We set off from Lobo Lodge at 8.30am for a quick game drive (including a last minute cheetah just by the airstrip) and arrived just in time for our flight. The documentation told us to be there an hour early which was a bit of a laugh given that the airstrip's only building was two drop toilets, and there were no staff – the plane arrived, the pilot ticked our names off a list and we got in the tiny plane.

And as we rose into the sky, Godfrey was standing in the back of the jeep, roof off, waving his arms like his life depended on it. It meant a lot in a weird way. Thanks Godfrey.

We did a bit of air safari on the way, flying low enough to watch the migration in the Seronera and then dip down into the Ngorongoro crater.

Despite touching down on one airstrip en route and changing planes on another, with no proper baggage tags, all luggage arrived successfully. But we weren’t flying Precision this time.

On arrival on Zanzibar, a cab picked us up and whisked us straight to Pongwe Beach, our little spot of paradise. Though on this particular day, it was a particularly noisy day in paradise as resorts north and south of us were pumping out tunes for their respective parties as our hosts tried to assure us that "it’s not normal" and ply us with free cocktails to say sorry. It was a nightmare – one of the parties went on past midnight and Suzie was pretty upset (Andrew helped by trying to drown out the music with snores) BUT it stopped and never came back in any of the following week. Apparently there had been a local wedding, so it genuinely was an unusual circumstance.

Really, Pongwe was pretty close to perfect. The staff were very friendly and helpful, the food was excellent – fresh and imaginative – and the room was fab (with daybeds outside of course). And then there’s the beach and sea: Heavenly – white sand with turquoise sea.

Oh, and they played Phil Collins a lot which seems to be standard for holiday destinations of ours.

We did feel slightly like we were living stereotypes – almost all of the guests (they only have 16 rooms) were couples in their early-to-mid-thirties who just wanted to lie on a beach, read a Kindle, drink cocktails and eat. Ideal. So we didn’t want to break the mould.

Our one other activity was diving – organized by Pongwe through One Ocean Dive Centre, based just up the coast at Blue Bay. We went and did our refresher there (great – they came and picked up up etc) but when we went to actually dive, we had to travel in a minibus for over an hour on really, really bad roads. Apparently One Ocean usually have a boat that goes straight from Blue Bay but it was out of action. The diving was good but not worth the journey so check the boat’s running before you book anything.

Here, as in Mbuzi Mawe, to mark the birthday of one of the guests, all of the staff (really, all the staff) paraded through the restaurant, dancing and singing the “Jambo” song, banging pots pans and anything they could get their hands on. And unlike embarrassed waiters in your local Italian restaurant (hello, Casa Antonio), they actually seemed to enjoy the party. Tanzania is a happy, friendly place.

Let’s go back.