It had been our intention to go on a bicycle safari with a company called Swazitrails, but when they failed to pick us up, we instead booked a safari at Mkhaya Game Reserve the following day and returned to Nhlangano. The game drive at Mkhaya was one of the highlights of the trip as we drove in an open safari vehicle and came incredibly close to the wildlife, including a large group of elephants.

December 1, Friday

Someone's alarm clock started beeping at 06.50 and we got up straight after that. At breakfast we discovered that somebody had stolen our strawberry jam from the kitchen during the night. Not a terrible crime in itself, but pretty annoying there and then.

Today we had booked a mountain bike safari with a company called Swazitrails, but Jan Arild's knee was hurting and I was tired from yesterday so we weren't really feeling very excited about it. Before going outside to wait for them, I ran into Mthunzi who had just gotten out of bed. "Aah, Tina!", he yelled when he saw me, "Come and give me a hug!", which I did. "Did you sleep well?" he asked, and I answered truthfully that "No, I hadn't". "Cool!" was his reply. I had noticed that "cool" was a word he used quite often and I assumed that he had picked it up from an American film, but this was maybe not the right context to use it in? :-)

Swazitrails didn't show up for our appointment at 08.30, but we decided to give them until 09.00 before giving up on them. We were both now hoping they wouldn't come. While we were waiting, the Angolan guy came out and asked a boy that was sweeping the sidewalk if there was a driving school in town. I knew there was one because I had seen it yesterday. It had stuck in my mind because it had been located in a small shed and looked a little unprofessional with learning cars that looked like wrecks. Anyway he set out to find the place and we thought good luck to him. On the other hand, he was probably just going down there to point out that it is much hotter in Angola than in Swaziland :-)

Swazitrails never arrived so we went back in to ask Bruno if he could book a trip to Mkhaya tomorrow for us instead. He was happy to do so and would organize everything while we looked around town. Mkhaya is a privately owned game reserve and we had been told that it was very good, despite not having all of the big five. Borgny had earlier said she would drive us there if we booked the trip.

We decided to return to Nhlangano today, but first we had to buy some Christmas presents for all the children. There were 19 children at the orphanage so obviously it could only be a small thing for each, but still we thought they would enjoy having something extra for Christmas.

We shopped in different stores and tried to find something different for every child, which was not easy! We bought presents for some of the grown ups as well. On returning to the hostel to pack our stuff, Bruno came into our room and we talked with him for a quite while. He had travelled a lot in Africa and had much to tell. Actually he knew a lot about everything and I thought he was really nice!

We said goodbye to him and went down to the bus station to find a bus or Kombi to Nhlangano. On the way we heard someone yell our names and stopped. It was Mthunzi, the crazy guide, a name I had given him. He was together with an old man we had to meet. It turned out to be his chief. We talked with them briefly, before continuing to the bus terminal. Mthunzi said that if I wanted to send him some of my photos from the trip, this was not a problem for him. That was good, because I didn't want to cause problems for him, I thought :-).

At King Pie we had a quick snack before going to find the right bus. The bus station in Mbabane was bigger than in Nhlangano and slightly more chaotic. A nice man offered to help and pointed us to the right bus. However, the bus was a wreck and we were not sure if it could make the trip, so we opted for a Kombi instead. One was almost full, only waiting for us to occupy the last two seats, so we didn't have to wait long this time.

We arrived in Nhlangano at 13.30 and walked towards the town center, looking for a phone booth to call Borgny. However, on arriving in the main street, she drove straight past us! What a coincidence! She had been in Nhlangano doing some errands. We got in the car and went home with her.

Back home we found out that the "little lion" had left today with his new owners. That was sad, but Blondie was still there, being very hungry for attention. Finally we could shower and relax a little. Jan Arild installed a computer program called "Word shark" which one of the children had deleted by accident. Borgny was very happy about this because she couldn't do it herself and really needed it for one of the dyslectic boys.

While we were out playing with the puppy, two other dogs came to mate with one of Borgny's older dogs. We tried to chase them away but instinct won and they kept it going throughout whole night. It wouldn't be long until Borgny had a new litter of puppies again.

Feeling tired, we went to bed at 21.30 and fell instantly asleep.

December 2, Saturday

On our last full day in Swaziland the weather was warm and sunny. However, this was not good since we were going on game drives in Mkhaya and would spend a lot of time in the car. Still, there was not much to do about it :-)

We got up at 06.30, had breakfast and were ready to leave at 07.30. On the way to Mkhaya we stopped in Manzini to pick up Howard (13 years old) from the orphanage. He had been visiting his uncle there and was going to come with us.

