http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Swaziland , Ezulwini Valley en-us Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:52:50 BST Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:52:50 BST It's been 2 weeks since the last entry so i've got quite alot to catch up on. I'm actually in Malawi now arrived today but more of that later.Following the sports day i splashed out on a night of luxury at a chalet not far from lidwala. Had been feeling rough and wanted the luxury of a bath. The place was gorgeous a 2 bedroom wood cabin with kitchen living room and bathroom set amongst woods a http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-318651.html Leaving Lidwala lodge for a few days. Irsquom at the end of my prebooked time here but I am likely to be back on weekends. Was going to head for Ngwempisi gorge to do some hiking but had to delay as Irsquom feeling rotten upset stomach troubles. Thought Irsquod be ok so went to the interncp sports day organised by john the sports centre volunteer to chop veg for the kidsrsquo lunch. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-313892.html I have a little time to write about Sundayrsquos quadbiking as we had to come back from the project early today. We were pickedup 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 lsquorealrsquo Swaziland. We drove for about 45mins over to the other side of the Ezulwini valley to the http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-311751.html Awake early I decided to get up to watch the sunrise over the mountains opposite. I settled myself on one of the huge boulders that lay strewn around the garden. The shadow on the slopes behind descends quickly. You feel a cold breeze on your back and warm air on your front as the yellow light in the sky intensifies over the peak. I watched a bird of prey soaring over the valley and storcks land http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-306754.html So maybe a little more detail about the project Irsquom working on. Wersquore in a village called Mlandazwe which takes about 30 mins to get to on a good day hours on a bad one it all depends on the khombis the private minibuses all the locals use. The last couple of days there have been very few khombis so its taken hours. Wersquore making bricks by pressing earth in a contraption cons http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-306750.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-305129.html Things have improved a bit since last entry Settled in ok been working on site. It's about a 30min drive over the other side of the valley from the lodge i'm staying in with beautiful views of the mountains. The clouds roll in between 2 peeks above us. But the poverty is striking particularly set against the obvious money that is here. Coping with the allgirl volunteer group is the biggest cha http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-304097.html 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 b http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-302826.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HERE Thornbush Wacking in Swaziland YEBOOn 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 hasslefree. The clear weather allows us to witness a most beautiful and longlasting sunset setting the sky on fire behind the mountains circling the country. Thursday morning after http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-291907.html THE KINGDOM OF SWAZILANDHIPPOS COME TO DINNER WARTHOGS AT THE CAMPFIREldquoWhen 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 http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-287940.html 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 underdeveloped kingdom mostly surrounded by South Africa like a nut in a spanner with Mozambique sharing a sma http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Swaziland/Ezulwini-Valley/blog-221177.html