Swaziland and Kruger Park

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Arrived in Swaziland for the second time on this trip. Having had a pretty dull time last time, I didn't have high hopes for the place, but this time was far better. Probably because I was with my cool buddy Kek this time! We only had one night so decided to do some white water farfting which was pretty fun, and uneventful. Later that day we decided to tryand hitch to Nelspruit, near Kruger park. Not quite sure how we thought it would happen when we didn't even leave until 4pm, and it turned out not to happen, but luckily for us we were picked up by a well intending man, who it turned out was rather into some kind of religion which now escapes me, and decided to bombard us with information and leaflets, trying to convert us! He was extremely helpful though and got us as far as the nearest big town, where he drove us to a hostel, as it wasn't really safe to arrive in Nelspuit in the dark. (we somehow managed to avoid being converted to his way!)

The next morning we managed to hitch again with a father and his daughter from England who had hired a 4x4 and were driving to Kruger park... Bonus! So we hopped in and they drove us to the point where we were being met by another of Kek's friends in a place called Malalane, not far from the entrance to Kruger park. they dropped us at a garage, whcih we thought would be a good place to wait, and piled out with all our stuff. Clearly not locals!! It was then that I spied an ATM so went over to get some cash. Then I experinced the bad side of South Africa! I put my pin number in the machine and about 5 seconds later an african man was right next to me and started to tell me I'd done it wrong. He reached across me and pressed cancel on the key pad thing and then told me I had to put my pin number in again, so like an idiot I put in my number. The next minute there was another guy on my other side saying to me that i had to put my pin number in again so for some reason thought I done something wrong so put it in again. Then he started telling me something else, and by this point I turned to talk to tell him I don't need any help. Then I decided I should just get my card out but when I pressed cancel nothing happened. I thought the machine had eaten my card for some reason, and by now the two guys had disappeared. After a few more seconds it dawned on me that my card wasn't even in the machine and realised these little sh**s had taken my card and got my pin number too and suddenly disappeared!! I know... absoutely ridiculous of me, but they were sooo sneaky about the whole thing I had no idea!!

Anyway, Luigi came and picked us up and was great about the whole thing. Took us to the police station to report it and then took us out for lunch, so I soon felt a whole lot better. We stayed with Luigi for a couple of nights which was great. He was sooo generous and took us everywhere and his parents even took us to Kruger for the day which was great. Saw lots of things like Lions, Giraffes, elephants, hippos etc, but unfortunately no leopards. All the same had a wicked time and were so grateful to Luigi and his parents for being so nice to us.

The next day, I had to head for the airport as my stint in South Africa had come to an end. Kek tried her best to persuade me to stay even longer, and tempted as I was because we'd had such a great time together, I thought it was time for me to move on, so I said my goodbyes and headed to Johannesburg for my flight, wondering what would be in store for me next.

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Comments

[Scotty]

White water Farting!
Sounds amazing, those w*nkers who took your card deserve something horrible to happen to them! I love these little blogs they are wicked and keep us v informed...you seem to be having the time of your life and meeting some amazing people. Hope your well etc Enjoy xx