Mt. Meru - Day 1

Our internet has been really bad for the last couple of days. It goes off and on, off and on...so every time I've tried to upload pictures, it get's cut off in the middle and then I have to start over again. This time, the pictures are stretched and squeezed and blurred in a weird way and I don't know why, but I do not have the motivation to upload them all over again. I hope you will still get a taste of the fun we had and the beauty we enjoyed on the first day of hiking. Also, because of the way the pictures uploaded, the order is backwards. So these pictures at the top here, are of our first lodge/camp where we stayed the first night after a beautiful five hour hike. There were several long cabins with rooms on either side - very simple, but quite cozy.
We ended up hiking with a group of 5 from Australia, so in total we were 12. They had a cook and we had a cook and we shared a guide (our friend, Salim, from the coast) and a park ranger who lead us forward carrying a gun just in case any animals decided to charge...which they never did.
Mt. Meru is in the middle of Arusha National Park, so we began the hike with a mini-safari and then up the mountain we went. The forest was beautiful, the sun was very hot, there was a beautiful waterfall, pretty view-points every once in awhile, and great company. When we arrived to the camp, we watched a lovely sunset, ate a delicious supper, and enjoyed the stars.

 Below, is our cabin from the outside and the hallway to the right. Above is our comfy bunk beds with Sarah showing off her fancy sleeping socks and me showing off my fancy patriotic shirt.

This is the crowded kitchen where all of the porters and cooks prepared their groups lovely meals. They're a spectacular bunch of people!

 I thought it was funny how this guy (one of the porters from someone else's group) had a Toronto Maple Leaves toque on. There was another guy with a hockey toque on from Canada too. You can get almost anything from the second hand clothes market in Arusha, so I'm guessing they found their Canadian gear there.

Our ranger and guide

The second view-point

beautiful forest

Right before we started!