Swaziland

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Trip Start Aug 27, 2007 Previous
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  Mlilwane, South Africa
Saturday, October 6, 2007

After our exciting morning of observing the lion, we went back to camp and had our breakfast then we were off on our way to Swaziland. Swaziland is actually a small country completely surrounded by South Africa and it is one of the 3 remaining monarchy's in Africa, meaning it is still ruled by a king. And as soon as you cross the border that becomes quite apparent! We were going to spend the morning visiting a traditional Swazi village, but first our guide met up with us and gave all of the woman sarongs to put on, as woman cannot enter the village without a skirt, so we tied things things around our waists, they had none other than the king's image on them of course!  We all looked very attractive.
While we all waited outside, our guide went in to ask the chief's wife permission to enter the village.  Permission was granted and in we walked, greeted by a line of children, teenagers, and ladies, and the chief's wife, she was a energetic big smiley woman with a hardy handshake

Swazi skirt

!  She made us feel very welcome.  We sat down on mats on the ground, shoes normally must be taken off but we were allowed to keep them on since it was a bit rainy and muddy.  They taught us some Swazi words, and songs , one of them being the song they sing for the reed gathering ceremony.  We didn't sing very well but we tried.  I kept getting distracted by the group of young kids sitting next to me who were staring and giggling and asking me questions like what was my name and where am i from and they were all so cute so it was hard to pay attention to them and what was going on around us!  The women and the men both took turns in participating in a tradition dance, and if you know me you know i have absolutely no rhythm especially not when completely sober.  It was a pitiful sight I'm sure and a shame no one got it on camera.  The women tried there best telling me RIGHT foot, RIGHT! right, left right left! Noooope, I couldn't get it. 
We also practiced balancing a water pot and a basket on our heads, they make it look so easy but i think having an afro might help. I wasn't successful at this either.
Most of the children in the village are orphans that the chiefs wife has taken in from surrounding areas.  This tiny country is beautiful, and culturally rich and proud, but also has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world, at a shocking 39%.  Mostly effecting people in their 20's, so many parents are dying and there children are left to be raised by grandparents or they become orphans.  I did see quite a few banners and advertisements for aids awareness, prevention, testing, etc. so I do believe that the government is trying to get people educated, so that is good at least.
I sorry for the kids, and i know there wasn't much i could do for them, but i did donate some money, to which the chiefs wife said to me "this money will go towards buying food for the children so they can become fat like you

Balancing

! "  haha well thank you very much for that compliment.
We spent the next 2 nights at the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary and our rooms were traditional beehive huts, so cool! Not quite traditional seeing that we did have electricity, running water, private bathrooms... etc.  We arrived late in the afternoon and Meegan and I didn't care what the weather was like, we were determined to go in the pool!  We quickly changed, grabbed a drink at the bar and went over to the pool.  There were 2 giant ostriches picking at the grass, I'm sure they wouldn't bother us but the look one of them gave me was like it could kill me!  We got into the pool and i went in much faster than i wanted to, slipping and going completely under, beer and all. Meegan thought this was quite hilarious.  We swam around and chatted throughout the rain, thunder and lightening, but it was worth it for  the memory and the beautiful surroundings. 
After Swaziland we went to the city of St. Lucia. More rainy weather. We actually did a lagoon cruise out in the rain, Thabani came along too and sat with Meegan and I keeping us entertained by being the first to jump up and yell "hippos!!! oh .. my .. gosh.. hippos..."  looking through binoculars as if he'd never seen a hippo before hahaha. 

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Swazi boy	Swazi kids	Kids in Swazi village	Kids Swazi village
Me and the cheifs wife	Me and Meegan with our guide to the Swazi village	Chiefs wife	learning a dance

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