There were several police roadblocks along the way but most of them let us drive straight through. However, one place the policeman talked a while with Borgny in Siswati before looking over at me and asked if I wanted to marry him! I was obviously such a pretty girl, Borgny told me, and on hearing that I answered yes. He said he would get back to Borgny later to discuss the price. They are certainly funny these Swazi policemen! :-)

We were running a little short on time, so we drove faster and faster. We were supposed to be picked up by a park ranger outside the gate at 10.00, but it was 10.25 before we got there. I expected them to have left without us, but I needn't have worried because in Africa time is a relative term. The ranger was still there!

We parked our car outside the gate and changed over to what I would call a real safari vehicle. It was an open jeep with three rows of seats behind the driver. To get into the park we drove through a river (not very deep, but still..) and several other gates. The first stop was at a house to register ourselves. We got some cold juice and a chance to visit the toilet before the real game drive started.

In the park we met another jeep with two people in and we changed over to their jeep and got a new guide. We drove around for two hours before having a lunch break. We saw so many animals very close that it was almost unbelievable! Amongst other things the guide drove the jeep into a group of elephants and they were so close that I could almost reach out my hand and touch one of them. There were many elephants and soon it seemed they had surrounded the car. One of them seemed a little aggressive so we got out of there. It was very exciting!! Safari in the Kruger Park was amazing, but it was nothing like this! In Mkhaya we got very close to the animals and it felt even more so since it was an open car. I strongly recommend it!

Soon we spotted a group of giraffes and the guide stopped the jeep and we were allowed to go out. We walked closer to the animals, but not too close and just watched them eat. I was very excited about this since the giraffe is my favourite African animal. Other animals we saw were different kinds of antelopes, zebra, hippo, rhino and of course the impressive buffalo! This time we saw it so close that I really got a feeling of how big they are! It was certainly not something I would have chasing me through the bush!

At 12.45 we stopped in a rest camp inside the park to have lunch. It was a big buffet with all kinds of good food. We were the only guests. In this camp you could stay overnight in nice cottages. It was pretty luxurious and probably not very cheap. The game drive itself cost R250 p.p., which was rather much for Swaziland, but absolutely worth the price!

After lunch we went on another game drive. It was very hot now, but not unbearable. We met the same group of elephants again and also this time the driver had to drive straight through the herd. Some of the elephants were a little annoyed by that and one came running after the jeep. It was a little more excitement than I wanted, but it was fun as well! At 15.00 we were driven back to the gate and dropped off by our own car. I wished it would have lasted longer, but all good things must end sometime.

To get home we decided to drive another route. This time we would drive towards Big Bend and the border to Mozambique. There we would go south to Lavumisa and then turn west towards Nhlangano. The trip took tree hours and it was very hot. In the south-east the scenery was flat everywhere and rather boring to drive through. However, when we turned at Lavumisa the scenery changed dramatically and soon we were surrounded by the green hills that I was used to from the south. It is so beautiful and unlike anything I know about. Sometimes you just feel like you can't get enough.

Precisely at 18.00 we arrived back home. It felt good to get out of the car. Finally the temperature was on the way down and it was very comfortable outside. We sat for a while on the stairs outside and watched the children play. They played different song games and some of them looked similar to those we used to play in Norway when we were younger. We played and cuddled with the puppy, and the puppy bit and chewed on us.

Joyce, who had grown up at the orphanage and was back to visit, had made a fabulous dinner for us with different kinds of typical Swazi food. I got to taste sweet potatoes for the first time and I really liked it! We thanked her a lot for her efforts and she said it had been her pleasure. The phone didn't work today either (of course) so we couldn't call home, but would be able to do so from Bente and Gunnar's tomorrow. We went to bed at 22.00 and slept very well.

December 3, Sunday

As usual I woke up at 07.00. I stayed in bed for a while and updated my journal before getting up and having breakfast. The others went to church but we stayed home to finish the packing. I had a lot to pack amongst others a big wooden giraffe and all the other stuff I had left at Borgny's while I was in South Africa. We also had to wrap all the Christmas presents for the children, which took a lot of time. The puppy was of course not forgotten and got its share of attention. I wished I could take it with me, but of course that was impossible.

