Every now and then they stop from their labours at a rest place or guest house for sustenance and to sleep until they can start in the light the next morning. Sherpas will toil all day, every day, at high altitude to supply villages with essentials. They also stop at the same establishments.

In South America the problem of getting goods over hilly terrain is similar, so groups of porters form a caravan for the 10 day walk to the villages they are supplying.

In the desert, apparently a wilderness to a Westerner, there are routes along which camels have travelled for thousands of years. They go between oasis’ but there are no traffic signs in the middle of the Sahara and so the camel trains of merchant travellers along these routes navigate by the stars, the sun, local knowledge and an in-built sense of direction. There are no tracks, but they know where the caravan wants to get to, and they have travelled the same route many times over the years.

Whether travellers are in Nepal, Afghanistan, Peru or Mali they are all heading for a caravanserai. A place to stop, get water and food, and often a bed. The English equivelent would be an inn, but the resources and needs of caravan people, who survive meagrely, are less onerous than the comforts required by holiday-makers. They do like a bit of home comfort as well on their travels.