After leaving Hazyview we drove down to Swaziland where we stayed at the Swazi Cultural Village in the Ezulwini Valley, not so far from the capital Mbabane. Having been introduced to the Swazi culture, we exited Swaziland and entered the Zulu region of South Africa. Here we visited a Zulu Village and went on another exiting game drive in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park.

Day 7 - July 3

We really got some rest this day, as we didn't have to get up before 0700! (that's only 30 minutes earlier than on a normal workday -- what a relaxing holiday!) Kurt had made us a large breakfast with bacon and scrambled eggs, so we took our time eating and were only ready to leave at 0830.

We drove through some very nice and varied scenery, including banana plantations, high mountains and areas covered with forest. Stopping only once to do some shopping, we arrived at Jeppe's Reef, the Swaziland border, at 1200. The formalities went smoothly and soon we were inside the kingdom of Swaziland.

Swaziland is a very small country, almost completely surrounded by South Africa. It has a population of approximately 860,000. The Swazis are descendent from a group that originally moved down from Eastern Africa and settled in the area where Maputo (Mozambique) is today. However, they came under pressure from other clans, and moved further down to what is now the south of Swaziland.

There were some further retreats due to aggression from the mighty Zulus, but they were quite fortunate that the Zulus themselves got into trouble with the British and the Boers, both whom had superior weapons. When king Mswazi (Mswati) died in 1868, the Swazi kingdom was quite well established.

However, now came a quite chaotic period. Swaziland was annexed by Britain in 1877, and put under administration by the British and the Boers. This administration collapsed during the Boer War and Britain later took full control in 1902. In 1968 Swaziland achieved independence. The current king is Mswati III.

To us, Swaziland had always had an aura of "mystery" associated with it, maybe because we knew it was there, but never heard anything about it. While we knew that South Africa, at least in certain parts, was just like any Western country, we didn't know what to expect from Swaziland. We had never seen any proper pictures from Swaziland, so we really didn't have a clue what to expect. Therefore, crossing the border and finally being able to see the country with our own eyes, was very exciting, somewhat like opening a Christmas present on Christmas Eve.

The scenery didn't change drastically inside Swaziland, but the settlement changed somewhat. Whereas in South Africa the houses seemed concentrated in certain areas, here there were a lot of small individual houses scattered around. There did not seem to be much industrial farming on large pieces of land here. Instead, I guess, each person probably owns a little bit of land.

In the beginning there were hills everywhere, and we seemed to be going either up or down all of the time. The nature around us was still very beautiful. The road was still tarred, though, and just as good as anything in Norway. In fact, my first impression was that Swaziland looked less primitive than expected. People were not living in straw huts or anything like that, but generally in small concrete houses. The whole country looked quiet and peaceful as we were driving along this rural area. Still, though, there were quite a few people walking along the road, and we also met a couple of local buses that seemed to be extremely crowded.

After driving for about an hour, we stopped at Ngwenya glass . Here they were making all kinds of beautiful glass sculptures, and selling them at a relatively low price. There were also several other souvenir shops around selling typical African items, and we spent some time browsing in them. May Tina was ready to start shopping but managed to settle with a mask and some other small things.

For lunch, we ate cold sausages in bread (=cold dogs?) and potato chips before moving on. Now we were approaching the capital of Swaziland, Mbabane, but the scenery did not turn very urban. However, there were an increasing number of houses to be seen, and more and more people were walking along the road. Mbabane is supposed to have a population of 50,000, but it didn't even look that big as we came through. Even though Mbabane didn't look very urban, the road out of it, towards Manzini, was a very modern 4-lane highway. We first drove down a very long and steep hill, before stopping at an enormous souvenir market by the road.

They were selling all kinds of handmade souvenirs you could ever dream of. Our group spent about an hour there, and a few of the group members went absolutely nuts, buying almost everything in sight. In the end we came away with at least three enormous wooden giraffes and several other items. For the rest of the tour, these souvenirs were to occupy the final empty seat in the car.

Now it was only a five minute drive to the Swazi Cultural Village, where we would spend the night in traditional Swazi huts.

