When I start working with the amazing staff and even more AMAZING kiddos at Baylor I will be living in Mbabane. The apartment hunt has started and the fact that all of them have running water makes me VERY excited!! Although I don't know exactly where I will be living yet I will be getting mail through the Peace Corps' office PO Box. This was the first address I gave you when first coming here, but I've also put it below.
Darryn Crocker
US Peace Corps
PO Box 2797
Mbabane H100
Swaziland
AFRICA
No worries if you already sent something to my Hluti address. We have paid through next April for that box. Just anything that you send out from here on would be better addressed to Mbabane. Thanks for the last two years of correspondence! It is always wonderful to hear from family and friends via mail/email/phone calls/facebook/WHATEVER!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Where in the World Are the Books?
April 7, 2011
3:55pm
As you can imagine, since returning from my glorious vacation with my mom, books and planning for their arrival has taken up most of my time! This past weekend my partner in crime and I met in town to finalize the accommodation for the 6-8 volunteers who will be assisting with the sorting, secure transportation to and from the warehouse for the 7 planned days of sorting and pick-up, and to meet with the owner of the warehouse to get an update on the books’ whereabouts and plan some contingency strategies should the protests hold up our operations. OH! I also learned about and got first-hand experience on how to kill and prepare a chicken. It was a very productive weekend. :-P
We were told that the 1,000 books should have arrived in Durban’s port yesterday. This means that, with all luck, they should be jumping a train and hitting Swazi soil by the middle of next week. Brooke or I will get a call less than 24 hours before the books arrive at the front door of the warehouse to be unloaded. In that short time we are going to call all of those individuals who were put on the sorting crew, and tell them to get their butts up to Matsapha! Again, this could all be delayed for a number of reasons, including the protest scheduled for next Tuesday, but we are ready for their arrival (knock on wood). The schools have also been finishing up some last minute additions to their libraries and writing down the directions for the book pick-up.
Actually, I have not written anything about the massive Librarian workshop that took place the weekend before Mom arrived in country! It went rather well. Thirty librarians showed up for the workshop at the Manzini Library. We had organized accommodation and food for 2 nights at the convent/hostel four blocks down the road from the library. Thankfully, a good friend and fellow volunteer came to help me out at the last minute, because my partner had to go to Pretoria for medical reasons. I gave her the official title of “Cat Herder” since that is how it feels to try and get people to things on time in this country. She did a wonderful job and the participants were at the library on time and ready. I wish I could have said the same about the presenters. :-(
Our project is partnering with the Swaziland National Library Service who performed similar teacher librarian trainings. Thus, they were going to teach the material in siSwati using the agenda we had co-created at a meeting just the week before! I was quite disappointed but I guess not entirely surprised to find them not prepared and completely disorganized at the training. It made my heart sink and my blood boil. I had actually considered hijacking the workshop, but my much calmer and less Type A friend talked me off the culturally inappropriate edge. With some prompting and clarification questions, the presenters did end up relaying a majority of the information they were suppose to teach. What wasn’t covered or covered poorly, I attempted to clarify the following morning during my session on student involvement, positive reinforcement and praise, and creating a space conducive to learning (topics that aren’t really considered in this culture). Part of it turned into a review session, but the evaluations came back very positive. I can confidently say that our objectives were met at the workshop, just maybe not as smoothly or as professionally as I would have liked. The teachers then returned to their schools fully equipped to prepare for the books’ arrival.
3:55pm
As you can imagine, since returning from my glorious vacation with my mom, books and planning for their arrival has taken up most of my time! This past weekend my partner in crime and I met in town to finalize the accommodation for the 6-8 volunteers who will be assisting with the sorting, secure transportation to and from the warehouse for the 7 planned days of sorting and pick-up, and to meet with the owner of the warehouse to get an update on the books’ whereabouts and plan some contingency strategies should the protests hold up our operations. OH! I also learned about and got first-hand experience on how to kill and prepare a chicken. It was a very productive weekend. :-P
We were told that the 1,000 books should have arrived in Durban’s port yesterday. This means that, with all luck, they should be jumping a train and hitting Swazi soil by the middle of next week. Brooke or I will get a call less than 24 hours before the books arrive at the front door of the warehouse to be unloaded. In that short time we are going to call all of those individuals who were put on the sorting crew, and tell them to get their butts up to Matsapha! Again, this could all be delayed for a number of reasons, including the protest scheduled for next Tuesday, but we are ready for their arrival (knock on wood). The schools have also been finishing up some last minute additions to their libraries and writing down the directions for the book pick-up.
