We are only meant to be driving for 2 hours today to a beach spot for showers and relaxation in the sunshine, a nice change from the desert but Maz thinks we should travel further and try and make up time, it's foggy and doesn't look like we would get much sunshine anyhow, so Stefan agrees to march on to the next destination Lobito. The drive is along the coast through desert landscapes with small oasis villages with plantations of fruit and vegetables, we passed through Bentiaba and the thriving fishing village Lucira. The road deteriorates hugely as we climb through some mountain passes, no other vehicles are on route (or possibly they are wise enough to know to take a different route), it seems like an never-ending journey of dodging potholes, weaving and bumps, the road is so corrugated to the point that Stefan's battery mount snaps off sending sparks out of the bonnet with the battery shorting on the bonnet, Fernando seems really spooked by this. Maz and Fernando have been focussing on the road so hard it takes a lot of concentration driving on such challenging roads. It is good to pull over for a breather to fix the loose battery using cable ties to try and stabilize it. It seems an epic days drive of at least 4 hours in these conditions and its so good to hit tar seal road, to lighten the mood and to give Fernando a pick me up we play "Fernando" over the walkie talkie full pelt.

We get to Lobito late just on dusk. Stefan doesn't know the area, but we are advised by one of his friends to stay at Alfa Bar on the sandy beach spit, here we are instructed to drive onto the beach and camp right next to the bar - it's not a campsite just a safe space to stay with a guard on duty all night. The agreement is that we eat here then we can camp for free and use the bar toilets. We agree and accept it's just another day without a shower 4 days 3 nights .

Lobito to Luanda is a good drive although somewhat potholed, some are massive holes some 2 feet deep - you really don't want to be hitting one at good speed. Maz is doing all the driving, but the offer is there to share it, but I think there is a sense that mums driving isn't as good in these volatile conditions. Unlike the South of Angola there is a constant presence of people walking on side of road, the landscape has changed from brown to lush green vegetation with an abundance of fish in the seaside villages and fruit and veg growing roadside it feels so much more lucrative and thriving.

Luanda is the capital, a city of 12 million people, Stefan's wife and children live here so he bails on us to spend the remainder of the day and night with them. Fernando is staying with us at a hotel which is a cheap, it is rundown, a basic place with standard rooms with no hot water for the shower we have all been looking forward to. We upgrade the kids' room to a premium room so we can at least get hot water. But it is a bath with a hand shower to hold, we are all desperate for a good scrub after 4 days so that's our priority as soon as we get the keys.

Refreshed Maz and I meet leave the kids to Wi-Fi and showers whilst we take Fernando in the truck to ShopRite for supplies for the week ahead as where we are going is once again limited. Driving round Luanda everything looks the same, crazy traffic and drivers darting all over the lanes. ShopRite is in a wealthy part of the city, there is a huge contrast of living standards within Luanda it is just like any other city and holds nothing of significance to us, we are rather keen just to get out of the place as quickly as possible.

We end up having dinner at the run down hotel rather unsure of what the quality of food will be like. Whilst waiting for the food orders the waiter entertains us by pouring soda magically with the can stuck to his hands at right angles. The food is surprisingly ok so that was a huge relief. We head back to our rooms to settle in for a good sleep in a proper bed, but it is not a relaxing sleep at all due to the lack of toilet roll and itching. Mum and Dad are just grateful to have running water although not hot shower facilities as we feel the effects of dinner.

What a rough night, we are all covered in bites from God knows what, the kids are not impressed. Breakfast is hilarious we are summoned to sit in the dining room - there are no other guests just us and Fernando. We are given a cold fried egg and cheese butty, the kids politely decline these and opt for no breakfast at all and Fernando just takes up the offer of coffee. Feeling rather bad for the breakfast staff and unfortunately whilst mum and dad are still dealing with the effects of last night toilet antics, politely eat the revolting food along with bated breath to see what happens next.

Thank god Stefan meets us early morning to get out of Luanda, we go on the expressway for about an hour to visit Shipwreck Beach in Barra du Dande. Off the expressway we pass through villages and then cut off on some unmarked dirt track towards the beach, it takes us several kilometres till we come across a scene as far as the eye can see of rusting ships beached. It's a huge ship graveyard, slowly the waves are breaking the ships apart and locals are risking lives to dismantle parts of the ships to make an income from scrap metal. It is a pretty cool site to see a lovely sandy long beach with an apocalypse flair that has become a famous site of Angola. It came about when the civil war started in Angola in 1974, the Portuguese had to flee for their lives so a plan was made to strand the vessels in order for the MPLA not use the ships against them.

