The next morning we continued down the uninhabited valley walking alongside the little river flowing from the lake I had passed the previous day. We turned right as we entered the Kharta Valley again, and smiled as we entered the first village we had seen in many days. A woman was drying enormous clumps of hay on the top of an animal enclosure, while children ran up to us. The truck driver and three Landcruiser drivers waved as we walked back to our first campsite.