a perfect day to take pictures ...
of the landscape ...
and of us ...
we didn't see a single person, only zebras and antelope ...
we were in good spirits ...
More pictures from Nyika may be found here: Nyika Gallery
RS: However, we did encounter one problem during our drive around the park. While we were heading up the hill, just before we came across the first group of zebras pictured above, we noticed that the temperature gauge was pointing as hot as it could get. We dismissed the reading because the car was exhibiting no signs of overheating. At that temperature, we would have expected to see smoke emanating from under the hood and the car to be making odd noises. But the car seemed to be working just fine. Nevertheless, we took a look under the hood at our next stop. None of us really knew what to look for but we did rule out the possibility that the car was low on oil.
When we returned to camp, we decided to drive by the mechanics one more time to double check nothing was wrong with the car. They were surprised to see us again so soon. This was the third time in about four hours we had been to see them.
The mechanics opened the hood and immediately spotted holes in the radiator. The thing really was overheating. No problem, they can patch it up with an epoxy. The problem is, they can't fix the radiator permanently because you need a blow torch to set the epoxy. They didn't have a blow torch up there because they didn't have the gas to fuel it. However, they told us that the epoxy should hold until we get all the way back to Lilongwe.
Fine, we don't want to put anymore money into the owner's car. We've done enough. The mechanics agreed. They commented that the owner seemed to be more interested in making money than maintaining his vehicle.