When Borgny came back from church at 13.00 we had dinner and got ready to leave. Three of the older boys were also coming with us to Piet Retief, where we were taking the bus. We said goodbye to everyone and drove to Gunnar and Bente. I was bringing some letters back to Norway for them, and we wanted to use their phone to briefly call home. I talked to my dad and he said everything was fine in Norway. He also said that if we had time in Piet Retief we should withdraw R1000 from an ATM and give to Borgny. It was a Christmas present for her and the kids. We thought that was very nice of our parents. Before leaving Gunnar and Bente we had some cheesecake (is there anything better?) and lemonade. As always they had so many stories to tell!

At the border I ran into an immigration officer I had met once before. He remembered my name and said: "Are you still here?". I told him I was leaving Africa tomorrow, even though I wanted to stay longer. He wished me good luck on my trip back to Norway.

We came to Piet Retief at 15.50 and the bus was supposed to leave at 16.15. We withdrew the money from our parents and gave them to Borgny. She was very surprised and happy, and said it would come in handy now before Christmas. It was sad to say goodbye to Borgny after having spent so much time together with her, but I was also excited about going home.

The bus arrived at 17.00, 45 minutes late. We had been starting to get a bit nervous, but it didn't really matter just as long as it came. It was very full and we got the two last available seats in the bus. Unfortunately, these were in the back just in front of the toilet! It smelled so bad back there that I had trouble breathing, and wasn't sure I could take it all the way to Pretoria!

After an hour the bus stopped for a break in Ermelo and we could all go out. It was wonderful to be able to breath normally again. I saw some passengers getting off and hoped not too many new passengers would come, so that there would be available seats away from the toilet. Back on the bus I asked the hostess if she could find some new seats for us and she did. From now on it was just fun to ride the bus. We saw a film and ate some of the food we had bought in Ermelo.

Around 22.50 we finally arrived in Pretoria. We had already decided that I would get our baggage while Jan Arild went to call Kia-Ora. Everything went smoothly and soon Quinton from Kia-Ora arrived to pick us up. At Kia-Ora we got the same room as every time and Jan Arild meant they could soon name it after us since we spent so much time there. We went to bed 23.45 but I didn't sleep very well.

December 4, Monday

I woke up at 05.00 when I had to go to the toilet. Jan Arild woke up as well and I congratulated him on his birthday. Obviously I was the first one that day. We then slept until 07.00 when I got up and stood looking out of the window for a while. Suddenly I saw a girl looking like Petro, our guide from the Kalahari tour, walk across the backyard. However, I wasn't quite sure since everything had happened so fast and I only saw her from above.

Eventually she came back, but since she looked pretty angry we didn't try to get her attention. Our theory was that she was picking up someone who had overslept for the Kruger trip. And I think we were right because when Petro returned a few minutes later, a girl came hurrying after her. Then we saw the Livingstone van pull out and leave. One would expect that someone would hurry a little when a lot of people you don't know are waiting for you, but this girl had used at least 15 minutes to get organized while the others waited. No wonder Petro was irritated!

I had a long shower and so had Jan Arild before we went down to have breakfast. It was our last breakfast at Kia-Ora and it was something to remember. We didn't have to check out of the room until 11.00, so we spent the time packing everything as well as we could and relaxing before going out.

To pass the time until we had to go to the airport, we walked down to Ster-Kinekor to see a movie. We ended up seeing "The Art of War", which was not really a too interesting movie. We then walked around in the city for a while before returning to the Kia-Ora. We sat in the bar a while and talked before having lunch.

Jan Arild called home to say he was soon going to the airport and would be home tomorrow. This also gave our mother a chance to say happy birthday to him. Our parents didn't know I had changed my flight ticket and were going home today as well. They thought I was coming ten days later, which was what I wanted them to think. I thought it would be a nice Christmas present for them when I suddenly showed up.

We had decided to go to the airport early, so at 1600 Quinton drove us to the airport. Since I was flying British Airways and Jan Arild was flying Air France, we had to check in at different counters, but we arranged to meet inside again. There were lots of shops in the departure hall with all kinds of African artefacts for sale. A lot more expensive than outside of course, but still tempting! I didn't buy anything for myself because I was already carrying a long giraffe and a big wooden mask. As a birthday present for Jan Arild I bought a book about African wildlife and a beautiful calendar of southern Africa, all of which he picked out himself.

After that we just waited for the departure. I was very excited about going home; after all I had been in Africa for two months now. I wanted to go home to the winter weather and get some Christmas spirit, something which I didn't find in summer Africa.

I boarded my flight first and could say "see you in Norway, tomorrow" to Jan Arild, and of course "thank you for coming to visit me. It had been great!" Both of us got home safely, and my parents were very surprised when I came home so unexpected, but also very happy! The adventure was over....for this time!