Actually, I have not written anything about the massive Librarian workshop that took place the weekend before Mom arrived in country! It went rather well. Thirty librarians showed up for the workshop at the Manzini Library. We had organized accommodation and food for 2 nights at the convent/hostel four blocks down the road from the library. Thankfully, a good friend and fellow volunteer came to help me out at the last minute, because my partner had to go to Pretoria for medical reasons. I gave her the official title of “Cat Herder” since that is how it feels to try and get people to things on time in this country. She did a wonderful job and the participants were at the library on time and ready. I wish I could have said the same about the presenters. :-(
Our project is partnering with the Swaziland National Library Service who performed similar teacher librarian trainings. Thus, they were going to teach the material in siSwati using the agenda we had co-created at a meeting just the week before! I was quite disappointed but I guess not entirely surprised to find them not prepared and completely disorganized at the training. It made my heart sink and my blood boil. I had actually considered hijacking the workshop, but my much calmer and less Type A friend talked me off the culturally inappropriate edge. With some prompting and clarification questions, the presenters did end up relaying a majority of the information they were suppose to teach. What wasn’t covered or covered poorly, I attempted to clarify the following morning during my session on student involvement, positive reinforcement and praise, and creating a space conducive to learning (topics that aren’t really considered in this culture). Part of it turned into a review session, but the evaluations came back very positive. I can confidently say that our objectives were met at the workshop, just maybe not as smoothly or as professionally as I would have liked. The teachers then returned to their schools fully equipped to prepare for the books’ arrival.
Future Plans
March 30th, 2011
2:50pm
Just yesterday I was accepted to extend my Peace Corps service in Swaziland for an additional year! I’ve been given the opportunity to volunteer with the Baylor Pediatric Center in Mbabane as the Teen Club Coordinator. This organization may sound familiar to you because I have been volunteering at their youth camps and monthly youth support groups for the majority of my Peace Corps service. Now I will be in charge of organizing them.
For everyone who has been dying to give me hugs and welcome me back onto American soil do NOT despair! I’m planning on cashing in on them soon! I will still be coming home in August or September for a full month. Then I will be returning, not to my lovely hut in the hot lowveld, but an apartment, with running water, in the much cooler capitol city. This extension will look much different than my first 2 years, but I’m sooooo looking forward to the change and challenge.
2:50pm
Just yesterday I was accepted to extend my Peace Corps service in Swaziland for an additional year! I’ve been given the opportunity to volunteer with the Baylor Pediatric Center in Mbabane as the Teen Club Coordinator. This organization may sound familiar to you because I have been volunteering at their youth camps and monthly youth support groups for the majority of my Peace Corps service. Now I will be in charge of organizing them.
For everyone who has been dying to give me hugs and welcome me back onto American soil do NOT despair! I’m planning on cashing in on them soon! I will still be coming home in August or September for a full month. Then I will be returning, not to my lovely hut in the hot lowveld, but an apartment, with running water, in the much cooler capitol city. This extension will look much different than my first 2 years, but I’m sooooo looking forward to the change and challenge.
Few More Vacation Pictures
Giraffes have to do the splits to drink! So funny to watch!
On top of Table Mountain
This fact still floors me! Although, I sometimes feel that way about my family. :-P
Mmmmmmm wine and chocolate
Spot of tea
Mom’s Vacation: Part II
April 5, 2011
1:00pm
To continue with the second half of this tour, we’ll have to jump on an international flight to Livingstone, Zambia, which took off at 10:20am Sunday March 13th. Transport to our backpackers in Livingstone was waiting at the airport when we disembarked the aircraft and it was in that navy blue van that we met two nice young gentlemen traveling individually. My Mother was quite disturbed by this idea that people could travel solo. Not long after checking into the “Rhino” room, the name of our private room at this really cool backpackers, and getting settled in with a beer and the book of possible activities to do at and around Victoria Falls she had temporarily adopted one of the gents who was from Sweden. After insisting on paying for his lunch and joining us for a river cruise that evening, I informed him that he had just been “mommed”. :-P
The Zembezi River cruise on the Lady Livingstone boat at sunset was absolutely beautiful! The three of us sipped on our free cocktails and nibbled the appetizers, listened to the identification of birds and animals hanging out on the river banks, and witnessed a gorgeous sunset over the Zimbabwean horizon. I also learned quite a bit more about Zambia, Zimbabwe, and strangely enough Sweden! Haha.
