__NOTOC__ Mount Meru is a dormant

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

located west of Kilimanjaro in southeast

Arusha Region Arusha Region () is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions and is located in the northeast of the country. The region's capital and largest city is the city of Arusha. The region is bordered by Kajiado County and Narok C ...

, Tanzania. At a height of , it is visible from Mount Kilimanjaro on a clear day, and is the fifth-highest of the

highest mountain peaks of Africa This is a list of the highest mountain peaks of Africa with a prominence of at least . Some regions are still poorly described and the list is likely to be both incomplete and not completely accurate. This is especially true for the Ethiopian Hig ...

, dependent on definition. Mount Meru is located just north of the city of

Arusha Arusha is a city in Tanzania. The city is the Capital city, capital of the Arusha Region. It has a population of 617,631 people.

, in the Arusha Region of Tanzania. It is the second-highest mountain in Tanzania, after

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

, and the highest mountain in Arusha Region. The Momella route – which starts at Momella gate, on the eastern side of the mountain – is the most common route for climbers to reach the peak. Mount Meru's lavas are alkaline in character and include nephelinite. Much of the mountain's height was lost about 7,800 years ago due to a summit collapse. Mount Meru most recently had a minor eruption in 1910. The several small cones and craters seen in the vicinity probably reflect numerous episodes of volcanic activity. Mount Meru's

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

is wide. Mount Meru is the topographic centerpiece of

Arusha National Park The Arusha National Park (''Hifahdi ya Taifa ya Arusha'', in Swahili) is a national park of Tanzania, with the IUCN category II located within Meru District and Arusha Rural District of the Arusha Region of Tanzania that covers Mount Meru ...

. Its fertile slopes rise above the surrounding

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

and support a forest that hosts diverse

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

, including nearly 400 species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s, as well as

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

s and

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

s. The movie ''

Hatari! ''Hatari!'' (, Swahili for "Danger!") is a 1962 American adventure romantic comedy film starring John Wayne as the leader of a group of professional game catchers in Africa.McCarthy, Todd. ''Howard Hawks: the grey fox of Hollywood'', New York, ...

'' was filmed at the foot of Mountain Meru.

References

External links

*
Mount Meru Climb Information

trekkingvisions
Information about the Mount Meru Trek {{DEFAULTSORT:Meru, Mount East African montane forests Mountains of Tanzania Stratovolcanoes of Tanzania Active volcanoes Geography of Arusha Region Four-thousanders of Africa

See also

References

External links