Stuck in Swaziland - Part 2

So, I was stuck in Swaziland.  What now?  The tour guide did one good thing for me.  He went to the owner of the Mountain Inn, Marc, and asked him if I could stay at the hotel at a reduced rate during my time there.  Marc said that would be fine and he told Shaun he would also make sure I got to the airport for my flight home.  So with that information I went to bed.  I woke the next morning and had breakfast with my tourmates and said my goodbyes.  I wished them all a fairwell and hoped that had an amazing rest of the trip.  They were all so nice and felt horrible leaving me there.  It was a sad morning and I won't lie.....I shed some tears as they drove away.  I was pretty scared and unsure as to what the following days would hold for me.  Marc came and found me and asked if I wanted to go to a game reserve that day to pass the time.  I said "Of course" and got ready to go.  

Mlilwane Game Reserve

So, that first day I went to the Mlilwane Game Reserve.  Mlilwane is Swaziland’s pioneer conservation area.  It is a beautiful, secluded sanctuary situated in Swaziland’s "Valley of Heaven", (the Ezulwini Valley) in between Mbabane and Manzini.  It is Swaziland's oldest protected area, owned and managed by a non-profit trust.  

The sanctuary serves as a headquarters for the Big Game Parks including Mlilwane's sister reserves Hlane Royal National Park and Mkhaya Game Reserve. The Sanctuary covers 4,560 hectares. Formerly a farming and tin mining area, the area has been rehabilitated and is now Swaziland's most frequently visited reserve. Abundant wildlife grace the plains. The southern section is predominately open grassland plains with middleveld vegetation, stretching up onto Nyonyane Mountain. The northern section includes one of the highest points in the area at Luphohlo.  Mlilwane means Little Fire, a reference to the many fires started by lightning strikes on Mlilwane Hill.

I rented a mountain bike and spent a couple hours biking through the reserve. The reserve is NOT home to any predators (obviously or they would not allow you to mountain bike through there) but I was able to get up close and personal with many of the other animals.   It was a truly beautiful place.  The photos don't do it justice.

I got REALLY close to the zebra; even a foal that was maybe just a few weeks old. It was really cool to be that close to them!

I had a family of warthogs cross my path. They are very skittish! They are funny too as they run with their tails up in the air! 

The reserve is also home to many different type of antelope:

Blesbuck

Baby Kudu

Roan Antelope

Waterbuck

Beautiful birds:

Southern Red Bishop

Weaver nests

Weaver nests

White Fronted Bee Eater

African Ground Hornbill

and blue wildebeest:

There was also a big lake called “Hippo Lake”. I went down to the shore taking note of all the “beware of croc signs”.

There I saw three different crocs on the shore and in the water. Super cool!

Some miscellaneous creatures I saw:

 

Dung beetle

I did not see any hippos here. Bummer!

All in all, it was great day. I highly recommend that you visit this reserve if you ever happen to find yourself “stuck in Swaziland”.  Mountain biking is a great way to see the animals!

Marula Festival

Celebrating one of Southern Africa’s botanical treasures, the Marula Festival is one of

Swaziland’s most spectacular cultural events. A tribute to the riches of Mother Nature, the

Marula festival is an annual royal celebration. Every year festivities are initiated by King Mswati

III and Her Majesty the ‘Indlovukazi’ the Queen Mother, who travel all over the kingdom leading

the nation’s celebrations.

The Marula festival, known locally as ‘Emaganwini’, begins in February when the fruit is

harvested by women and children and continues until March. The unripe green fruit falls from

the tree and is stored until it ripens to a creamy yellow colour, it is then soaked with water and

sugar to ferment and make Marula beer, the traditional toast of the festival. The largest single

celebration is held at the royal residence of Ebuhleni, where the royal family join the nation in

traditional song and dance.

The Marula tree (sclerocarya birrea) is indigenous to Southern Africa, and has been a central

part of the Southern African way of life for thousands of years. In Swaziland, about 2 million

Marula trees grow in forests and bush, grazing lands, fields and homesteads and are protected

from felling by traditional laws which are enforced by local chiefs. The fruit is eaten by

elephants, rhino, warthog, kudu, baboons, vervet monkeys, zebra, porcupine and even

millipedes. Their leaves are also eaten by a range of browsers, including domestic cattle.

Not just used for beer, Swazi people use every part of the Marula tree for a wide variety of

domestic needs. Marula contains four times more vitamin C than oranges, and is rich in

minerals and anti-oxidants. The bark of the tree has a range of medicinal uses, however it is the

oil from the seed kernels that has real commercial potential due to its moisturizing and

conditioning properties. As a result there have been many skin care products developed using

the oil as a base.

I met a really neat girl at the hotel. Her name is Nadia and she is from Paris although she was

born and grew up in Morocco. She had been in Swaziland for about 9 months working on a

project for Swaziland Electric Company (SEC). She is a software programmer. She was

only supposed to be there 4 weeks. Does this tell you anything about the mentality of the

people and their work ethic? I’m afraid it’s not just Swaziland. I found that to be true all over

Africa. Sad.   Anyway, a girl named Sophie that Nadia was working with at SEC invited her to

the Marula Festival. SEC had a group signing/dancing for the King. I saw Nadia that morning

at the hotel so she invited me to tag along. I had to wear a dress or skirt that went below the

knees and my shoulders had to be covered. Those are the rules if you are going to see the King. I never actually saw the King but I guess you can be arrested for improper dress and I didn’t

need anymore problems so I followed the rules :)

Nadia and me

It was about an hour and a half drive to Ebuhleni. We arrived at the festival around 11am.

