No trip to Tanzania is complete without a stop in Arusha en route to the airport. Nicknamed the Geneva of Africa after its lakes and hot springs (and for being a well of diplomatic activity), Arusha is a beautiful, happy place and, like the Serengeti, at its most colourful during shoulder season. Neat roads are bedecked with banana trees and coffee fields while children skip to and from school. Entire families squeeze onto motorcycles – “boda boda” – to get from A to B, earning the nickname “shish kebabs” – or, for the macabre-minded, “organ donors”. Amid such a refreshing culture shock, you’ll also find a healthy number of Irish bars and Pepsi branding (oddly quaint), beside hand-drawn sign advertising haircuts for 30,000 shillings (the equivalent of £10).
