Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania

Africa is full of surprises but it should be no great surprise when things don't go according to plan. Having had a great experience so far, it all starts to unravel from the moment the alarm goes off at 4am.

Coman's chest infection has worsened into suspected laryngitis - with barely a whisper to be had, he can barely get out of bed - but mustering all his strength we make it to the airport at 5am for our three hour check-in to Tanzania. However our Precision Air flight is not showing on the monitors.

The Kenya Air staff check us and our bags in regardless, maintaining all is well despite looking uncertain, and we negotiate our way through the multiple security and passport control checks. It's only when we all gather at the gate at 7am for our 8am departure we are told our flight has "technical issues" and has been cancelled. We later learn Precision Air has a tendency to pull this stunt when they feel they've not sold enough seats on a particular flight, making us nervous for our two further internal flights to come.

Various contradictory excuses keep coming but we ascertain our next options are two connecting flights via the capital Dar Es Salaam (with the risk of our baggage not making the connections); waiting for a direct flight to Kilimanjaro at 5pm if there's room; or another more likely one at 11pm, meaning we'll arrive into Tanzania at midnight, 15 hours later than expected.

Considering we then still have a five hour drive to our camp in Tarangire National Park, where we are due to do an afternoon walking safari today and a full day's game drive tomorrow, we are deeply concerned. There's also no way we want to spend an entire day just sat at Nairobi airport departure gates waiting for news, especially with Coman at such a low ebb.

Unsurprisingly, our fellow passengers are similarly worried, especially as it transpires some of them already had their 11pm flight cancelled last night with no explanation and are at their wits end. A Yorkshire woman called Carole, who has flown overnight from London and who has lots of experience with Africa, starts marshalling us all to find a democratic way to get us allocated on to available flights, helping the frustrated Kenya Air officials as no one from Precision Air can be found.

I manage to get hold of Carl, our fixer at Ranger Safaris in Tanzania, on a crackly mobile line and discuss our options including driving to the border for a land crossing - the very thing we didn't do yesterday when we were only an hour or so away. Our biggest problem however is that our bags have disappeared into the labyrinthine workings of Nairobi Airport baggage handling and we have had our passports stamped with Kenyan exit visas, so just getting out of the airport is potentially fraught with problems, let alone reclaiming our bags.

However it's obvious that flying today is going to be an exhausting, logistical, improbable nightmare and with our next two days' itinerary disappearing fast I make the decision we'll risk it and, with Carl's help, we get a driver booked for $110 to drive us from the airport to Namanga border crossing, some two and a half hours away.

Carole, and another solo British traveller called Nicola, who is due to start a trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro first thing tomorrow, both decide to come with us and by 11am we have all managed to talk our way back through passport control and, by an African miracle, the baggage staff have located all our various bags and returned them to us.

Sammy, the taxi driver Carl has found, loads the four of us and all our luggage into his car and sets off for the border. Coman, unable to talk, sits in the front while I squeeze between Carole and Nicola. It transpires that both separately have spent many years living and working all over Africa for a variety of NGOs.

By now we're starving so tuck into the lacklustre pasties we bought at the airport and Carole gives Coman a supersize pill she has from South Africa which she swears cures pretty much anything. He swigs it down and by evening his voice at least has returned.

We get to the Namanga border crossing by 2pm and get our Kenyan exit visas and passport stamps before crossing the border and going from hut to hut for the Tanzanian process, filling in forms and handing over the requisite $50 each for our entry visas. Fortunately the Namanga crossing is unusually quiet today so the process is happily much faster than expected.

Slightly less happy is the toilet experience. Rustic to say the least, two men outside at first ask us to pay $3 each but then say it's ok to use for free, directing Coman to the ladies' stall which is slightly less challenging. I leave first and thank them, exchanging Christmas pleasantries, but as Coman emerges he hears them discussing us. "They are gay men!" says one. He quickens his pace and we jump into the vehicle Ranger Safaris have sent, driven by Azka, our guide for the next four days.

Azka was meant to meet us at Kilimanjaro airport at 9am and has driven to Namanga to pick us up instead. Having been told whilst still at the airport that this would be fine, Carl now texts to say this diversion is going to cost us an additional $250. Furious phone calls ensue but they have us over a barrel. We're either stranded at the border with no transport or we have to accept what seems to be naked profiteering. Carole takes the phone and in no uncertain terms informs Carl that he's charging us "Mazunga" (gullible foreigner) prices and he better have brought the price down by the time we all arrive into the town of Arusha where we are due to meet him and continue our journey on to our destination tonight.

Safely ensconced in Azka's large jeep we set off once more, passing the Longito mountain, famous for its rubies, and watching the countryside slip by. Subtle differences reveal themselves in the circular shape of the locals' huts compared to the square versions in Kenya, the increased amount of mosques, and the far larger amount of motorbikes to be seen.

We drive on with Mount Meru before us and the sight of a cloud-covered Kilimanjaro to the side. Goat farmers herd their animals across the road and at one point Azka has to slam on the brakes as we squeal to a halt with a thud. Thankfully the slightly stunned goat picks itself up and baa's indignantly at us, before sauntering off to join its fellows.

Nicola and Coman doze away while Carole fills me in on her life in Africa until we pull into Arusha. A sizeable town, with a funky-looking Tanzanian Cultural Heritage museum, we stop at its most upmarket residence, the Arusha Coffee House, where Carl is waiting for us. Fortunately he knocks $80 off the cost of driving us from the border, and with Nicola and Carole sharing all the costs before taking their leave, it makes the five hour journey a bit more affordable... although not quite what any of us had budgeted for!

The sun is baking in Arusha, the hottest it's been since we arrived in Africa but within minutes of leaving the heavens open and it starts bucketing down. We drive on past a huge military base and Azka tells us that Tanzania has one of the biggest armies in Africa, with men and women having compulsory National Service at age 18.

It's close to 6.30pm when we arrive at Tarangire and our camp by Lake Manyara. Part of the Tanganyika Wilderness Experience, it's named Maramboi and is quite beautiful. Date palms line the entrance road and when we wearily climb out of the jeep, we're welcomed by the hosts Josephine and Ngina and walked to our tent - which has been named Bweha (jackal) - by a guard with a spear to protect us from lions and hyaenas.

And what a tent it is - wooden floors, a verandah, a huge double bed and a luxurious bathroom. Now this is what I call glamping! We're five hours behind schedule and substantially poorer but the stunning scenery and all inclusive bar is far more preferable to still being sat in Nairobi airport waiting for a non-existent flight.

We drink sundowners by the pool - G&Ts and Serengeti beer - as dusk falls, watching red lightning strike the hills on the other side of the lake and spotting wild animals wandering by. It may be mosquito central but as we have dinner on the open terrace, with Coman seemingly on the path to recovery, all our stresses melt away.

Tanzania, here we come!