Travels of Bob & Sharon: Swaziland

Embedded between Mozambique and South Africa, the kingdom of Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in Africa. What the country lacks in size, it makes up for in its rich culture and heritage, and relaxed ambiance. With its laid-back, warm and personable people and relative lack of racial animosities, it's a complete change of pace from its larger neighbours.

Overseeing the kingdom is King Mswati III, one of three remaining monarchs in Africa. The monarchy has its critics, but combined with the Swazis' distinguished history of resistance to the Boers, the British and the Zulus, it has fostered a strong sense of national pride, and local culture is flourishing. The king continues to represent and maintain the traditional way of life and to assert his pre-eminence, for better and often for worse, as abslute monarch. Following his predecessor's style, Mswati dissolved parliament in 1992 and Swaziland was again governed by a traditional tribal assembly, the Liqoqo. Since then, democratic reform has begun with the drafting of a constitution. Despite the increasing agitation for faster change, even many reformers propose a constitutional king in a democratic system of government.

Currently, Swaziland's greatest challenge comes from the HIV/AIDS pandemic; the country has the world's highest HIV infection rate (almost 39% for adults between 15 and 49 years of age), and life expectancy has fallen as a result from 58 to 33 years. It is estimated that there are currently more than 70,000 AIDS orphans in the country and by 2010, one out of six people was a child under 15 who had lost both parents.

The excellent road system makes Swaziland easy to access and navigate. (LP)

Clever Lezanne

Another beautiful weaver

Weaver nest

Weaver entering the nest

Another look

Swaziland flag

Our accommodation - Beehive
huts

Our beehive village

Many people in rural areas continue to live in the traditional beehive huts in the traditional homestead arrangements. Our accommodations on the Mlilwane Game Reserve (one of the Royal Reserves and part of the kingdom's commitment to wildlife preservation) were beehive huts, as seen above. With tiny doorways and no windows, I was a bit concerned that I would suffer claustrophobia, however the small bathroom addition had a large window and the hut itself was more spacious than ever imagined. The floor was concrete and it was so cool inside. Brigit and Veronica discovered a frog under their bed. Lots of places for wildlife to find a way in.

We had to bend wayyy over
to get in this doorway

Entrance to the bathroom

Kembo took us to a local Swazi village and we had a wonderful afternoon. This little (??) warrior below provided so much entertainment....as you shall soon see. Lezanne and Kembo nicknamed
him "Mustafi", which means "fatty", "in the most loving way", says Lezanne.

Fascinated

The Swazi chief

She made us welcome and was
so much fun...as you shall see!!

Beautiful young woman

Our Swazi guide

Everyone pays rapt attention to
the chiefs welcome to us

Required dress for females to enter the
village...if wearing pants

Wearing the King

The children greet us in song

Then we must participate in the traditional
song and dance

Guess you can tell I was having
a good time.

Groovin'

I'm taking a video. See it below. My
apologies if it makes you dizzy.

Demo of the various containers
used in the village

Such beauty

Lynn was up for the challenge

..and being master of all things
(I'm not kidding!), she did it
with ease and grace

Lezanne made a valiant attempt

Right in the middle of it all,
our little warrior

Another little gem

We wove grass and tied them
to the fence

The chief demonstrating
the grinding of maize with
a stone

Lynn did a grand job

..and so did I

Kembo took a turn and it
seems that he's done this before

They sleep under skins
to keep warm at night

Lezanne tried it out

Surrounded by a curious audience

Below: The men take part in the warrior ritual dance. You can hear Lezanne and me laughing at our little warrior.

Older children looking after younger
children

Following the demonstrations, dancing and fun, the young women in the village displayed the crafts they make to earn money to support the village. We learned that most of the children we met here are orphans, due to the heavy death toll taken by HIV/AIDS. We left with our hearts aching for these beautiful people. The chief has taken in all of the orphans she can accommodate, loves them and gives them pride in who they are and their sacred traditions.

The next morning a few of us took a walk through the Game Reserve. Animals were not intimidated by us and allowed us to walk fairly close to where they rested and grazed.