Blogs from Swaziland, Africa - page 11

Sorry about brief entries, been a bit of trouble with the internet connection, plus there are about 20 other people using the lodge's laptop. I went to the nearby (25min walk) shopping centre, the gables, to use the internet cafe this afternoon but the connection was worse there than here at lidwala. The gables has a couple of upmarket clothes shops, cafes, restaurants, a supermarket, banks. It's where all the whites and middle class black swazis go in their air-conditioned 4x4s and mercs,to get away from their gated communities. You see v few whites anywhere else. My daily routine is settling down a bit. We've been getting up just before 7 to get the khombi - local chaotic private minibuses - over to the site at mlindazwe, a small settlement over the other side of the ... read more

Over 24 hours travelling so i'm a bit knackered. It shouldn't have taken that long, but i missed the connecting flight at Joburg so had to sit around in the airport for 6 hrs. I made the fatal mistake of going to the loo when i got off the plane, and then the woman at the SAA transfers desk said she wasn't going to 'go the extra mile' to get me on my connecting flight. And my luggage is missing, but apparently that's par for the course, nothing to worry about. I'll be a bit smelly tomorrow though. The lodge is great, but it's all female! Em was fuming...It's dinner so have to go... read more

THE KINGDOM OF SWAZILAND: HIPPOS COME TO DINNER, WARTHOGS AT THE CAMPFIRE “When King Sobhuza II died at age 83, he left about 120 wives, with unofficial estimates putting the number of wives and mistresses at more than double this number. The current King Mswati III has 13 wives. The King was the center of controversy in 2001 when he married a 17 year old, two months after imposing a five year sex ban on the Kingdom’s teenage females. The “forced” chastity was imposed to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. He ended the ban a year early.” Lonely Planet We enter Swaziland from South Africa and immediately I feel a different vibe. The Swazi man at the immigration counter is more interested in asking me about Barack Obama than he is about inspecting my Passport. The ... read more

swaziland was beautiful, big bend was beautiful. an old nun gave me a pair of shoes in the name of god in big bend. the cold was stinging my bare feet into spasms. the land stretches out like good young skin over a face and the face is swaziland, staring up, neon green eyes of strange sparkling trees and blinding white teeth of fresh painted crumbling shacks. swaziland and big bend, freezing wind and open sky hazy with icy moisture and down into south africa itself. five young fellows working the border post kicking my tires and laughing about tanzania plates and letting me go without so much as a twitch. enjoy south africa! durban is hell. its loud and stinky and unforgiving. my motorcycle is crumbling which is not such a big deal on ... read more

Swaziland is a beautiful country and one of the few remaining true Kingdoms in the World. We had a relaxing 2 nights at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary. It's very different scenery than what we've been through recently and in many ways it reminded us a little of home with the mountains and all. Since there are no predators in the park we were allowed to roam freely and enjoy the wildlife on foot. It was just a nice relaxing time and we were able to have a little time off the truck to ourselves.... read more