Our viewing of the magnificent Victoria Falls the following morning was quite a …. wet experience. During this time of the year, right after the rainy season, the water levels going over the falls are at an all time high! This means that the mist crashing up from the lower level of the falls is also at its optimum intensity. In the native language to the area, Victoria Falls are actually called Mosi-oa-Tunya or “the mist that thunders”. This is not an exaggeration. Mom and I thought we would be fine hiking the paths in front of the falls armed with our travel umbrellas. Ha! I remember turning around, after crossing over a bridge about 2/3 the way up the falls, and I saw Mom clutching her umbrella which was bent backwards. We were thoroughly drenched and laughing hysterically!! The mist blocked much of the view of the falls, but we hiked all the paths possible. We even hiked down into the gorge to a spot on the lower river called “the boiling point”. An Australian guy we passed down there characterized it perfectly by saying, “I feel like I’m in an Indian Jones movie”. It was breathtaking, literally and figuratively.
It started raining as we left the park. Perfect timing! We went to a faux Italian restaurant for lunch, grabbed some popcorn necessities to make dinner that night and went back to relax at the backpackers. We spent the rainy afternoon reading books on the most colorful and large pillows which made up the “chill zone” in the center of this establishment. Our Swedish friend joined us for a bit, but then fell asleep on the much too comfortable pillows.
`Relaxing and rejuvenating the previous day made the very early morning rise not as bad. Instead of crossing the bridge to view the very misty falls from the Zimbabwe side, we decided to expend our double entry visa on a safari trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. I certainly think we made the correct decision. We were shuttled to the border and crossed the river in a small boat. Geographically this point in the water was situated between four different countries. If we had floated just a bit down river we could land on either Zimbabwe’s or Zambia’s coast. Heading straight across landed us in Botswana, and to our right was Caprivi Strip of Namibia. It reminded me a lot of Four Corners in the States only on an international scale. :-)
On the Botswana shore we were given a lift in the safari vehicle to border control and customs. After passing through all of that, we were back in the safari vehicle and transported to the small café adjacent to the tour’s office. The group from Jollyboy Backpackers consisted of two Dental Hygienist Professors from Sweden and three university students from Germany. We jumped on a flat motorized boat docked on the Chobe River behind the office and took off toward the national park. There were a TON of hippos segregated into their own groups along the shore. We saw multiple crocodiles, impala, cape buffalo, water monitors, warthogs, I think they are called mongoose, and many bird species. A herd of elephants even ran down to the waterfront for some H₂O cocktails and a romp in the mud. We pulled up on the shore not too far from them to enjoy the show. As we were making it back to our starting point it started to rain and the engine of our boat started acting up. Watching a large storm move across the Namibian side of the river was actually unbelievably beautiful. We made it back to the café in time for a yummy lunch, while Mother Nature got the rain out of her system. By the time we boarded our safari vehicle for the afternoon game drive it was sunny once again.
Chobe National Park certainly wasn’t as well manicured as Kruger. The drive was quite a bit bumpier, but the animals were just as amazing! About halfway through the drive another guide called over the radio that a lion was sited hunting a cape buffalo. Whatever our planned path was at that point, it was never traversed. We did a quick u-turn and sped as fast as possible back toward the front of the park. Five minutes later we joined the ranks of vehicles watching the fully grown male lion sitting quite majestically in the middle of a clearing. The cape buffalo was somewhat close but the lion didn’t seem to be too motivated to take on a fellow big five animal by himself at the time. We watched him for a while, found the tracks of his brother walking into the bush on the other side of the road, and then saw as he yawned, got up, and sauntered into the bush toward the road! We tried to figure out the trajectory of his path to so he could not circumvent our vehicle when crossing the road. Unbeknownst to us, his plan was to seek shade in the bushes and we couldn’t spot him thereafter. These animals are really good at hiding when they want to; even when we know they are right in front of our faces!
On the way back to the border and our boat to Zambia we saw many more elephants hanging by the side of the road. There are no fences keeping the animals in Chobe National Park, and as a billboard said, “Elephants have the right of way”! There was also a lineup of dozens and dozens of semi-trucks alongside the road waiting to be ferried across. Our guide told us that the line was about 3km long and they had been waiting there for two weeks!! The currents were too strong to transport them across at this time and sometimes the line reaches back 5km or more. Being a semi-driver there would be quite a tiring and frustrating job description. Why they haven’t built a bridge there yet, floors me! I would think it would pay for itself within a few short months. But I digress; we got across the river just fine and were transported back to the hostel after re-clearing Zambian customs.
