Dawson's Game and Trout Lodge Barberton

Today we drove a little beyond Nelspruit to the Umhloti Lodge, where the Chimpansee Eden (http://www.janegoodall.co.za/) was located as well. Our itinerary included a tour of this Chimpansee Eden. The first thing you should know is that Chimps are not indigenous to South Africa. The second thing is that the refuge only exists for about three years now.

We arrived at the lodge close to lunch time. As the tour at 14:00 o'clock was feeding time for the Chimps and ...

Malalotja Nature Reserve, Swaziland, 2nd, 3rd & 4th October 2009

The following morning was damp and misty as we packed up the tents. We left at 8.00am and drove towards Mbabane where the weather conditions worsened. The by-pass road past Mbabane is a very steep climb and the mist really dropped down so that visibility was very poor. After Mbabane and before we reached the border post we turned off right on the main ...

... township ( which is certainly no slum but has quite upmarket areas, too - amongst other houses the house of desmund Tutu), had a chance to stop and chat, high-five pretty much all the local kids, drink the local "beer" (fermented out of maize) and eat not only the crazily huge Soweto burger but also the slightly less enticing speciality of grilled meat from the cow's head... this is using the term meat quite loosely ;-) compared to others in our group ...

... The hostel that the BazBus drops off at was advertised as within walking distance of all sights of the eZulwini valley, and it was - just a good couple of hours of walking involved. The car has given us so much more freedom to explore.

Our next stop after Kruger, was to spend a couple of nights in another National Park, this time Malolotja NP in Swaziland. This is a place of fewer animals but stunning scenery, and our hike down to ...

November 11, 2008 We made it through Zimbabwe safe and sound and only wished we could have stayed longer and explored more of the country.  Hard to do though when the store shelves are empty of food and gas is extremely difficult to find. Things started to go bad in Zimbabwe in 2000.  Since then, gross domestic product is less than 50% of what it was and imports and exports are less than 10% of what they were.  There is very little of any type of commodity ...

... Jeff Bridges and we were convinced it was him until we talked to his wife. We did have some fun imitating him and making up new police call letters using dirty words! We got so sick of hearing it! The resort had a well known restaurant (for Swaziland), called Taste of Africa. It was good food. Especially the Mozambique seafood soup! There is not much to do in Malolotja NP-so we basically did a long run through the park everyday. The scenery would be ...

Swaziland is a small country bordering S.Africa and Mozambique and is ruled by a King. It is traditional for a man to have more than one wife and the King of Swaziland takes a new wife each year. He has ruled for 13 years and is now seeking his 14th wife! Each year, a reed dance festival is held, where all the young maidens from all the ...

... leaving, and on my last day I was just thinking of all the things I could have done in my time here with the kids that I didn't. I suppose it's reassuring to know that I will be able to take that knowledge with me to my next placement. I am curious to see how different my project will be in Swaziland, I will be working at an orphanage there by caring for the babies and children. I also think that I will try and get involved with digging trench gardens and building ...

... where the houses are nothing more than shacks and there is communal water that comes from a pump. And there are two story houses with garages, they are rare, but its all there in one place. So I met up with Binki and walked to the wedding party and it was really hot on Friday, maybe 95 or so (I love using Fahrenheit again, since no one else in the world knows what I am talking about when I say its 95 out). It's amazing how many faces repeat in this town. Everyone is ...

... room, this time watching a DVD of the Wharton Comedy Club standup performance from this past spring, which we missed due to a Billy Joel concert. The comedy was superb, even on the recording, and the highlight was our friend Ari Chester, who put together a fantastic set concerning gays in the military and sex at Wharton. We are hoping to meet up with Ari on the Australia leg of our jaunt. Today, Friday, June 16, we again awoke at 530am for a morning drive. Unfortunately, the ...