On arrival we were met by a guy wearing traditional Swazi clothes. His name was Albert and he seemed to be in charge of the place. There was some confusion in the beginning (it would not be the last time) as Albert seemed unable to understand Kurt's wish to have 3 Swazi huts with 4 people in each. Albert at first wanted us to have 6 huts, each with two persons, but finally the message seemed to get through to him, and we were assigned three huts.

Kurt was annoyed that nothing had been organised for us, even though they should know that the Drifters groups always arrive at the same time twice a week. For example there were neither matresses nor candles inside the huts. Anyway, Albert said he should watch our car, while we went to check out the Mantenga Falls. This turned out to be a very nice waterfall, only a few hundred meters from the village.

On returning to the village, Albert was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was another guy, whose name seemed to be Takalosh (or something like that), ready to assist us. Unfortunately, although he probably tried his best, he wasn't of much help. As May Tina, Lisa and me were about to unpack in the hut Albert had assigned to us, he suddenly had this idea that we should stay in another hut instead. As far as we could see the huts were identical, but we did as we were told. Then he proceeded to explain something to us, at least that's what we think he was doing. He kept on rambling for a long time without any of us having the slightest idea what sort of message he was trying to get through. It might have been something about his working hours, because he seemed to be saying "wake me at seven, because I start work at five" several times. Anyway, after he finally went away, surely to attend other important tasks, we could hardly stop laughing. In fact, we hardly stopped laughing all night as Lisa kept doing her Takalosh impersonation.

There was an outside kitchen in the village, just like there had been in the rest camp inside the Kruger Park, so those responsible now got underway with preparing dinner. It was ready around 1930 and consisted of lamb, rice and Kurt's special cabbage salad.

After having eaten, we were all sitting around the fire when Albert suddenly came back to chat with us. First he asked for our names, and he became very enthusiastic as he learned that there was an Iain in our group. "Ian Rush! Ian Rush!" he shouted. Later, he kept referring to Iain as Ian Rush all of the time. It seems he knows his football at least. Maybe we had underestimated the guy? (Just to be strictly correct: Actually he was referring to Stijn as Ian Rush because Stijn had said he was Iain while Iain had said he was Stijn. Confusing? Surely not..)

He then started explaining to us about the traditional Swazi culture. Unfortunately, it was rather difficult to make sense of everything he said. Apparantly his Swazi name was not Albert, but something I can't remember which meant "halfway" when translated into English. This was because he had been born when his mother was only halfway to the hospital.

I got the impression that each man could only have one wife. And the man had to "respect his wife very much", just like Albert did with his wife. Further, he lectured us on how the Swazi men chose their wife, which I didn't quite understand, but it seemed quite complicated. Apparently, the women didn't have much to say on this matter. (Though I'm not too sure about this since he was rambling quite incoherently at times.)

After a while, we were also joined by Takalosh. He had now lit a candle in each of the huts. They were offered some of our dinner, which they accepted, and proceeded to eat in a "traditional way", i.e. both eating from the same plate. Someone asked about the purpose of a small hole in the ground inside the village. It was impossible to see in the dark and Julie had already fallen in it, fortunately without getting hurt. Albert explained that the hole was a trap for Kurt. On the whole, there didn't really seem to be that much mutual respect between Kurt and the Swazis. Kurt had earlier told us that all these people wanted to do was drink and dance.

Quite a few cocks where walking around the village. Kurt apparently had some experience with these cocks from earlier tours, and he kept threatening to kill any cock who started "screaming" early in the morning. Albert replied that Kurt would then be put in jail by Takalosh, a warning which Kurt didn't seem to take very seriously.

Kurt asked whether it was safe to leave our equipment in the outside kitchen. We were all not quite assured by Albert's prompt response: "It is veeeeery safe because the Takalosh is here". My initial thought was: "Oh no, we have to put it all back inside the car!" However, in the end we left it all outside and it was still there in the morning.

As Albert was about to leave, he said to Iain (Stijn): "Ian Rush, my best friend, you must meet my father, the head of the village." Consequently, Iain and Stijn went with him. When they came, we were told that they had been offered some traditional African food (pap), while the whole family was probably high on marihuana.

We went to bed around 2200. Although we slept on the ground, it was quite comfortable with a matress. We were only three in our hut, but Takalosh had provided us with four matresses. (In the morning we learned that the other hut with five persons had only three matresses...)

