soaking wet (I at least...), after a three hours hike in heavy rain, we arrived at Saddle Hut. Unfortunately we had not known that our porters would not start hiking from Mirikama until the rain had settled. That means, we had to wait for our dry clothes for another couple of hours...
Our packed lunch view (Kilimanajaro, if you don`t recognize it...

Trying to keep myself warm. Norwegian chocolate helps :) 

After a good rest the rain stopped and we had a very nice acclimatization hike to Little Meru. From there we could see the rest of the route all the way to the peak, excited to see the sunrise and the view in the morning, not knowing what was waiting on our 5 hour long night walk...
 Okay, as we started our nightly hike at 1 a.m. it also started to rain, and the rain continued till we were almost there. Then it started to snow!!! Oh yeah, what an enjoyable hike...  Dark, wet, cold, steep. I understand why April is low season... It was hard, but we made it to the top, 4566 m :) 
What a sunrise, and what a view....

Day 3

Down, down, down...
On the way down from the top, we were at least able to see a little bit of the view - now and then. Mt. Meru is an extremely beautiful hike with an excellent sunrise and stunning view!... I think... if you are able to see it...
Boniface pointing to where we`ve been.

The Ash Cone crater to the left.
It is not every day you have an 8 hours long hike before breakfast!! Some food and a little rest at Saddle hut, and then we descended all the way down, another 5 hours, included all the breaks...
Rain gear on and off..

Down, down, down

More down...
Almost down...
Legs and toes had a really hard time the last couple of hours. They had been pushed hard - 1000 metres up and 3000 metres down in a day!! Tired and hardly able to move our legs, we arrived in Arusha again, excited to fly to Zanzibar the following day, and looking forwards to just relax!

fredag 11. mai 2012

Han lovet meg en ring på Zanzibar...

... men Zanzibar, hvor er nå det?

Stone Town
Stone Town is a great town! There are so many nice things to see and do in and outside of the city, so four days was absolutely necessary! We had the perfect hotel with an extraordinary hotel manager who gave us good coffee and personal advice every morning. Good to know the best places to eat, what to pay for whatever we wanted to do or buy, and the manager even went shopping with us to make sure we got a good quality of and local prices on all our purchases. 
Our hotel
Narrow streets

Carved doors
Another carved door,
and the world`s most handsome guy inside :)
One of the slave chambers of the Old Slave Market
View from the House of Wonder
Forodhani Gardens

Sunset from Africa House
 

Prison Island 

Changuu Island, with its giant tortoises.

Spice Tour

Our spice tour, also arranged by our hotel manager, included the tour itself, excellent local lunch, a visit to the sultan`s Persian bath, a trip to the Mangapwani slave caves, and an hour of swimming at the beach. Well worth every dollar!!
Spice Tour
Cinnamon





Mangapwani

Chumbe Island

We decided to spend a day at one of the best snorkeling sites around Stone Town. 

Chumbe Island is hereby recommended!!



 After 45 minutes by boat and some information about the island we were shown to our bandas, that we could use during the day. Chumbe Island is a non-profit eco-island, and among other things the banda roof was built to collect the rain water for self-supply.


Before lunch we went for a walk in the forest, and we got to see a giant coconut crab, the largest land crab in the world! They usually hide during the day, so we were really lucky!!  


The lunch on Chumbe Island was voted to be our best Zanzibar meal, and the view was like a dream! And of course, the main activity: We had some great snorkeling before heading back to the "mainland" again. 

 Matemwe



Four wonderful days at this lovely hotel by the beach, our four last days as non-engaged :) 
View from our veranda
Good coffee :)

Relaxing by the pool
Enjoying the interesting and beautiful Matemwe Beach!
The Sultan himself :)


The most spectacular sunset! 
From Matemwe we took a day trip to Mnemba Island, another fabulous atoll for snorkeling. Too bad the island is private, and we weren´t even allowed to touch it! But who cares, when you can use a boat and the water is warm and crystal clear, the fish so colorful and amazing, and even dolphins are dancing around you!!
Mnemba Island in the background 
Matemwe beach again
Our last day on Zanzibar. Perfect way of spending our 1 year anniversary! Relaxing the whole day, watching the local people doing their activities in the ocean or passing by on the beach.



Good dinner in the evening, and the most perfect of all ....



Han lovet meg en ring på Zanzibar, men Zanzibar, hvor er nå det? <3

13.04.2012