Our final evening in Zambia was uneventful and perfectly laid back. That final morning we attempted to spend the remaining kwacha we had left (Botswana uses pula and both countries prefer USD) and then made our way to the small airport for a flight back to the hub of Jo’Burg.
A quick flight jump at Jo’Burg got us in the air heading to the gorgeous city of Cape Town, our final vacation destination. I LOVE this city! Driving in our little rented car into the city as the sun set behind the famous Table Mountain was at the same time beautiful and frustrating because of a loss of visibility. We found Abbey Manor Guesthouse and were instantly impressed by our amazing accommodation. This B&B was located just at the bottom of the mountain and a few minutes from the heart of the city known as the “city bowl”. We fulfilled one of my major objectives of being in this amazing city within that first night: we found an authentic Mexican restaurant! Soooo good.
Since the weather for Thursday morning was sunny and clear, we took the opportunity to cable-car up to the top of Table Mountain. We hiked all over the top of the plateau enjoying the tablecloth-free views (clouds around the top of the mountain have been nick named the “tablecloth”). After taking the longest paths possible on the main plateau, we decided to hike off towards “Echo Point”. That journey was a bit more strenuous, but lots of fun! We rehydrated (well, one of us rehydrated and the other had a beer :-P) at the café on top of Table Mountain before descending the same way we came up.
With a good dose of exercise in our systems we chose a leisurely, scenic joy ride down to Cape Point. Arriving at the gate of the national park in which Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope are enclosed, we found the weather had changed slightly. A dense force of clouds had overtaken the once clear sky. A wonderfully honest women working at the gate told us that the visibility at the peninsula’s point at that moment was not worth the park entrance fee. No worries there! We still had beautiful scenery to see along the eastern side on our return trip to the city. We even stopped to walk along Boulder’s Beach and say “hello” to the famous Simon’s Town penguin colony. They wished me to pass along their greetings, although I’m sure I would butcher their accent! :-)
Being this close to the sea, we felt it would be negligent to not stop for sea food. We had the GPS do a restaurant search and it landed us in a small, local Portuguese restaurant. This restaurant had closed their kitchen ten minutes before (at 3pm) and weren’t scheduled to open again until dinner. Luckily, the hostess said that the owner/cook was still here and, after checking, he would be willing to make up another order! Not knowing exactly what we were ordering when asking for the fish and steak “esperda” (spelling?), our jaws hit the table when two skewers, hanging vertically and loaded with meat, were set in front of us. About the same time the heavenly meat arrived the radio reminded us that it was St. Patty’s Day! What do two respectable part-Irish lasses do when informed that it’s an Irish holiday while sitting in a restaurant/bar... we order another round of drinks, of course!! (sadly, no green beer present)
The next order of business, after returning to our lovely room, was to get decked out! That evening we were going to the theatre!!!! We had purchased two tickets to see the opera Carmen at the Artscape Theater. Just sitting in the house, before the show even started, I felt as giddy as a kid in a candy store. I miss theater so damn much! Anyway, Carmen was a three hour long show set in Spain but sang entirely in French. :-P As most things in Africa, it did not start on time, nor did the 2 separate intermissions keep to only 10 minutes! Regardless, I was in heaven… Mom on the other hand might have chosen a different location to describe the situation. Haha. Even with English prompts on a screen above the stage, some of the actions and dialogue were misinterpreted. :-P Although barely scratching the surface of my theatre deficit, it was one of the main highlights of the trip for me.
Friday morning we found ourselves perusing the shops and attractions at the popular V&A Waterfront. After loading up on recommendations and maps at the information center, we left the city in search of the mystical and wondrous Wine Country. Not more than 20 minutes out of town there are a plethora of amazing wine estates to make any wino drool. The first location was Bilton Estates where wine tasting was pair with Belgian chocolates!! Yummm… We sure acted like we knew what we were doing by commenting/reading up on the full-bodiedness, plum, grass, lemon, pepper, etc flavors, and how the tannin lingered on the palate. The chocolate was written in the same manner and tasted delicious! The next winery was called Uva Mira, and was in the most beautiful location nestled halfway up a hill overlooking the ocean, city, and neighboring vineyards. We ordered a cheese tray, which turned out to be enough to feed 5 people (or, as it turns out, 2 cheese-loving Crocker women :-P) and sipped our wine tastings while enjoying the spectacular scenery. The third and final winery we visited was not as noteworthy as the first two so I have promptly forgotten its name. Do not worry, my forgetting has nothing to do with my alcohol intake at the time, although I let Mom fully take over the tasting at this stop. Afrikaans names are always difficult for me to store in my long-term memory.