Nadia was told that it started at that time but guess what?? She didn’t factor in Africa time so in

reality it didn’t start til about 4:30pm. It ended up being a very interesting day. We met all the

others from SEC (about 25-30 women) at a huge tent and we sat around there for about 5 hours

while they all got ready for their performance. I cannot tell you how hot it was. OMG. Think

about the hottest you have ever been and multiply that by 100. It was HOT!   While we were sitting there a man came around with a bucket of the marula beer he made and offered for us to taste it. Even though I don’t like beer I didn’t want to be rude so I tasted it. It was actually pretty good!

I saw more boobs than I have ever cared to see and let me tell you, they were not pretty……just

sayin’. I saw things that day that I cannot unsee.  It was nice to see them in their traditional dress, once they actually got dressed.  The singing and dancing was cool.

Unfortunately, because it started so late we ended up leaving before the King arrived and before things got too rowdy. It was a long drive back to the hotel and Nadia wasn’t comfortable driving in the dark on these desolate roads with no street lights. Not to mention the locals like to walk right on the side of the road. Not the shoulder, the actual side of the tar road.  She was afraid of hitting someone and I don’t blame her. It’s scary!!

One more thing......of course I needed a bathroom while we were there at the festival. Let me tell you, I have NEVER been in a Port A Pottie more disgusting and smelly.  Get your visual/mental image. Think of the nastiest Port A Pottie you have ever been in and multiply it by 1,000,000,000. It was nastier than that.  If there hadn’t been so many people around I would have used a tree but it was impossible to have any privacy in that scenario.  It's probably against the law and there were drunkards all around so probably not safe.

All in all, a VERY interesting day.  I'll leave it at that!

Me, Nadia & Sophie

Veterinary Day and Rotary Club Meeting

I spent one morning at the local vet’s office. His name was Dr. Brian (Barry) Spencer. He graduated vet school in 1973 from Onderstepoort Veterinary College in Pretoria, South Africa. Originally from Swaziland he went back to practice in Mbabane after graduation. He has a nice, small practice attached to his house.  His wife Pru runs a bed and breakfast (Kent Rock B&B) from the house as well.  Dr. Barry used to do mixed animal practice but now only works on small animals.  He’s close to retiring and didn’t want the fuss of working on horses and cattle anymore. He does some spay/neuter charity work on the side too.  We chatted about similarities and differences between practicing in the States versus Swaziland. We exchanged practice tips and notes. It was a really interesting visit.  A super nice man.  I was glad to meet him :)

When I arrived back at the Mountain Inn, Marc, the owner, introduced me to an expat named

Daran Rehmeyer. Daran is originally from Lousiana but had been living in Swaziland for 9 years now with his wife and kids. His wife was an oncologist back home and has been trying to set up oncology

practice in Swaziland as it is just not available there. Most people (if they can afford care) go to

South Africa for oncology related visits. What Daran and his wife are actually doing in Swaziland is running a mobile AIDS treatment clinic. They travel around to different villages each day and give antiviral treatment (among other things) to AIDS patients. Most of these villagers are very poor (earning less than a dollar a day) and they have no access to transportation to get medical care.

Daran is a very nice guy and extremely interesting. His background is actually in engineering. He was at the hotel that day for the weekly rotary club meeting and he offered to have me attend as his

guest so I could get a free lunch and see how things are done there. The lunch was good and

the meeting was quite interesting. Needless to say, it was just another experience to put in the

books :)

The Last Day

On my last day there I just stayed in. I was supposed to go whitewater rafting but the weather

spoiled my plans. I just packed my bags, read my books and had room service. It was going to

be an early to bed day as I needed to leave the hotel by 4:45am the next morning to catch my

bus to the airport. The airport was about 2 hours from my hotel and the bus had to make

multiple stops. My flight was to leave Swaziland at 8:05am arriving in Johannesburg at 9:10am.

My only was stress was wondering what was going to happen to me when I got to the

Johannesburg airport the next day being that I was deemed “undesirable” and technically not

allowed to enter the country. Only time would tell. 

I have to give a HUGE thanks to Marc, the owner, at the Mountain Inn in Mbabane, Swaziland.

Without his kindness my days in Swaziland could have been more like hell instead of a

wonderful experience like it was. I enjoyed having dinner with him and learning about the

country. We had many laughs and discussions about life. I enjoyed meeting him and his wife

so much. If you are EVER in Swaziland you must stay at the Mountain Inn and reap all the

benefits of his kind nature.

Swaziland wasn’t such a bad place to be “stuck” after all.

Next blog.......traveling home!

"You travel with the hope that something unexpected will happen. It has to do with enjoying being lost and figuring it out and the satisfaction. I always get a little disappointed when I know too well where I'm going, or when I've lived in a place so long that there's no chance I could possibly get lost."  ~Andrew Bird