A caravan of rental cars departed Johannesburg on Friday to explore a true monarchy. Alison, a good engineering friend from UVa, who is also working as a consultant here in South Africa did some non-profit work in Swaziland last year and was anxious to show off her old stomping grounds._________________________
Kingdom of Swaziland
History: Swaziland is one of the world's last remaining absolute monarchies and currently ruled by King Mswati III. The country gained its full independence from Britain in 1963. Swaziland has a population of about one million and is well known for its friendly yet extremely poor population. Its economy is dominated by the service industry, manufacturing and agriculture. Some 75% of the population are employed in subsistence farming, and 60% of the population live on less than the equivalent of US$1.25 per day. There are two official languages, SiSwati and English.
Geography: Swaziland is a landlocked country being surrounded on the north, west, and south by South Africa and on the east by Mozambique. It is about the size of New Jersey and is mainly mountainous with wet summers and dry winter.
Interesting Fact: Swaziland has the the highest infection rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, affecting about one in three adults._________________________
After a busy Friday the cars filed out of town and headed for the boarder. The last of which was the final car to cross before the gates closed at 10pm; effectively closing off the landlocked country off from the world. We arrived at Malolotja Nature Reserve in the pitch black, so it wasn't until the morning that we got a full view of the countryside.
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| Malolotja National Park |
The ambitious half of the group rose early and packed day bags for a hike. The trail head was further into the National Park so, again, our rental car coupes headed out in single file. This time the roads were not as, well, paved. My VW Polo and I had the rally car spirit in mind and charged ahead.... all three inches of clearance, 1.4 liters of engine, front wheel drive, and the weight of four! The Polo triumphantly bouldered, climbed, and forged, but in the end, a mere puddle forced us to abandon the car.
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| Road to trail head |
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| As far as the Polo would take us |
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| Hiking in Malolotja |
The hike was an ambitious undertaking. To my astonishment, the national park service in Swaziland doesn't have detailed trail maps nor extensive trail maintenance crews. Within an hour of setting out we had turned around three times and found ourselves on the edge of a mountain staring down at our destination far below. Having the end in sight we picked a line and descended.
At the beginning of the hike, some one made a comment to the tune of, "this doesn't really look like Africa."
It was at this moment Africa retaliated.
The 'path' down to the river was over loose rocks, down steep ledges, through thickets, while batting off ticks, and breaking through cobwebs. Even the bushes fought back with thorns larger than any of the knives we were carrying. We stopped in a clearing for lunch and guzzled the last of our water bottles, filled our stomachs and rested. The daunting thought about these types of hikes is that, with the ascent coming second, arriving at the destination is well under half the effort.
The final push to the swimming 'potholes' was through an impassable greenery at the edge of the river. Moral was waning quick. Out of water, tired, seeing the afternoon storm clouds forming, we made a second Shakletonian decision and turned back just short of our destination.
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