 Yarrow Shipbuilders at Scotstoun near Glasgow, Scotland built "Ilala" for Nyasaland Railways in 1949.As she was the second boat to be built for service on Lake Malawi (the first being built in 1875 at Poplar), and her predecessor was called "Ilala", the ship was formally named "Ilala II", but she is now commonly called just "Ilala" and this is also how the name is painted on the hull.In turn, the first "Ilala" was named after the Ilala region of Zambia, where David Livingstone was first buried.