Day 8 - July 4

We woke up around 0400 because a cock was walking around the village screaming as loud as it could. "Where the hell is Kurt?", I kept thinking. "Why doesn't he come and kill the damn thing, as he promised to?" After a while, more cocks started joining in, making sure there wasn't a quiet moment. There was no point in getting up, though, since it was pretty cold outside, so we just kept lying there waiting. Finally, we got up at 0600.

After the morning routine we ate a small breakfast. Albert then gave us a guided tour of the village with an in-depth explanation of the traditional Swazi culture. "According to our culture..." he kept saying all the time. To make everything more pedagogical, we were all assigned various roles, just like in a play. His best friend Iain (well Stijn, actually) of course had to be the head of the village. I was one of his children. The first born and the last born in a Swazi village apparently have special roles, but those born in the middle (like me!) only had to move out of the village as soon as possible to start their own village. However, if I ever had any problems I was allowed to come back to the village and ask for help.

From what he had been saying yesterday, when we all were sitting around the fire, our impression was that each man could have only one wife. However, today, Albert told us that each man could have at least three wives and a girlfriend! Apparently the Swazi culture is not a static system, but rather something which can adapt very quickly to changing conditions....

We even got to taste the traditional Swazi beer, which according to Albert contained 40% alcohol. It did taste somewhat like normal beer though, only much more sour.

After seeing the village we got going and quickly drove through Manzini and Big Bend, heading south towards the South African border at Lavumisa. After a while the scenery turned out to become more or less totally flat, quite unlike the north of Swaziland which had hills everywhere. On our way, we briefly stopped at a place where we finally were able to see both lions and crocodiles close-up. However, they were inside quite a small area and we could only see them through the fence, so I guess this doesn't really count.

On completing the border formalities, we headed straight for Hluluhwe (which apparently is pronounced as "Sluslui", or something like that). There we stopped at Spar to buy food and drinks. Spar seemed to be the biggest grocery chain in South Africa. We have Spar in Norway as well, but they're not very big here, so we were a little surprised to see that they were so dominant in South Africa.

We were also quite amazed to see a security guard with a really big gun standing outside a normal grocery store like Spar. However, this would turn out to be a very common occurence. Crime prevention seems to be a huge business in South Africa. As there was a phone outside the shop, quite a few of us used this opportunity to phone home.

We then drove a short distance to a place called False Bay where we stopped to have some sandwiches for lunch. The scenery had become a lot greener as we travelled southwards into Zululand, and it did no longer look so dry all around. However, the temperature was still perfect during the day, and it would also turn out to be much warmer during the night. After eating we walked around a little bit along the lake, before heading for our next accommodation, the Drifters Zululand Inn, which was only a few minutes away, arriving around 1500.

The Inn was in a very nice area, surrounded by forest on most sides. Again we were sleeping in tents, but fortunately there was also a building with kitchen and a swimmingpool here.

Nothing very exciting happened for the rest of the evening, which was in fact very convenient. We spent most of the afternoon relaxing, updating our diaries, writing lots of postcards and taking a short walk around in the area. For dinner we had yet another excellent Braai, and afterwards we just relaxed even more until bedtime around 2200.

In the tents we only had some thin mats to sleep on. To make things more comfortable, we took some extra mats from one of the empty tents in the camp, but this didn't seem to improve the situation as the mats were about as hard as the ground.

Day 9 - July 5

We got up at 0730 after a "hard" night. After another light breakfast, we left the camp at 0830 and drove to Hluhluwe. Most of the group had written postcards and we all went into the post office to send them. While we were waiting inside the post office, a guy with a huge radio came in. He was carrying the radio in a strap around his body and had an antenna in one of his hands. However, the antenna couldn't be very good because it didn't pick up any signal, all we could hear was noise! Still, the guy seemed to be enjoying it, at least he kept the radio on at maximum volume!

The noise was rather annoying, and it was not long before he was asked by one of ladies behind the counter to turn it off. At least I guess that was what she was saying. Since she was speaking in Zulu we couldn't understand it. The guy seemed quite puzzled that anyone could not be enjoying the radio noise, but after some discussion he switched the thing off.

