We are into the longest day, driving over 1,000 kms down The Caprivi Strip. It's arrow straight to far horizons through thick green vegetation - two-metre tall grass lines the road. Good feeding ground for herds of elephants. David Tomlin and Nick Adcock stopped their Land Rover to allow a bull elephant to cross the road.

On the map, The Caprivi Strip appears like a strange finger pointing inland, narrow but long, a relic of the times when Africa was carved up in Colonial fashion to give Germany access to the sea from the centre through their adopted Namibia.

The clocks are running today but in effect it's a simple and easy run - something that will no doubt be appreciated by the many walking wounded.

Car 44, the Peugeot 504 of David Gough and Richard Phillipson has run a wheelbearing and is staying the night back up the route at Rundu to carry out repairs. The Beckers & Depoorter Landcruiser was among the few who failed to reach Tsumeb within the allowed time after running out of diesel.

The vintage Vauxhall of Max and James Stephenson arrived at the Minen Hotel in central Tsumeb at 7.30pm, completing the 1,000 kms in 12 hrs 17 mins - "a great day, we saw elephants and warthogs, could have trimmed a bit more off the time had the border worked as brisk as Ethiopia and Kenya".

The Organisation has tonight been strengthened with the arrival of reinforcements from the South African motor-sport scene. We now have four additional marshals put together by Rene Booyson.

The Jane Edgington and Gill Cotton Maestro was broken into when parked up at a busy gas station. The girls had gone next door to the Wimpy burger joint. Jane says they forced the lock with a screwdriver and nicked her camera.

Syd Stelvio

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Captions (courtesy Enduro Rally/Gerard Brown):

Top: Dave Gough and Richard Phillipson were one of the only crews not to reach Namibia last night after running a wheel bearing en route.

Bottom: Mad Max Stephenson and not-much-less-mad James knocked off the 1000+km in just over 12 hours, including a border crossing.