MOUNT MERU: IT WASN'T VOLCANO ERUPTION BUT FOREST FIRE

A number of local and foreign media outlets, including online social networks, went berserk last weekend amid speculations that Mount Meru, which is Tanzania’s second highest peak after Kilimanjaro, was undergoing volcanic actions.

The reports, that were later refuted by both regional and conservation authorities, included photos of thick clouds of smoke puffing from the barren peak of the ‘Meru,’ which towers above Arusha City.

While the news of ‘volcanic eruptions,’ at Meru were false, the rumors were not entirely baseless. The country’s second highest peak, Mount Meru, had apparently caught fire and the flames torching the windward side of the massive land feature blazed throughout the weekend.

Some of the local residents living around Mount Meru, said they suspected that the flames could have been acts of ordinary bush fires that usually erupt around dense forests during drought spells. Others however are on view that some illegal loggers and honey baggers could have lit up the fires to aid their causes.

An official statement from the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) Headquarters in Arusha stated that efforts to put out the fire were eventually successful after serious work done by 200 residents of Olosinon and Kisimiri-Juu villages in association with Arusha National Park warders.

“Nobody has been hurt from the fire outbreak and after taking stock the National Park will issue another statement on the extent of the damage caused by the flames,” read the release signed by Mr Paschal Shelutete the Public relations Manager for Tanzania National Parks.

Arusha Regional Commissioner, Daudi Felix Ntibends also refuted baseless rumours as broadcasted by street based, FM stations that have been going amok, claiming that Mount Meru’s volcano was in the process of erupting. The false reports caused a state of alarm across the country and beyond borders.

The same TANAPA statement warned culprits who usually have the tendency of trespassing into the National Park as well as its forest reserve for among other dubious deals, harvesting wood and other natural resources from the reserved areas.

Located within the Ngurdoto Forest and striding the Arusha National Park, Mount Meru is an active stratovolcano located 80 kilometres west of Mount Kilimanjaro which is Africa’s highest peak. The Meru escalates at the height of 4,562.13 metres and is the ninth highest mountain in Africa at the moment.