ROBERT LEWIS MC LELLAN-SIM ( 1907-1985)
Mount Meru (4,562 m - 14,968 ft)
Tanzania
The mountain
Mount Meru (4,562 m - 14,968 ft) - not to be confused with Meru peak in Indian Hymalayas - is a dormant stratovolcano located 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Mount Meru is visible from Mount Kilimanjaro on a clear day, and is the fifth highest mountain in Africa. Much of its bulk was lost about 7,800 years ago due to an eastward volcanic blast. Other eruptions certainly occurred after this gigantic eruption but they are known only from 1878 when an eruption generates caldera explosions and lava flows emitted from the northwest of the cinder cone located in the center. Exactly at the same place new lava flows in 1886. The last eruption, which takes place between October 26 and December 22, 1910, didn't emit lava flows but generates explosions at summit cinder cone of the caldera. Since then, Mount Meru doesn't have eruption but it is still considered active. Fumaroles were observed of late 2014, early 2015, suggesting that it is indeed always active. The several small cones and craters seen in the vicinity probably reflect numerous episodes of volcanic activity.
Mount Meru is visible from Mount Kilimanjaro on a clear day, and is the fifth highest mountain in Africa. Much of its bulk was lost about 7,800 years ago due to an eastward volcanic blast. Other eruptions certainly occurred after this gigantic eruption but they are known only from 1878 when an eruption generates caldera explosions and lava flows emitted from the northwest of the cinder cone located in the center. Exactly at the same place new lava flows in 1886. The last eruption, which takes place between October 26 and December 22, 1910, didn't emit lava flows but generates explosions at summit cinder cone of the caldera. Since then, Mount Meru doesn't have eruption but it is still considered active. Fumaroles were observed of late 2014, early 2015, suggesting that it is indeed always active. The several small cones and craters seen in the vicinity probably reflect numerous episodes of volcanic activity.
Mount Meru is the topographic centerpiece of Arusha National Park. Its fertile slopes rise above the surrounding savanna and support a forest that hosts diverse wildlife, including nearly 400 species of birds, and also monkeys and leopards.
Climbing
The summit of Mount Meru is accessible to any good walker after a three-day ascent. The summit altitude and the steepness of its slopes are often an ideal warm-up for hikers who want to try later climb Kilimanjaro. Mount Meru still has some difficulty with the length of the climb and cold climate at the top that can cause exhaustion, a mountain sickness or hypothermia if equipment is inadequate and we overestimated his ability. Several shelters possible : Miriakamba Hut at 2500 meters and Saddle Hut at 3600 meters. Accompaniment by a ranger of the Arusha National Park armed with a gun is required to prevent the attacks of wild animals (leopards, buffalos charging if they feel in danger, etc). Many hiking groups also ask for guides and porters. The high gradient allows the crossing of varied landscapes populated of wild animals at 2000 meters, more dense and humid forest at 3000 meters and lunar landscape of rock and ashes over 4000 meters.
The summit of Mount Meru offers a panorama appreciated especially in the early morning, the sun rising over Kilimanjaro located a few tens of kilometers to the east. His achievement is entitled to a certificate issued to the entrance of the park on the last day, the return of the climb.
Climbing
The summit of Mount Meru is accessible to any good walker after a three-day ascent. The summit altitude and the steepness of its slopes are often an ideal warm-up for hikers who want to try later climb Kilimanjaro. Mount Meru still has some difficulty with the length of the climb and cold climate at the top that can cause exhaustion, a mountain sickness or hypothermia if equipment is inadequate and we overestimated his ability. Several shelters possible : Miriakamba Hut at 2500 meters and Saddle Hut at 3600 meters. Accompaniment by a ranger of the Arusha National Park armed with a gun is required to prevent the attacks of wild animals (leopards, buffalos charging if they feel in danger, etc). Many hiking groups also ask for guides and porters. The high gradient allows the crossing of varied landscapes populated of wild animals at 2000 meters, more dense and humid forest at 3000 meters and lunar landscape of rock and ashes over 4000 meters.
The summit of Mount Meru offers a panorama appreciated especially in the early morning, the sun rising over Kilimanjaro located a few tens of kilometers to the east. His achievement is entitled to a certificate issued to the entrance of the park on the last day, the return of the climb.
The painter
Robert Mc Lellan Sim (RMS) was born in Newport, Gwent, Wales. He attended Newport Secondary School from 1919 to 1924. In 1926 he won three prizes for graphic arts at the National Eisteddfod of Wales and in 1926 he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Newport School of Arts and Crafts (now part of the University of Wales). After finishing college with a Board of Education Teachers Certificate he attended the Newport Institute for Research into Art and Design (N.I.R.A.D.). Years later NIRAD merged with its sister institute from Cardiff to create the Wales Institute for Research into Art and Design.
RMS was a prolific artist, and during his time in East Africa (he travelled throughout Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar) he completed as many as 40 paintings a year. His work was in great demand, mostly in Kenya and purchased by many eminent people and was extremely popular as an official gift or a farewell present. The Colony of Kenya presented a McLellan-Sim painting to HM The Queen on the occasion of her Coronation in 1953, and HM The Queen Mother was presented with another to commemorate her Visit to Kenya in 1959. Many a departing dignitary at the time of independence received a McLellan-Sim painting as a farewell gift. Both Jake Fletcher and Amoeba Walker took McLellan-Sim works of art home with them to England when they left the Prince of Wales School. The Kenya Regiment presented a McLellan-Sim painting to Sir Patrick Renison as their departing Commander-in -Chief when he retired as Governor of Kenya in 1961.
RMS was a successful commercial artist, with his clients including the East African Tobacco Company, the East African Standard and the Uganda Tourist Board. His public works included the murals for the Kenya Agricultural Stand in the Rhodes Centenary Exhibition of 1952 in Bulawayo, the Nakuru Railway Station murals of 1957 and the 1960 mural for the National Assembly Building in Nairobi.
RMS designed the 1954 blue 10 shilling postage stamp depicting the Royal Lodge at Sagana.
RMS’s move to Kenya in 1947 was a search for colour and space. His brief war service in the Far East obviously gave him a taste for warmer climes, brighter colours and wide spaces, aspects that were to feature strongly in his African paintings. He is on record as saying that he preferred landscapes and seascapes to portraits because he could go away on his own, often combining his field trips with fishing expeditions, during which he could turn to his sketch book when the trout would not jump!
In 1958, when back in England on home-leave, he told The Worthing Herald:
”I always paint sunshine. It was the sunshine that attracted me. I can’t paint greyness and cloudy skies, so Kenya is definitely the place for me.”
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