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Published: August 13th 2008
I have a little time to write about Sunday’s quad-biking as we had to come back from the project early today. We were picked-up at 8 by a guy called Richard, an outspoken English expat who runs tours by car, bike and hike into the swazi countryside so that visitors can experience the ‘real’ Swaziland. We drove for about 45mins over to the other side of the Ezulwini valley to the mountain range where members of the swazi royal family are buried, also the site of a famous swazi military victory over the rampaging Zulus in the 19th century. That was one of the stories about Swaziland’s more recent history that Richard produced during the drive. He also pulled several millennia-old stone-age tools, discovered close-by, out of his glove compartment as he talked about the region’s archaeology and more distant history. We stopped at a homestead where Richard keeps the bikes and had a little time to get used to them. I was a little nervous about getting used to the gears but it turned out to be loads of fun. We set off on the trail up the beautiful valley mid morning, stopping for lunch at another homestead. The communities here are not like in Europe - they consist of many homesteads spread out over a wide area. Richard’s approach is to allow visitors to see how rural swazis live, to see their homesteads; the gardens with fruit trees and veg, the groups of small one-room buildings, traditional and modern, that serve as separate rooms of the whole, and the people themselves. He also wants to get the money directly to these swazis, in return for opening their homes to tourists. He has very strong views on the behaviour of the white-controlled tourist industry here. So, at this second homestead we were guided over to a beautiful waterfall by one of the children who lives there and spent some time taking photos and scrambling over the rocks. This was followed by a lunch of advocados mashed up with lemon juice, squeezed from the lemons of a nearby tree, and mayo in fresh rolls, and redbush tea. Then we were shown round the homestead by Evelyn, the lady that lives there with her grandchildren. We saw the 3 terraces of maize and the hand-grinder she uses to crush the maize to make meal for cooking, her kitchen with cooking fire and the stone she used to use to grind maize, her chicken coup and the traditional beehive hut they’re building.
In the afternoon we continued up the valley, with the roads becoming narrower and dustier and the homesteads more spread out. We crossed streams and climbed hills and the view out over the peaks surrounding the valley was incredible. Ahead of me were the other bikes, in a cloud of red dust, and all the local people we passed would smile and wave. We stopped at a hill-top community at the head of the valley to buy gems dug out of the earth by local kids for 5R each. Back down the opposite side of the valley - the valley is a dead end, a no-through road that loops back on itself - to a third homestead where we were served more redbush tea and were treated to a display of traditional dancing by the 5 children that live there. On the way back to where we started our trip we made one more stop, at a swazi ‘pub’ - a group of buildings that looked just like a homestead to the untrained eye, just with more people sitting around outside - where we tried some African beer, fermented from sorghum (it’s an acquired taste). When we ascended the hill, with the sun setting behind the mountain ahead of us, and pulled into the first homestead again we found a meal of chicken, pap and veg waiting for us. The trip finished with the return ride in the back of Richard’s pick-up truck.
An incredible day. My last week of building has, by contrast, been quiet and mundane. New people on the project and the builder is in to finish the temporary shelter that will get the family out of their crumbling hut for the short-term, until the new 2-room building can be built. St Paddy’s day so the irish contingent are cooking stew and tats. Only one more day of building as we can’t work on Friday. There’s a local funeral happening and the custom is that no one can dig the earth.
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Dino
non-member comment
Aah...african beer, I remember trying that on a school trip once, "acquired taste" is being a bit generous from what I remember!! This quad bike trip sounds great, might give that a try myself once I'm home. Really happy to hear you're enjoying yourself, your description of the animals has reminded me off all the things I took for granted living in africa.... made me even more desperate to be home!! cheers! D