Mount Kenya market town where the miraa trade anchors Meru culture and the northeastern highlands.
Meru is a substantial market town on the northeastern slopes of Mount Kenya, home to the Meru people — close relatives of the Kikuyu and Embu, with their own distinct traditions and language.
Most travelers pass through rather than linger, but Meru rewards a stop. The town is famous throughout East Africa for miraa — the twigs of the Catha edulis shrub, chewed for their stimulant properties. Grown legally here in large quantities, the miraa trade is the economic heartbeat of the region; the central market is the place to see it being bundled for the road. If you want to try it, you won't find it fresher anywhere in the world: chew the bark of the young twigs for an hour and you'll feel the effect of a couple of strong coffees.
The Meru Museum is worth an hour if you have time — it covers the natural and cultural history of the region and gives useful context for the broader area, including Meru National Park to the east and the Chogoria route up Mount Kenya to the south-west.
Guide
Day Trips
The two big day trips out of Meru are Meru National Park to the east and the trailhead of the Chogoria route up Mount Kenya to the south-west. The park is a long day from town — an early start, several hours on dusty roads each way — and is better visited on an overnight trip if you can manage it. Chogoria itself is just under an hour by matatu and worth a stop for the views west into the Mount Kenya foothills, even if you are not climbing.
Closer to town, the village of Kibirichia on the upper slopes has tea-farm tours and trout fishing in the streams that run down from the bamboo zone. Easy half-day trip; arrange transport in Meru.
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Getting There
Meru is about 270 km north of Nairobi, a five- to six-hour drive on the well-paved A2 highway via Nyeri or Embu. Frequent buses and matatus run both routes from Nairobi's Tea Room and Machakos terminals. From the coast, the journey is much longer and most travellers come via Nairobi.
Within the central highlands, Meru is well connected by matatu to Nanyuki (around 2 hours west), Embu (1.5 hours south), and Isiolo (1 hour north on the way into the northern frontier). For Meru National Park, hire a 4WD with driver in town — the road in from Maua becomes rough.
