When Fred and Elizabeth came into the shop where I am based and asked to speak to me, I had no idea what it would be about. It was early summer and things were a little lazy and quiet. Fred wasted no time. “We’re going to do an epic tour of Tanzania with our friend Chris,” he said. “If you’re at Kilimanjaro International Airport on the morning of January 18th, as we pass through on our way back to the north, you can join us and see the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti. You’ll have to share a room with Chris for three weeks, but it’ll be well worth it.”

This time I didn’t even have to think about it. I jumped at the chance to return to Africa and visit places that I’d seen on TV and heard about for many years. Fred outlined an itinerary that would take us from Arusha to Tarangire National Park, then on to The Crater Highlands, Ngorongoro Crater, quickly heading on to Ndutu in the conservation area and a chance to go into the heart of the Serengeti before returning to Lake Manyara.

So, plans were made and flights were booked. I’m a nervous traveller – flying doesn’t bother me, but I worry about making connections and little organisational things all the time which made me a little wary about travelling outward on my own. Still, I’d chosen to travel with KLM again and knew enough from travelling through Schiphol on my own returning last time to be reasonably happy about making the trip and getting to my destination in one piece and on time.

All my flights ran to schedule, despite there being snow on the ground as I left the Island and quite a bit more evident when I arrived at Manchester. I made it through some chaotic immigration and customs processes as we landed at about 8pm local time at the boldly named Kilimanjaro International Airport. A nice man in a suit and tie appeared beside the queue for visas, took my passport, form and dollars and appeared a few minutes later with the formalities completed and my passport stamped. The customs officer – clearly busy with a group of back-packers – waved me through with a smile and I was officially in Tanzania.

There was someone there to collect me and take me the short distance to the Airport Guesthouse and after a short drive to get there I was safely in my chalet and able to get a reasonable night’s sleep with air conditioning. I did have to put up with a mozzie outside the net all night, but at least it wasn’t inside the net with me. You’re bound to get bit occasionally, but it’s nice to keep it to a minimum if you can.

Before leaving the Isle of Man, we’d speculated about seeing Kilimanjaro, the airport being just a few kilometres from the highest mountain in Africa, indeed sitting more or less equidistant from Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru. I was up with the first light of dawn, dressed and out to explore the grounds before breakfast, hoping against hope for a clear sky and minimal haze. I eventually found myself at the bottom of a flight of steps that led up a rocky koppie, on the top of which turned out to be the swimming pool.

I was rewarded with a view over the top of the chalets and the surrounding plains of the snow-capped peak of Kilimanjaro standing clear from top to bottom with just a little haze to make the viewing just below perfect. Off to the west, Meru was just as clearly visible. I sat down contentedly for a few minutes, taking photos of the mountains. There were already strange birds and blue agama lizards around as well, adding to my photographic haul before breakfast has even begun.

Time was pressing however. I didn’t know what time the others would arrive for me – or even if they would arrive at all. I headed off for a simple breakfast – I don’t normally eat breakfast at home, but try to always have something when on holiday – then returned to my chalet to repack and relocate to the reception bungalow to wait for the arrival of my friends. I didn’t have long to wait and we were soon crammed into our vehicle and off down the main road towards Arusha.