President Mary McAleese returns to Dublin today following the last leg of a three-country tour of Africa which she has described as "one of the outstanding highlights" of her term of office.
There is little rest for the President, who has travelled close to 48,000km (30,000 miles) in less than two weeks, with a string of official engagements lined up in Dublin on Sunday.
Yesterday, she became the first foreign head of state to address the Tanzanian parliament, or Bunge, in its new building in Dodoma.
Tanzania is currently undergoing a decentralisation process that puts Ireland's controversial version in the shade, with countless civil servants moving 480km (298 miles) west from Dar es Salaam to the newly designated inland capital.
Mrs McAleese said she had come to Africa "as a student to learn more about this fascinating continent and as the first citizen of a nation which has long, long been a firm friend to Tanzania's people.
"I have been able to see, even in these few short days, just how exquisitely beautiful Tanzania is - enough to know that already this visit is one of the outstanding highlights of my time as President of Ireland."
She said too often Africa was referred to as if it were one country.
"What is more, perceptions are often hardened and virtually exclusively defined by Africa's failures rather than its successes, its problems rather than its progress towards their resolution."
The President's final engagement on the continent was a farewell reception hosted by the Irish Ambassador to Tanzania John McCullagh.
She is due back in Dublin this morning after an overnight flight via Amsterdam.