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Well after a long absence from the writting of my travel journal I am back!
We left Durban early and headed for whole new country called Swaziland, which still has a king as the ruler. The King rules but it is in with council with his mother that decisions about the country are made. Swaziland was a very beautiful place with rolling mountains, vast grass lands and we stayed in a game reserve hostel surrounded by it all. Are first day consisted of a walk to the shops 4km away then a bus to the town of Manzini to have a look around. Once we braved the swealtering heat to get to the shops, we had a much deserved drink and used the internet to check up on a few things before braving the public bus to Manzini. When I say public bus you are thinking a yes like an City Bus, but no it is a mini van meant for about 10 people that often contained upto 18, you have probabley seen them at home small high sided vans toyotas normally. However it is extremely cheap, so we flagged one down at the side of the road as there is no bus stops or times you just hopefully get one that has space going past. Eventually we arrived in Manzini and arrived at a very busy town where we happened to be the only white people around as we where stared at constantly everywhere we walked but most of all when we went into the supermarket bought some food and stood outside making some lunch up and eating it, so we didnt stay too long as there was very little there but at least we were able to lift some cash as only 3 towns in Swaziland have Atms. When returning back to the bus park we were greeted by one of the most chaotic scenes I have ever seen, 500+ mini vans in one car park all looking for fares being the only white people in town you can guess as we walked through we were targeted by the touts who help drivers get their fares, I don't think I have had that many poeple asking where I was going at once, then finding out nobody knew whereabouts the place we were staying was! We were told by about 6 different people to get in their van but eventually we picked a random just to stop everyone trying to get our fare. We sat in that taxi for at least half an hour before it left then 15 min getting out of the car park. We eventually got out and the driver drove us to a point where we knew we could get back from but it was at least an hours walk away, but the driver stopped us getting out saying he knew of a closer entrance, so in we hopped and he dropped us round at this dirt road then we started walking after 15 min a ranger flew up beside us and stopped and asked where we were going and he laughed at how far we still had to walk and so offered us a lift so we jumped in me and Catherine in the back and Rachel jumped in the front (typical) as the back had raw meat in it for a barbeque later. The driver drove us up the road about 20min then stopped and told us to walk in that direction and pointed in the distance so off we went another little hike. We really did think we were lost most of the way as we walked under some farmers gate and crossed his land, but we trundled on and managed to see Zebra, Antelope, bulls and wild bores along the way and eventually we arrived back at our hostel and jumped into the pool to relax! (Public transport in Africa an experience in itself however it did only cost us 70p to get to town and back)! The guy who give us a lift was typical of our travels through africa as if anyone saw us stuck they were happy to give us a lift in the back of their pick up a very friendly place! That night we had bbq warthog and local maize based product I currently cant remeber the name of around the camp fire. The next day wen off to quad bike with an Aussie called Robbie I had met the day before and our tour guide, while Catherine and Rachel went for horse riding and shopping in the capital Mabane. I had a great day rakeing about the country side, power sliding round bends and we stopped for cultural experiences at local villages. They did some traditional dancing, made us tea, food and also took us to see the local water fall and we messed about there to cool off, it was an excellent experience and I only, almost broke my leg once! Â
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