EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Thorn-bush Wacking in Swaziland, YEBO! On Wednesday 11, even though it's not raining, I get on the bus yet again to cross the border to Swaziland, a process which is unexpectedly hassle-free. The clear weather allows us to witness a most beautiful and long-lasting sunset, setting the sky on fire behind the mountains circling the country. Thursday morning, after applying for my Mozambique visa, I join an Irish fellow lodge guest to hike up [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Part 2 of my major catch-up. Basically this takes me through safari in the Kruger National Park and Swaziland. DAY 76 - AUCKLAND - SYDNEY - JOHANNESBURG The flights via Sydney were nothing special. I think I watched 5 movies or so. After my 18 hours in the air it was good to see Dad in the Jo'burg Arrivals Lounge. Went straight back to our place for the next couple of nights and had pizza for tea before having an early night since I was utterly exhausted and the time zone had changed 10 hours for me. DAY 77 - JOHANNESBURG [View Full Entry]

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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. [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, I took the bus to Joburg today, and so far it's done little to impress. It's raining, and the power just came back on after having been off since I arrived at 3:00 today! My last 3 days in Swaziland were great, and I highly recommend that everyone go there if they can. The people are ridiculously friendly, and even a trip to the grocery store results in a few conversations. On Saturday we went to a jazz show in this incredible venue called House on Fire, which is a sort of art/sculpture gallery with all these mosaics, a [View Full Entry]

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Hello from Swaziland! The trip here was loooong, but I finally made it on Wednesday night. I first stayed at a hostel called Sondzelas in a game reserve that had been recommended to me, but it was AWFUL (a lot of potential, but the staff were grumpy and it had no atmosphere). After a day myself and a Dutch girl named Saane moved to Swaziland Backpackers, which is nearby and so much better. It's been cloudy here but hot, and the first day we were pretty tired and didn't get up to much. We went for a walk though and saw [View Full Entry]

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The best things come in small packages We arrived in Swaziland by bus, changing our minds en-route about where exactly we were going. Having been used to the HUGE distances between towns in Mozambique we hadn’t quite down-scaled our thinking properly when it came to tiny Swazi and the travelling time between towns. So we ended up in Manzini, not actually the capital, but the busiest city in the country. Although it’s quite possible to spend a bit of time in Swaziland we really only had one reason for stopping on our way to South Africa - Rhinos. They had eluded [View Full Entry]

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Out of the 47 countries in the world which I have visited, the tiny Kingdom of Swaziland has to rate in my top 5. It is a fascinating mix of relatively wealthy whites and a few middle class blacks, and many fairly poor blacks and feels very friendly and relaxed. It is green and very beautiful and has influences from South Africa in its lifestyle and supermarket culture. It feels quite wealthy after countries such as Malawi. Unfortunately up to 40% of its population is reported to be HIV positive but in spite of this horrendous statistic and a very low [View Full Entry]

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The average life expectancy for a Swazi is now 32 years old. Swaziland is a stable, affluent, and peaceful nation. So why are people dying at my age? Because of AIDS. Swaziland now has the highest infection rate in the world - a shocking 40+ percent. Why that is, I'm not quite sure, but it probably has something to do with the size and location of this tiny country. Sandwiched between Mozambique and South Africa, Swazi is about a quarter the size of Tasmania, and is home to a million people. Travellers and truck drivers pass through on their way to [View Full Entry]

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Swaziland was nothing like I expected. I had bought a brand new travel guide and read about Alpine peaks, cheese, chocolate, Heidi, and a national obsession with local hero Roger Federer. Nothing of the sort - the chocolate tastes of cardboard the cheese of plastic. Swaziland is a tiny, under-developed kingdom mostly surrounded by South Africa like a nut in a spanner, with Mozambique sharing a small border on the other side. It was held as a British colony long after we handed South Africa it's independence. It was then afforded its own independence in 1968 and is now one of [View Full Entry]

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