Mount Meru located 70 km west of Mt Kilimanjaro in Arusha National Park at 4566m and named Tanzania's second highest mountain . Mount Meru is a beautiful, classically shaped volcano. Surrounded by plains, the mountains slopes rise typically through montane forest, a large region of heather and then moorlands. These different habitats are home to a variety of animals, including elephants, rhino, giraffe, monkey, baboon, klipspringer, warthog, duiker and leopard. Mount Meru boasts up to 400 species of birds, and the mountain is usually a fixed item on birder's itineraries.

Mount Meru used a practice run for Kilimanjaro's more challenging climbs, Mt Meru can be scales in 3-4 days. It is both high and demanding enough to prepare climbers for the effects of  altitude without posing risks t health and nights are spent in well equipped huts. The summit is gained by way of a featureless ridge, and it is possible now to peer down at the Ash Cone, which lies at the bottom of the crater. The walk back (through mixed forest and grasslands) should only take a few hours, and ends with a lift back to Arusha.