A goal of mine for the trip was to have Mom try Ethiopian food at a restaurant on the bustling Long Street that I enjoyed immensely with Claire the year before. Although full on our cheese, we attempted to visit said ethnic restaurant. Sadly, or maybe luckily, it was closed being between lunch and dinner at the time we arrived. Instead, we walked up and down the famous street and investigated Green Market Square. To close out the day we returned to the V&A Waterfront to enjoy an ice cream cone and then board a sunset cruise sailboat. Seeing Robben Island, the World Cup Stadium, Table Mountain, Cape Town, a glorious sunset, and even a few seals from a wind powered boat in Table Bay was truly spectacular. Being on the water, with my mother, did not make me want to run back to a dry landlocked country! Oh, Swaziland. :-) We took in some jazz music at The Green Dolphin restaurant before calling it an absolutely perfect night.
The final morning of our vacation was all about pampering. No alarms were set and the glorious breakfasts served at the Manor were thoroughly enjoyed before packing up and leaving. With the help of our hostess, we booked a quick massage and beautifying session at a nearby spa. The masseuse had a hard time getting 2 years of hand washing clothes and schlepping heavy stuff onto public transport out of my shoulders. :-P Following that utterly amazing and relaxing experience we went to the Nelson Hotel to have a spot of tea. Neither my mother nor I are big tea drinkers, but many people suggested we experience morning tea at this 5 star historic hotel. We were certainly glad we did. The selecting and preparation of the tea was literally called a “ceremony” and a two tiered plate of sandwiches and pastries accompanied our beverages. The most adorable and entertaining part of the experience was watching the gentleman near us who had brought his young daughter. She was thoroughly dressed up for the occasion, and they walked arm in arm after the conclusion of their daddy-daughter date. :-)
Sadly, the time had come. After almost two weeks of freedom and fun, I had to give up … my wheels. :-P We returned the car to the airport and hopped on the return flight to Jo’Burg. Upon arriving to the major airport, we found out that Mom’s flight had been delayed by an hour. This was great news, because we had one more hour to sit in an airport restaurant and postpone the inevitable. Once that hour was finally over, I saw Mom to security and we waved goodbye. Her story now differs a quite a bit from mine but was certainly more dramatic and entertaining. While taxiing out to the runway the nose of the plane was damaged. Unbeknownst to me, she sat in a plane in Jo’Burg for another two hours before leaving me and Africa. Although running, without shoes (taken off at security and no time to put them back on) through the Atlanta airport, she missed her connecting flight by a few minutes. Not to worry, though. According to her telling of the story to me a day later, the airport staff redirected her itinerary and she got home only an hour after the previously scheduled time.
Again, somehow having SO MANY MORE miles to cross than me she got home before I did. After waving goodbye in the airport I got picked up and taken to a backpackers near the airport. The transport from the airport back to Mbabane, Swaziland left the following day at 12pm. I stayed with a wonderful group of girls, who live and work in Mbabane, that evening. One of the girls was having a welcoming braii for her mother who was visiting for a couple weeks. Ironic, no? I had an all day meeting at the office Monday, shadowing and interviews at Baylor Tuesday (see “Future Plans” blog entry), and fulfilled my PSN (Peer Support Network) duties by showing up to the three day Group 8 Grief and Loss workshop on Wednesday. From that emotionally draining workshop I joined some friends at Hlane Game Park on Friday to celebrate Ali’s birthday. We were camping and it rained heavily both nights, but we still managed to have a blast! Finally, a week after my mother got on a plane to return to the States, I made it back down to my hut and home in the lowveld of Swaziland.
This concludes our tour. All tips should go to the wonderful person who made it all happen. Love and miss you Mom!
