Blogs from Ezulwini Valley, Swaziland, Africa
November 30th 2010
Well most of you are probably aware by now that my big African adventure for 2010 has actually come to an end and I'm now back in Auckland working away trying to save up for my next holiday :-) But I hate leaving anything unfinished so here are the last days of our trip......... We left Tofo very early in the morning....not as early as the 4 am we had initially been told, but we were waiting from 3am for the bus to leave. We finally got going at about 5 but the conductor then proceeded to tout for extra business...we can't have the chapa with a few empty seats all the way to Maputo apparently! So to cut a long story short about 9 hours later, with a few piglets along for the ride (boy ... read more
September 16th 2010
Monday (19/7/2010) We woke to a beautiful sunny day and set out to explore Port Elizabeth. Lungile was just a short stroll/jog to the beach, we wandered along the beach front stopping at Tiffany’s for breakfast (it seemed appropriate overlooking the all but flat ocean). We continued along the beach boardwalk past shops and café’s until the boardwalk ran out then we continued along the beach right up to the lighthouse. We spotted some dolphins surfing just off shore and decided it was time to turn back our stroll had turned into a three hour walk meaning it was time for lunch. A quick stop at the supermarket and we soaked up a bit more sunshine. Back at Lungile we showered before trying our luck at the Boardwalk Casino. Not needing to check anything into the ... read more
September 3rd 2010
Early on, I felt awkward taking photos of these women. But they insisted “Hello! Photo of me!” they would say. After a while with 15000 women singing and dancing passionately to traditional songs, my initial shyness would subside. I was at one of Southern Africa’s great festivals and my right index finger was getting a workout. Snapping up some photos to confirm my bragging rights - I had just seen the Umhlanga (Reed) Festival… And it has nothing to do with the fact that most of the women were topless. I don’t care what you say. The Umhlanga Festival is an ancient festival that generally gets coverage by western media for its obvious assets to get our attention. Half naked women roaming around is one. As well as that the King sometimes chooses a wife at ... read more
July 3rd 2010
Well we had quite a trip from Maputo, Mozambique to Manzini, Swaziland in the Ewulini Valley. We rode in one of those mini busses I mentioned previously. The first row of the 5 has the driver and two money collectors. The next three rows have 2 fixed seats and one fold down seat (for 3 a total of 3 people in each of these rows) and the last row is a fixed seat. This last row would be great if it were for 3 people but for whatever reason it is supposed to hold 4 people and we were all crammed back there. Also the seat is quite high off of the ground so that my head was hitting the ceiling constantly as the roads are all potholes and the minibus has no shock absorbers to ... read more
May 31st 2010
Leaving Maputo I get to experience travel like an African lady. After I offer a little bit of my Coke to thirsty looking young boy, about five years old, he decides that I am a much more preferable travel companion than his mother and insists on standing between my legs as we are about to leave. This can't be very comfortable so I pick him up and drop him on my lap and for the next four hours do what women do all day everyday across Africa; travel with at least one child on top of them. I doubt I provide as much pillowy comfort, but he seems happy nevertheless. Of course back in England, should I offer some sweet drink to a small child then proceed to sit him on my lap for a number ... read more
December 15th 2009
Hola! The Baz Bus took me to a random petrol station and after an hour of searching Jim and Suus and Janis (the campervan) found me! We went back to Sodwana and hund out at the national park where they were camping. It was fab to see them and we had a great night. Unfortunately the weather turned bad so the dive in the morning got cancelled...and we hit the road to Swaziland! The landscape was gorgeous and we went through really remote rural places which was interesting to say the least. Cows in the way, rough roads and not many road signs..however there was some ladies selling great corn on the cob for 3 rand along the road, awesome! After a really long drive and a fairly non dramatic border crossing we were in Swaziland. ... read more
The stunning and beautiful Swaziland
Published: November 10th 2009Africa » Swaziland » Ezulwini Valley
October 31st 2009
Travelling around South Africa was always going to be an issue for me as I was reluctant to hire a car in Jo'berg and drive alone and the public transport system doesn't really exist over here unless you want to jump into 101 minivans. I therefore resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to get the backpackers “Baz Bus”. The Baz Bus has a set route and picks you up and drops you off at designated hostels. It isn't my first choice of getting around however it does the routes and places I want to visit and therefore its a necessary evil for me. I got picked up on Saturday morning and we headed over the border to Swaziland. I ended up deciding to stay at Sondzela which was situated within the ... read more
Wanted - 1 black rhino, any condition. Will swap for 2,793 photos of white rhinos.
Published: November 24th 2009Africa » Swaziland » Ezulwini Valley
September 18th 2009
With Mbabane offering nothing in the way of information or things to do, I decamp to the nearby Ezulwini Valley. The valley is home to the Swazi royal family and features a mountain that apparently inspired the "Sheba's Breasts" in Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines". A further nod to Rider Haggard is in the fact that one of the nearby restaurants is called Quatermain's. My days in Ezulwini see a climate shift from cold and cloudy to sunny and absolutely roasting - the latter is apparently more seasonal. Having heard about a hostel with a swimming pool in Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, I head there for a few days (blogged separately). Within 24 hours of returning, it's cold and grey again. The $1000+ I spent on safaris in East Africa sadly didn't qualify me for a black ... read more
August 3rd 2009
On line at the grocery store... "Hey mama, how are you?" ::Gentleman in line behind me at the grocery store:: "Fabulous," ::taking out my license and credit card to pay for groceries:: "Oh, you are from the U.S.?" ::Gentleman grabs my license to look at.:: "Yep." ::silence, as I pay for groceries:: "What does this mean?" ::points to the organ donor symbol:: "If I die a horrible death, they get to use my internal organs for other people who need them more. Or they just put less effort into saving me from the horrible death, so that they can use my internal organs." "... ... oh." ::hands me back my license:: I do wish people would stop addressing by saying "hey mama." It's right up there with "hola mamacita." I know it is meant to be ... read more
May 31st 2009
Time for a bit of an adventure out of South Africa again - the kingdom of Swaziland. =) Dean and Jill was heading that direction too so we decided to go all four of us. Stupidly enough we decided to walk to the minibus station with our backpacks... It's not insanely far away but it was heavy!! Got there anyway and found the bus we wanted. They don't have any departure times for the minibuses, they depart when they are full. But we ''only'' had to wait for about one hour before the bus was full, so that was not so bad. ;) Arrived in Mbabane where we had to take a minibus taxi to Gables in Ezulwini Valley. Stayed at Legends backpackers which is located behind the Pick'n'Pay, across the fields. Swaziland is beautiful with ... read more
