“Everywhere in the world is your home. It’s just that people complicate things”. This pearl of wisdom was delivered by a gently smiling woman stirring a stockpot of okra and tomato.

It can’t be halfway through the trip, surely, yet the calendar tells me it is. The days are flying by, another 5am start to make our early flight to Zanzibar, a 20 minutes hop from the mainland to this exotic sounding resort island with a rich history of spices and slavery.

Too early for breakfast - again. Luckily I brought a stash of espresso bags with me from Australia…I can cope with many deprivations, but have real strife if I'm deprived of coffee.

Another early start. After getting into Arusha at about 10pm, grabbing a bite to eat and taking a much needed shower -  mercifully now with hot water - I'm up at 4.30am to process yesterday's vision, prep the kit and pack my bags.

A glittering black crescent of sand shines starkly against the golden grasses of the Serengeti plains.

We're due to set off at 7.30 from Oldupai Gorge, but things don't always run according to plan. The lodge at Ngorongoro crater has recently sold from government to private ownership and standards have slipped.

There's an elephant 20 metres away and the car won't start…

SBS multimedia correspondent Karen Ashford reports from Tanzania where she is on assignment, and finds that the country is not so different from her home state of South Australia.