May 21 - Swaziland to Mpumalanga

From Wikipedia:
Eswatini (ESS-wah-TEE-nee), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland (SWAH-zee-land; officially renamed in 2018 to Eswatini), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south, and southeast. At no more than 200 km (120 mi) north to south and 130 km (81 mi) east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld.

After the Second Boer War, the kingdom, under the name of Swaziland, was a British high commission territory from 1903 until it regained its full independence on 6 September 1968. In April 2018, the official name was changed from Kingdom of Swaziland to Kingdom of Eswatini, mirroring the name commonly used in Swazi.

The majority of the country's employment is provided by its agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Today’s population is about 1.2 million. HIV runs rampant in this country and life expectancy is less than 60 years of age.

The government is an absolute monarchy, the last of its kind in Africa, and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986. The next king will be chosen by his mother from the children he has sired by his 15 wives, one for each of the tribes in the country. The king skims money to build fancy hotels and to buy fleets of fancy cars and to generally live a lavish and privileged lifestyle, to the complete detriment of his subjects.

Today the plan was to continue driving north through Swaziland, cross the border back into South Africa, visit Matsamo Cultural Village, have lunch there, and then continue to White River which is near Kruger National Park.

Less than an hour into our 3-hour drive to the border, the front brakes on the van began to smoke. We pulled over to assess our options. Colette waved at a big tour bus (Gate 1 company) to warn them that we were on the side of the road. The bus driver thought she meant we were in trouble, so to our amazement, they stopped because tour people always help out one another. As it turns out, the driver, Sam, and Behki had done tours together before, and the tour director, Anna, knew Behki’s company well. The six of us jumped onto their bus and continued on because they were also going to Matsamo. Behki stayed with the bus. We got through customs with Anna leading the way and went immediately to Matsamo which actually straddles the border between Swaziland and South Africa.

Some of the people on the bus got to see a black mamba snake. Cool!

The Swati people gave us a tour of their little village and explained some of their cultural practices. The chief can have many wives. The current chief has two wives and has sired 15 children by the first wife and 10 children by the second wife. The young lady who did the commentary is a child of the first wife. Then they put on a delightful show of dancing and singing. Colette and Sue joined in the dancing and singing of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” The people of Matsamo are known world-wide for their choral singing with its fabulous harmonies. Their rendition of Amazing Grace was fabulous. Afterwards, they served us a lovely luncheon.

We climbed back on the big bus for a 3-hour ride to Whiteriver. We passed through a very important agricultural area known for growing oranges, macadamia nuts, cashews, avocados, mangos and pineapples. The lumber industry is big here too - harvesting eucalyptus and pine trees. We are staying at the Country Boutique Hotel. It’s a lovely place - the people on the bus were mightily impressed! The grounds are beautifully landscaped, and we have found the staff to be kind and helpful. We bunked out by the pool to enjoy the last of the day’s sunshine and warmth and to celebrate our incredibly good fortune. We had a beautiful, tasty buffet dinner here with warm malva pudding and crème caramel for dessert. Both were excellent.

A new van will be here for us in the morning. We have a full day tomorrow as we head to Kruger National Park.Read more