Back on the expressway we are off inland to Calendula waterfall, the drive is long and requires patience along with concentration due to the state of the road, consisting of massive deep potholes consuming almost the whole width of the roads in parts, lorries as slow as sloth's and locals drive like crazy people knowing the road so well. Stefan told us in the morning the drive when we leave the Freeway should take 5 hours but the reality of the journey was 7 hours.

Finally we arrive at our camp for the nigh,t we are the only ones here and we are welcomed with the most breath taking views directly looking at the face of the falls. It is a strange place, the building consists of a restaurant, bar and accommodation, it was left to decay after colonial times and in the latter years handed over to a private owner with a 25 year lease. They have renewed the restaurant and bar and some rooms but due to lack of poor marketing the hotel doesn't attract many guests and we are the sole occupants. Before setting up the truck and tents we have a nice cold Cuca Beer at the bar overlooking the falls listening to swallows flying overhead and taking in the sunset. We can't get over how close we are to the falls, it reminds us a lot of Iguazu Falls in Brazil and the remote location adds to the wonder, it is not an easy place to drive to but the rewards are truly magnificent.

We set up the camping table with prime view of the falls and Stefan and Fernando braai up another outstanding meal of braai bread and kebabs. Maz has still not recovered from the meal in Luanda. he is not himself at all and I'm not bearing up too good either we are not really up for a late night so everyone settles for an early night listening to the pounding thunder of the falls. But there is a moment of fear whilst lying in the truck that the girls who are sleeping down on the front lawn directly in front of the falls are going to get massacred, so I grab my sleeping bag and go and join them but still have an uneasy sleep, the place just freaked me out.

Most of us refreshed with Maz still a bit loose with regular visits to the loo still, we pack up and set off earlier than other days we gauge that it is definitely going to be a really long drive, we are planning to sleep in the old coffee plantations of Angola in Gabela, Stefan thinks it should take 7 hours but we have reservations of his timings.

We take a quick drive to the base of the falls to get up really close, the track is overgrown and the undergrowth is lush, it really feels like an untouched world, suddenly the area opens up to a huge amphitheatre, we go by foot of some massive boulders and look up and spectacular falls it really is something special, the echoing the sounds of the falls and abundance of wildlife flying around. A great start to the day.

Back on a main route we take a road heading inland to the Black Rocks a weird place, at the base is a village that was established by a missionary we head a short drive up and walk to the viewpoint where we are greeted with a panorama of huge rock formations jutting out of the earth it's a nice spot by not sure it was really worth the detour of an extra 3 hours.

We have to back track towards Luanda it seems to take an eternity on these badly potholed roads. Finally, we get to the turning we recognise but its getting way late and we know that we are not going to get as far as Stefan had planned. It feels good to start heading south to our final destination 4 days drive away Windhoek to fly home, we are getting a little fed up with the long drives.

We continue on the road and reach Dondo where Stefan explains this was an embarking point on the river for slaves bought from the Congo on boats heading to the Americas. We have a discussion it's obvious its 5.30pm and there is not a chance we are going to make it tonight to the coffee plantations so we decide instead to look for a spot around Qubelia. We stop at a rundown closed camp site all locked up, Stefan suggests in the dark we carry on to a ruin of a church but when we get to the track it's all closed over. At this point the last resort of Stefan suggestions is a disused airstrip he used to land his planes on some 10years ago, so proceed to this location but this has now been converted to an Army base airport. Late and tired we drive into Qubelia look on i-overlander and find a guest house we can camp in the grounds of. When we reach here, we discover it to be really really rundown but considering the time we pitch up. Dinners late and Luca is now unwell going to bed without food. The toilets are the worst we have experienced no seat, no closing door, no loo roll, no running water, I would sooner dig a hole for a s*** than use this place, the feeling is echoed by all it is grim.

What a night sleep, 3am a truck load of pissed up men arrive onsite looking for a room for the night totally waking us all.

Poor Luca wakes with the s***s and has the dreadful experience of dealing with the toilets getting buckets of water to flush the loo, we can't pack up quick enough, sitting in the trucks ready to roll and over the CB radio Stefan announces let us get out of this s*** hole!! We couldn't agree more!

30 minutes after we leave Stefan recommends driving up to a viewpoint on top of a mountain for a fantastic view. It is a foggy morning but seems to be clearing so we decide to go, it's Sunday and we drive past a beautiful church that is overflowing with families singing their hearts out, a lovely site to see. We eventually find the track to go up the mountain and then Stefan confesses that he has not been up here for 20 years the road has deteriorated significantly!! We find ourselves high up on the mountain on a single track lane with a vertical drop one side and loose rocks on the road making the car slip. It's a scary drive up compounded by the fact we had Arabella requesting a wee stop and Luca doubled over hyperventilating with stomach cramps in agonizing pain. Stefan is just 15mtres ahead, Fernando stalls the truck on loose rocks he gets out of the truck and Stefan takes over driving. Fernando looks concerned and very shaken by the experience.