Afterwards we drove to a Zulu village not far away. The village was not a real village, but a kind of museum spreading information about the traditional Zulu way of life. At this time I was not feeling very well, and desperately needed to visit the bathroom. All day I had been struggling against diarrhoea, hoping it would go away by itself, but now I couldn't contain myself anymore. Fortunately, the toilet was very nice and clean (at least before I was done :-) ), and after "doing the business" I was feeling much better.

We were given a guided tour of the village and obtained a lot of information about the Zulu culture, all from spear making, marihuana smoking to traditional Zulu dancing. The dancing was particularly impressive. A two year old zulu boy also participated (or tried to) in the dancing with his own little zulu shield, and he got most of the attention.

Leaving the village at 1100, we drove the short distance to Hluhluwe Game Reserve for yet another game drive. I was now feeling just fine and did not have any further diarrhoea problems.

After having just entered the park, we arrived at a water hole where at least 25 giraffes were hanging around together with lots of impala and warthogs. It was an amazing sight! The water hole was almost dried out, so the giraffes seemed to have problems bending over far enough to drink the water. We felt a little sorry for them, as they stood there stretching their longs necks trying to reach down to the precious water.

Giraffes are really weird animals, and although we'd seen a lot of them before on this tour, we always loved seeing them again. They look kind of clumsy with their long legs and neck, but they actually can run very fast, as we had seen a couple of times.

As we finally were about to leave, things got even more exciting, as an elephant came along to drink. We hadn't really had a good view of an elephant yet, so it was great to finally see one so close. The other animals seemed to back off as the elephant approached, making sure it had the whole water hole to itself. Although, we now had quite a lot of experience with African wildlife, this scene was just so wonderful. Seeing all those different animals together in their natural environment really was a dream come true for both of us.

The elephant went over to the water hole and lowered its trunk. It was fascinating to study the way it was drinking, first sucking the water in through its trunk and then squirting it into the mouth. For some reason, I had always thought that elephants were actually drinking water through the trunk, but now it was immediately clear that I had completely misunderstood. We watched the elephant for a long time before moving on further into the park.

Around 1300 we stopped at a wonderful place to eat lunch. There was a river floating past so the vegetation looked very nice and green. Lunch was tuna sandwiches, which is not really my favourite food, though. However, Tina loves this, and there were a lot of monkeys in the trees which seemed to be very interested in them as well.

I thought this area was much nicer to drive around in than the Kruger park. Vegetation was much greener, not everything was dried up, and we drove on dust roads giving a better wilderness experience. Wildlife was much of the same as in the Kruger, but on the whole we probably saw more animals in the Kruger than in this park.

Around 1500, we stopped at the Hilltop camp where we had a great view of the park. We bought some ice cream at a shop there and sat outside eating and enjoying the view. After this, we drove through some areas in which there must have been a large fire, as everything was black and burnt all around. However, here we saw two rhinos, although they were quite far away.

We returned to the camp around 1715, just as the sun was setting. We relaxed until dinner, which today was spaghetti with meat and cheese. In my opinion this was our best meal so far! It was just brilliant!

This evening was also spent relaxing inside the camp. The Belgians showed us a funny little game called "Halli Hallo". The object of this game is the synchronised movement of glasses on a table, all according to a predetermined pattern. There is no prize for doing it right, but there is a penalty for doing it wrong and consequently breaking the pattern, as whomever fails must drink something like whisky, vodka, beer or whatever awful stuff is available. If you're not good at it, playing this game may eventually get you very drunk!

Anyway, I thought it was quite easy and was doing really well until some wiseguy suggested that we invert the pattern and go clockwise instead of anticlockwise. I had some relatively minor problems adjusting to the new system, and this seemed to be the source of some amusement amongst the others. Okay, so I failed on the first move five times in a row, but I'm sure this could have happened to anyone :-)

May Tina's remark: "The rest of us managed the change in direction relatively easy and really enjoyed seeing Jan sweat in his efforts to get it right. I laughed at his sorry attempts for days afterwards!"

There you can all see what I had to put up with for more than a month! :-) Anyway, we went to bed in our tents around 2230.