A late breakfast this morning and we were on the road by just after 8.30. As we drove southwards the "highlight" of the morning was an unexpected stop in the middle of nowhere due to a flat tyre. As Vernon and Piet attended expertly to the mishap, the rest of us interacted with a few inquisitive locals who stopped by to see what was going on.

Disaster averted, on we went hoping to find a shaded spot for some lunch. Unfortunately no such spot revealed itself so instead we stopped just on the outskirts of a village in between a few small trees on a red-sand plain stretching as far as the eye could see in all directions.

After lunch when we were all back in the truck , Vernon explained that the locals gather around the overland truck groups hoping for free food in the form of leftovers and that Vernon and Piet's stance is to try and discourage this. It certainly explained why so many villagers formed a silent and somewhat menacing cordon around us as we prepared and ate our lunchtime sandwiches.

At around 3 the drive was over and we had arrived in Malawi's capital of Lilongwe. Initially we were allowed an hour or so to do some supermarket shopping as Piet and Vernon themselves whizzed round to get some food for future days for the group. Arriving at the campsite in good time, we pitched our tent and spent the dying daylight hours relaxing at the bar and making use of some rare internet access.

Dinner was a treat in the form of pizza from a local takeaway. Unfortunately as a result of a mix-up in ordering and some individuals not understanding the concept of group travel and sharing food there was initially not enough food for all. Much to Vernon's obvious annoyance and embarrassment. However more pizza arrived later and with a South American World Cup Qualifier (football) to watch on the TV everything was happy and the evening passed very nicely.

An early start the next morning and after having breakfast and preparing ourselves pack-up of hotdogs for lunch we dropped Christine at the dentist before parking in the retail centre car park in the middle of town. Martina also had to go to the Swiss embassy to sort out her visa which meant the rest of us had some free time to mooch around the shops and local market while we waited for the girls. The only problem being that at 8am, not too many shops had opened their doors to customers.

At approximately 10am we finally got back in the truck and left Lilongwe heading for the border.