The famous Northern Circuit of wildlife reserves in Tanzania includes the Arusha, Lake Manyara, Tarangire and Serengeti national parks, plus the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The only one that I had never visited was Tarangire, so on this trip I decided to correct the omission. After an hourlong flight by light aircraft from Nairobi, we landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport, which is roughly equidistant from the two sizable cities of Arusha and Moshi. As our Cessna Caravan taxied from the runway — which is long enough to take the largest intercontinental jets — there were no other aircraft to be seen. Due to the pandemic, the acres of asphalt were deserted. We headed to the cavernous arrivals hall, where the seven passengers from the Nairobi flight were outnumbered by immigration and customs officials. Our visas, passports and negative COVID-19 tests were swiftly checked, and in less than half an hour, we were heading west on the 33-mile drive to Arusha.