At this point Maz decides to turn back down the mountain but unfortunately the track is so narrow we must proceed forward over what was to be the worst section of the track. Maz engages low ratio and slowly continues up the track over boulders grounding the truck several times, at this point we have some local kids running behind and pushing the truck up the hill and collecting bits of the truck that have broken off. We eventually get to a hairpin bend wide enough to turn the truck around and proceed back down the track scrapping the truck sump guard on rocks again for good measure, the biggest concern for Maz is now about getting to the bottom without a puncture since the Skelton Coast we only have one spare wheel. We park up outside the church relieved and Stefan shows up to give stomach cramp medicine to Luca. Stefan is shocked at the state of the track and can't see himself bringing guests here unless they have a death wish. Fernando informs Maz that he was so scared that when he got to the top of the mountain he had to relieve himself for a number 2 behind a bush.

We continue on and get to a large church near Bailundo, it really looks like it belongs in a European city not some small non-descript village several hours drive from a large town. IN the church grounds there is a large congregation in the adjoining field listening to Sunday service. Luca opts to sit in the car because of his stomach cramps and we go off exploring. On the main entrance the stone walls are littered with bullet holes, the roof caved in from artillery shells, trees and vines growing through the cracks and debris, the alter is still intact.

Children start entering the ruins from the congregation outside intrigued by these white people looking around. It would have been the most beautiful church and when we are leaving Stefan points out a church on the other side of the village where they are building a new church and we all agreed that it is a huge shame that they are not restoring this colonial treasure.

Continuing on for several more hours we finally reach Menongue where Stefan has a guest house with camping. Camping at the guest house are a group of South Africa veteran's who stayed at the Cuban bunkers the night after our explosion, so we left the crater for them to see.

Stefan introduces us to an elderly chap who was a Commander in the battle that we are going to learn about tomorrow, all the veterans that are staying at Stefan's were involved in the fierce battles that took place during 1987 and 1988 at Cuito Cuanavale. Each year organised groups come up from South Africa to revisit the sites where they experienced the horrors of war, horrendous conditions and loss of colleagues.

Next day we head out for the day and arrive at Cuito Cuanavale war museum, it's now a military base with a monstrous Memorial of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. The memorial symbolises the heroic resistance of the Angolan combatants against the South African armed forces invasion, at the time of the apartheid regime that ruled South Africa. It signifies the period of the Angolan Civil war. The museum is still being used as a propaganda tool explaining that this was a glorious victory for Angola and Fidel Castro and the turning point in the war.

The battle of Cuito Cuanavale refers to a series of battles and clashes that took place in the broad vicinity of the southern Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale from 1987 to 1988.

It's a really odd place as we are the only ones here, we are guided round the site viewing all military might supplied by the Russians at the same time trying to look engaged whilst an officer with an iPad is taking loads of photos of us. Maz couldn't help himself making stupid poses and generally trying to ruin all the photos. We asked Stefan why they are taking photos and he said basically to justify their jobs and that the memorial gets visitors. We head out of the museum and Stephan drives to the area where the battle took place and shows us 3 tanks that got abandoned in the minefield before the southern african army abandoned their advance and retreated, hardly the glorious battle depicted in the museum. Odd day out and one that we could have done without, but it's done.

As we return and get close to Menongue, he explains that this is an area with high malaria, he points out a graveyard with bathtubs over the top of the graves, these are babies that have died of malaria and they leave the bathtub as its bad luck in their culture to bathe another baby in the same tub, such a humbling site to see.

Later on after getting back to the guesthouse, Maz heads out in the truck with a chap that works for Stefan to get Diesel it seems to be taking him a long time and its dark before he gets back. He explains his nightmare journey weaving between thousands of people marching the streets, cars all over the place, horns beeping and people chanting, waving flags and partying hard in the streets, basically it was announced that MPLA had won the election.

It's our last supper at Stefan's, Fernando rocks up looking a little worse for wear he is meant to be cooking the steaks and preparing food for dinner but with the news of MPLA winning the election he has been out celebrating, Stefan is not overly impressed but bites his tongue and slowly Fernando goes about his business. We are all eager to have early night with an early start next day, as we have heard so much about the 250km and how it takes 7-8hrs and we are apprehensive about missing the border which closes as 4pm.

