The Captain's now familiar honking at sunrise next morning awakened us. We had our breakfast and concluded some business negotiations with a group of Samburu women selling souvenirs outside the campsite.

The track opened up to a featureless plain of black lava with the massif of the Kulai mountain dominating the northern horizon. We were at least glad not having any more thorn tree branches in our faces. After a few hours the track petered out to nothing at all and the hard and jagged lava was an acid test for our tyres. It was bumpy in the extreme and I was beginning to think about my kidney ailments. But God did not punish me and I was feeling quite OK although I was uncomfortable.

Just as we were beginning to wonder, the Lake Turkana appeared, a stunning vista of blue and green (maybe because of my sunglasses!) with the black silhouette of South Island hanging as if suspended between the lake and the sky. It was a breathtaking sight, vast yet apparently totally barren, the only vegetation around the shore being one or two stunted thorn trees. Well, there must have been some vegetation as Turkana tribesmen were moving a big herd of sheep by the lakeshore.

It is a curious lake, the biggest desert lake in the world and half the size of England. Three rivers flow into it but none out and it actually diminishes by eleven feet every year through evaporation and it was now at its lowest ever recorded. It is a soda lake and highly saline. Still there are lots of giant Nile perch, some weighing up to 375 lbs. It used to be connected to the Nile aeons ago but there is no geological explanation why the connection was severed.

It was extremely hot 120 F!, but the Captain would not let us go for a swim. He referred to the 20,000 crocodiles and the fact that one of them had taken their cook only two months ago! He had gone for a swim at exactly the place where we were and had disappeared. The next day 50 % of the cook was found by the shore!

So we continued for another hour along the shore on the very bumpy lava stones until we came to Loyangalani, the main town or village. It was not much of a town, a vague agglomeration of grass huts, mud huts, tin shacks, a police post, a school and a mission.

We arrived at the campsite at the outskirts at 2 p.m. It was quite prettily located between palm trees and fenced in for security reasons. Outside the fence sat a group of Turkana women in the sun with their souvenirs and how they could stand the heat was beyond me. Nearby was the Elmolo lodge and I went there in order to confirm the rumour that they had beer. They had, but no fridge. Still, a beer is a beer, even if warm and it was still very nice to drink in the extreme heat.

We then all walked to the town, a half-hour's walk in the scorching sun. We were swarmed by a group of teenagers and they surprised me with their perfect English, a result of the missionaries' efforts no doubt. They were quite nice to talk to and told their stories about their poor parents who could not afford them any schoolbooks in an innocent manner.

I never gave any thing to beggars and it gave me some remorse sometimes but I do believe begging not really is in anybody's long-term interest. I am sure the beggars took another view though.

Daniel & Aline, Ingrid & Erick and I and Laura then decided to take a walk to the lakeshore that had receded a couple of miles from the town. The lake did not seem that far away but we walked and walked over dry lava fields but the lake seemed to move further and further away, evading us like a mirage. It was also very hot and much more arduous than I had expected. After one hour's walk we eventually arrived to the water. I felt a great urge to jump into the water but the beach was very muddy and unsavoury and the water looked very dingy too. To be honest, the lurking crocodiles also put me off!

Instead I enjoyed, with Laura's hand in mine, an extremely glorious sunset. The pressure in her hand (I have an in-built gauge!) indicated we could have a lot of fun but I did not make any additional moves at this point. I was both intrigued and restrained by her extreme youth. A bit further away on the lake there was a group of hundreds of pink flamingos. At one point they got alarmed over something and they all took off into the sunset. It was one of the most stunning views I have ever seen, reminiscent of that similar scene in "Out of Africa", if you have seen that movie.

After the sunset, which was always very quick in Africa, a very strong wind started to blow from Mt. Kulal out on to the lake. It soon reached gale force and it was quite difficult walking against the wind, which was very warm though.

It soon got extremely dark and while we thought we were heading for some lights in the town we inevitably got lost. We were escorted by some boys who showed us the way to the camp. As we were walking Laura suddenly let up a scream. She had almost stepped on a snake but she was not bitten fortunately.

When we returned to the campsite at 9 p.m. the food was long gone and we had to make do with some fruit and tea and bread. The storm was still raging and my tent suddenly collapsed and Derek and I had to spend some time retrieving it and putting it up securely. The night sky was absolutely brilliant with the thousands of stars in the Milky Way and the ever-present Southern Cross. In addition there was a magnificent full moon.

Because of the incidence of the full moon the Turkana tribe would do a "spontaneous" dance "because they were happy" and we were all invited to have a look for free. So we took another long walk well beyond the town to a small village. It was a bit of a let down because it turned out the tribe was not happy enough and could we please supply them with £ 3 each, then they would be extremely happy and put on their dancing shoes! We all thought it was a rather patent rip-off and we left rather annoyed of having had to walk the long distance for nothing.

Some of the schoolboys then wanted to drag us to another village where there definitely would be dancing but as I was very tired because of all walking and the sunburn I returned to the campsite instead. A few people joined them but I did not miss out on anything. The Turkanas had indeed danced but it had been very difficult to see in the darkness and it had all looked rather silly because there was no musical accompaniment. The storm was now raging at full force. I could hardly hear what Derek said in the tent and I had an uneasy sleep, being awakened by the noisy gusts of wind frequently throughout the night.

In the morning the storm had subsided and I could sleep late because we were going to have one day of rest. The Captain was actually living in Loiyangalani with his two wives and eight children so the morning was very peaceful without his incessant honking. We had travelled almost 500 miles and it was nice to have a rest from the bumpy truck.

We were going to pay a visit to the Elmolo tribe five miles north from our campsite at lake Turkana. They were touted as the smallest tribe in the world numbering only two hundred people. They had lived at the lake for the past two thousand years and spoke a language complete alien to the Maa languages spoken by the Samburus and the Maasais.

We had to pay a camera fee of £3 each and were then at liberty to inspect their village and lifestyle. They were very poor and lived in very dirty grass huts, sharing the accommodation with pigs and goats. They were also extremely dirty themselves and on my direct question I found out that they had never washed with soap!

I found their parading a bit contrived and I also found it somewhat disconcerting that the children were called James, Richard etc. and that they spoke good English another influence of the missionaries. Maybe I was saddened by the fact that their days as a distinct tribe was numbered but basically it was the cultural barrier it was beyond me how they could live (and perhaps even enjoy) living in such squalid conditions.

Across the village was Crocodile Island and we had to fork out another £3 for the short boat ride. It was a bit of a rip-off as there were no crocodiles to be seen. They only stay on land in the morning and are swimming in the lake during the hot days. There were some nice views of the lake though and also some vultures circling overhead and it was not a total waste of time.

We returned to the campsite and I found myself drawn to the beer at Elmolo lodge. They also had a swimming pool, rather full of algae, but I forked out another £3 for the privilege to use it. I had one involuntary bath as the chair I was sitting in collapsed - the termites again! - and I fell into the pool to the amusement of Laura and the others.

We sat by the pool the whole afternoon, drinking beer, chatting and having quite a good time. We talked among other things about comedy programmes and I remember that "Black Adder" was universally acclaimed as the funniest, both in USA, Europe and Australia.

There was another splendid sunset and almost directly after the sun had set the gale started. There was a nice dinner and I went to bed quite early being quite exhausted from the sun (and the beers). I slept well despite the roaring wind.