After 20 minutes we were grateful to the driver in a pickup who took us to a backpackers camp 10km up the road. There we found accommodation, supper menu and a cold beer.

There was an overland truck parked in the yard. The passengers had walked up the escarpment to Livingstonia that day so fortunately were too tired to party.

I also chatted with two brothers who were travelling on motorbikes from London to Cape Town. They were in their late twenties and had a pleasant attitude. They wanted to do something cool and were doing it but without taking themselves too seriously. I was keen to hear their reports as I was already planning my own overland trip. In Sudan they were caught in sandstorms so they just kept their heads down and went as quickly as they could. Ethiopia was their favourite country so far. In northern Kenya the road was so bad that one bike frame snapped in two places and they need to get it welded.

Sun 20 Jul
Planned a lazy day. We did not have to be anywhere till nightfall and I could not be bothered to take an excursion (on foot or otherwise) up to Livingstonia. I ordered the "mega breakfast" and read through previous Sunday’s Times and Monday’s Guardian, which Barry had kindly brought out.

I checked the souvenirs for sale at the gate and discovered talking to a boy minding one of the stalls that if I was not an "overlander" then I must be a "backpacker". Life was that simple, I had never really realised before.

We met an expatriate called Richard who had brought his beautiful wife and kid for the day. They kindly gave us a lift to the jetty at the end of the afternoon. We waited, and watched, at first a dot on the horizon catching the sunlight, growing all the time, getting nearer, until finally the MV Ilala docked alongside.