Date received: Thu May 03 2001, 09:57 AM PDT
We are back from three days of hiking in Mt. Mulanje. It was spectacular, but it did have its cost.
About an hour into the hike, I slipped off a rock and fell 5 ft. into the river below. I and my entire pack got wet, including both cameras. My 35mm film camera stopped working immediately, so we sat on the bank of the river as I dismantled it and drained the water out of it and the lens. After about an hour an a half of disassembling and reassembling using a jeweler's screwdrivers, it came back to life. After that it was flaky, so I disassembled it again a few days later and layed the guts out in front of the fire to dry. It now works perfectly! A testament to Nikon cameras.
The news for the digital camera is not as good. It was completely submerged for several minutes. I had to tear it apart completely, including all optics and electronics, to dry out all the water. It didn't work after reassembly. So, I guess this means that I am going to Jo'burg in a few weeks so that I can buy a new one. I won't have any digital pictures from the next few weeks. Luckily, unlike my film camera, the pictures that were in it were not destroyed. So once I find a decent computer, I will update my pictures up through the point where the camera died.
I came out of it unscathed.
Tomorrow, we are heading to Harare, Zimbabwe, where we plan on arranging a canoe trip down the Zambezi for a few days.
peter
