The flight to Tanzania is overnight so you step off the plane feeling slightly off key. However, the waft of warm air at 7am in the morning is wonderful. The Dar es Salaam rush hour traffic into town is less welcome but it is still a great feeling to be at the beginning of a journey in a different continent.

A quick snooze in the hotel room was followed by a meeting over tea in a cafe by the sea which was hindered by the noise from the the digger working on the waterfront. This was one sign of the very buoyant growth in the Tanzanian economy where all the talk is about the injection of new cash into the property sector. Luckily I found a quieter spot to retreat to for lunch which had a view over tropical blue water with boatmen providing the photo opportunities.

The next day was dominated by an 8 hour drive across Tanzania from the coast to the Highlands. The drive out of Dar was interminable; the green coastal area was replaced by a drier sparse land where people were practising subsistence farming but obviously in need of rain which should be on its way at this time of year. There was a slow climb up to the Highlands through a game reserve where we saw zebra, giraffe and elephant. Not very many and at a distance but it was still exciting. This was followed by an extraordinary drive through a valley of baobab trees which went on and on.

On and on went the climb which we were lucky to be doing in a jeep which could accelerate past all the big petrol tankers and trucks grinding their way desperately slowly up the windy road to the plateau and then to Zambia. I love that feeling of being on the road in Africa because the traffic is epically transcontinental and en route to far off places.

As we drove further and further into Tanzania and the land was just as dry I began to wonder when it would start looking like the beautiful lush country side I associate with tea estates. All along the way there were small towns which have sprung up to from the increased traffic driving through. They bustled with activity. We had been driving for 8 hours before we turned off onto an unmade up road. Half an hour later I was still wondering where the tea was and then suddenly there it was! In the distance the brown land was made green.

All I could do was wonder how anyone had decided that this was the place to plant tea? The surrounding countryside just gave no hint that anything could be grown and be so green when everything else looks so parched.