Meru Water falls Day trip

The waterfall is beautiful and the hike there was fun and challenging. James, our guide, personalized our hike as we had time and energy to hike a few more hours. We developed a real friendship with James. His education and fluency (English) were top notch. Even more than that, he is just a fascinating, kind, positive guy. Hiking with him made for a great day. We are planning on returning to Tanzania next year for a few more adventures and we will arrange to be with James as much as possible.

James made this hike one of our favorite experiences from our whole trip including 3 countries in Africa. We loved the waterfall and James tailored the trip to exactly what we wanted. Beautiful mountain and great little hike. Make sure you ask to go with James!

Best tour guide ever! Make sure you ask for JOEL. Very knowledgeable of Arusha, waterfalls, Kilimanjaro & thermal waters! Great personality. Started at 8 am. Ended at 7 pm. Full day but very worth it! The hike to see the waterfalls is so worth it. Just beautiful !!! See pics below.

The guide who picked us up, Joel, was a legend! Super friendly, very informative and relaxed. He took us to the Waterfall where the entrance fee and guide fee was included in the price. The local guide from Mt. Meru however did try to say we still have to pay the guide fee. After we declined it was ok however, and Joel confirmed it was already included. The waterfalls and hike were great, afterwards Joel even helped me to get a local sim card. I would definitely recommend, but pay attention to what is and what isn’t included so you don’t get ripped off by someone.

I chose to be picked up and dropped off from Kilimanjaro Airport, however no one ever showed up, and when I contacted the tour operator they informed me they were expecting me to go to their office in Arusha. They then did organise a transfer for me, but I was very late in starting the trip, once I arrived, I was informed I needed to pay an extra $40 for a transfer back to the airport, which I would be sharing, and had no choice over the departure time. I had a flight to catch and they were not much concerned about it. While the waterfall tour is very nice and I enjoyed it, after that I was taken to shops & markets where I was pressured into spending money. I asked to end the day early because I was not enjoying myself. We had agreed a time (5:45) for the driver to pick me up to return to the airport, and he did not arrive until after 6:00. We then had to pick up the others and then get through traffic. I was flying home, on an international flight so I was fairly anxious to check in. To the driver’s credit he was unaware I was flying internationally, he thought I had a domestic flight like the others, and he did his best to get me to the airport as quickly as possible. I would not recommend this company, there are many better companies offering better services.

This is not an easy hike along a groomed path to a waterfall, but it certainly is an adventure if you are up for a challenging hike with some steep elevation, difficult footing, and stream crossings. First, the drive to the parking area is on a road that is in very rough shape. So while it is not far from Arusha, it takes a while just due to having to go so slowly on the road. Second, you will have a separate guide (who will expect a tip) that meets you at the park. Just so you are prepared. The trail starts out very easy but soon drops steeply in elevation and has some slick and very steep spots. You then work your way up along the riverbed area towards the waterfall. Again, it is not a path, there is a lot of uneven footing, roots, rocks, and what not. I very much enjoy hikes like this, but many people would not be comfortable doing it. The guide was great and we had all sorts of fun picture opportunities on the way to the waterfall and after. We made it back most of the way from the waterfall in an hour in 15 minutes (what usually takes 5 hours) because I generally hike fast. We did another few miles hiking around the area, again with some steep elevation changes. The guide said it was nice to have an American who enjoyed hiking and wasn't complaining the whole time. My guess is that many Americans sign up for this trip thinking it will be a nice stroll through the woods to a waterfall. It is a challenging and fun stroll to a waterfall, but it is not for those not up for a challenging hike.