Next day we are up and we bid farewell to Stefan who presents us with a gorgeous carved wooden platter it really has been an epic adventure and the knowledge gained from Stefan has been great. Fernando is also coming south with us in another vehicle, Stefan has a Games Park 130km on route and Fernando's family live in the village close by so he is having some time off. The first 70km is great tar seal then it all turns to custard with sand, potholes, single tracks. You can't go above 30km per hour and it's painfully slow with the clock on countdown to 4pm. Arriving at border post around 2.30pm it's a great relief and its dead, nobody comes through this post, the Angolan officials take time requesting us to show them inside the truck, show packs, fridge, and then asked to our surprise where we do we keep our gun?

After 90 mins we are told we can proceed to Namibia, wow no more being bounced out of your set, brakes being slammed on to miss gaping potholes, swerving between potholes - it's straight roads and smooth tar seal what a great welcome back to Namibia. We arrive at campsite and greeted by the security guard who shows us to our site, we could have had the pick of anywhere as we are the only ones here. We set up; along with the campsite is a conference centre and bungalows all are empty with nobody on site. It's a lovely location with stunning views over the river with Angola on the other side. It feels weird to see green trees, grass and water. Just as the sun is going down we and enjoy the last of the sunset with the last cold beers from the trucks fridge and the kids use the infinity pool, it's just stunning to have the place to ourselves to chat and reminisce on the Angola adventure. We fire up the Braai and enjoy our last Braai of the trip.

Packed up early we are all eager to get the final long drive over with. Leaving the campsite we hand over a huge bag of tinned foods, leftovers from last night's braai and towels, the security guard is so overwhelmed with all the supplies it was lovely to see and to know that it will go to good use.

6 hours and finally we arrive in Windhoek, with time to kill before check-in at our accomodation we head to Joe's Beer House an iconic landmark for all overlanders for a late lunch. Joe's prides itself on great food and an even better vibe, making it accessible to both tourists and locals alike. It's a quirky space with indoor and outdoor seating areas filled with trinkets, road signs, bottles, nets and what I call "desert souvenirs". We settle down and eagerly look through the menu which is packed with different foods and not just steak. Eyes bigger than belly's nobody holds back ordering calamari, oysters, burgers, ribs, fish washed down with Rock Shandy's and beer followed by chocolate brownies, filo cinnamon puffs and ice-cream. All of us in heaven.

Onto our room for the night, it's a cheap small space with limited room but it's perfect for what we need, we spend the remainder of the day clearing out the truck, packing bags in preparation for our flight in two days' time. I have a restless night thinking the truck is being broken into. Being in Windhoek doesn't feel secure or as safe compared with bush camping it's just an adjustment getting use to urban surroundings.

We move to our final hotel for the night it always feels like the end of an era when we check into a hotel it's the final curtain on our adventure it is a good base to finish packing and we all have a good scrub and fresh clothing, it feels like we are going back into civilization where we face 1st world problems and everything seems so accessible like having hot running water and power.

Maz has organised a final fling of adventure the morning of our flight, we get a taxi to Katutura township to meet with a lovely lady called Anna she specialises in bike rides in the township area. Katutura was an area created of Windhoek in 1961 following the forced removal of Windhoek's black population during apartheid. it is the most densely populated area of the city. It has at least 200,000 inhabitants, probably with the vast majority of them Ovambo who leave their villages or are sent to Windhoek to try their luck in the capital for work. Unemployment and AIDS are omnipresent and add to the precarious living conditions due to the lack of drinking water. It is estimated that 40% of the inhabitants do not have access to permanent houses and live in makeshift shelters, very precarious sheet metal constructions that cling to the hillsides. We head off in our high viz vests on some old mountain bikes we totally look at our place, it doesn't take long for Arabella to hold us up on the bikes. Anna who is leading the way in her truck pulls over and tells us that Arabella is in the truck with her as she is going too slow - I am sure this was Arabella's plan all along as she hates biking at the best of times and wearing a high viz vest would have just tipped her over the edge. What a straight talker Anna is, she grew up in Katutura and is a passionate advocate for the area holding nothing back in regard to politics and the problems of the area. We really enjoyed the honesty and our hearts wrenched with the reality that 200,000 inhabitants face of a daily basis. Back at base out of our high viz and bikes stored, Anna is kind enough to pile us all into her Suzuki truck and deliver us back to our hotel. We wished that we had more time to spend with Anna to put the world to right, she has been a fascinating women to talk to and the experience was a great end to our time in Namibia.

Off to Bushlore, the vehicle is given the once over then we are driven to the airport. It's the end of the journey, it feels a shame to be leaving but the memories we have all created will stay with us a very long time.