Travels in April Part IV

Swaziland

After Hluwhluwe, we drove on to Swaziland. Despite being almost entirely surrounded by South Africa, Swaziland has a different feel to it. This was first noticeable at the border crossing; the SA side was modern and the Swazi side was much more rural and laid back. Although with that being said, there was a group of people with a wagon and an ox stopped on the Swazi side as their wagon was being searched by customs...although it was packed to the nines with everything imaginable. So I suppose the relaxed feel is a superficial thing, as it probably should be at a border post.

We stayed at Mlilwane Game Reserve which was beautiful. On our way through to the reserve we stopped at a typical Swazi market on the outskirts of the city of Manzini (the 2nd largest in Swaziland) because our guide wanted to buy us corn prepared the traditional way.  The fresh corn cob is roasted over an open fire and the corn ends up cooked and warm...sometimes a few kernals will go like pop-corn but it was really delicious. Corn is a staple in both Swaziland and South Africa.

Here is the market and the ladies cooking the corn at each of their stalls. The kids running around were really excited and happy to see us and kept trying to sell us fresh pineapples. I wanted to buy some because they looked so delicious but I didn't really have the place to store and then cut a pineapple (not the easiest fruit in the world to eat). I ended up dancing with some of the girls. I asked one if I could take her picture and she said that I should take a picture of their King.

Swaziland is a monarchy and King Mswati III is the king of the country. The girl I danced with is wearing (as you can see in the picture) a sarong with the King's portrait. These are for sale all over Swaziland and many people, both men and women, wear them in their daily clothing. Also, at the traditional Swazi village we went to, these King's sarongs are the traditional dress and are red, black and white. The girl was so proud that I took a picture of her King, and I had a lot of fun dancing with her after!

Here is the traditional village we went to (everyone was outside the fence at this point but I wanted a photo). You can see the traditional woven grass bee-hive hut to the right and the kraal around the sides is made of sticks (wattle I think it's called). While in rural South Africa (at least the parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape that I have visited) these types of huts are not common, but in Swaziland I saw many as we passed homesteads on the highway.

One final note is that the Swazi and Zulu people are very similar and the language is very close. I'm told most words are just pronounced slightly different. At the village I had to practice saying various greetings and clicks, but I'm afraid I haven't yet mastered the many different click sounds to the language. Still it was a lot of fun to try!

I really enjoyed Swaziland and everyone I met was very friendly. Definitely a place I would like to see again!