1:00pm
To continue with the second half of this tour, we’ll have to jump on an international flight to Livingstone, Zambia, which took off at 10:20am Sunday March 13th. Transport to our backpackers in Livingstone was waiting at the airport when we disembarked the aircraft and it was in that navy blue van that we met two nice young gentlemen traveling individually. My Mother was quite disturbed by this idea that people could travel solo. Not long after checking into the “Rhino” room, the name of our private room at this really cool backpackers, and getting settled in with a beer and the book of possible activities to do at and around Victoria Falls she had temporarily adopted one of the gents who was from Sweden. After insisting on paying for his lunch and joining us for a river cruise that evening, I informed him that he had just been “mommed”. :-P
The Zembezi River cruise on the Lady Livingstone boat at sunset was absolutely beautiful! The three of us sipped on our free cocktails and nibbled the appetizers, listened to the identification of birds and animals hanging out on the river banks, and witnessed a gorgeous sunset over the Zimbabwean horizon. I also learned quite a bit more about Zambia, Zimbabwe, and strangely enough Sweden! Haha.
Our viewing of the magnificent Victoria Falls the following morning was quite a …. wet experience. During this time of the year, right after the rainy season, the water levels going over the falls are at an all time high! This means that the mist crashing up from the lower level of the falls is also at its optimum intensity. In the native language to the area, Victoria Falls are actually called Mosi-oa-Tunya or “the mist that thunders”. This is not an exaggeration. Mom and I thought we would be fine hiking the paths in front of the falls armed with our travel umbrellas. Ha! I remember turning around, after crossing over a bridge about 2/3 the way up the falls, and I saw Mom clutching her umbrella which was bent backwards. We were thoroughly drenched and laughing hysterically!! The mist blocked much of the view of the falls, but we hiked all the paths possible. We even hiked down into the gorge to a spot on the lower river called “the boiling point”. An Australian guy we passed down there characterized it perfectly by saying, “I feel like I’m in an Indian Jones movie”. It was breathtaking, literally and figuratively.
It started raining as we left the park. Perfect timing! We went to a faux Italian restaurant for lunch, grabbed some popcorn necessities to make dinner that night and went back to relax at the backpackers. We spent the rainy afternoon reading books on the most colorful and large pillows which made up the “chill zone” in the center of this establishment. Our Swedish friend joined us for a bit, but then fell asleep on the much too comfortable pillows.
`Relaxing and rejuvenating the previous day made the very early morning rise not as bad. Instead of crossing the bridge to view the very misty falls from the Zimbabwe side, we decided to expend our double entry visa on a safari trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. I certainly think we made the correct decision. We were shuttled to the border and crossed the river in a small boat. Geographically this point in the water was situated between four different countries. If we had floated just a bit down river we could land on either Zimbabwe’s or Zambia’s coast. Heading straight across landed us in Botswana, and to our right was Caprivi Strip of Namibia. It reminded me a lot of Four Corners in the States only on an international scale. :-)
On the Botswana shore we were given a lift in the safari vehicle to border control and customs. After passing through all of that, we were back in the safari vehicle and transported to the small café adjacent to the tour’s office. The group from Jollyboy Backpackers consisted of two Dental Hygienist Professors from Sweden and three university students from Germany. We jumped on a flat motorized boat docked on the Chobe River behind the office and took off toward the national park. There were a TON of hippos segregated into their own groups along the shore. We saw multiple crocodiles, impala, cape buffalo, water monitors, warthogs, I think they are called mongoose, and many bird species. A herd of elephants even ran down to the waterfront for some H₂O cocktails and a romp in the mud. We pulled up on the shore not too far from them to enjoy the show. As we were making it back to our starting point it started to rain and the engine of our boat started acting up. Watching a large storm move across the Namibian side of the river was actually unbelievably beautiful. We made it back to the café in time for a yummy lunch, while Mother Nature got the rain out of her system. By the time we boarded our safari vehicle for the afternoon game drive it was sunny once again.
Chobe National Park certainly wasn’t as well manicured as Kruger. The drive was quite a bit bumpier, but the animals were just as amazing! About halfway through the drive another guide called over the radio that a lion was sited hunting a cape buffalo. Whatever our planned path was at that point, it was never traversed. We did a quick u-turn and sped as fast as possible back toward the front of the park. Five minutes later we joined the ranks of vehicles watching the fully grown male lion sitting quite majestically in the middle of a clearing. The cape buffalo was somewhat close but the lion didn’t seem to be too motivated to take on a fellow big five animal by himself at the time. We watched him for a while, found the tracks of his brother walking into the bush on the other side of the road, and then saw as he yawned, got up, and sauntered into the bush toward the road! We tried to figure out the trajectory of his path to so he could not circumvent our vehicle when crossing the road. Unbeknownst to us, his plan was to seek shade in the bushes and we couldn’t spot him thereafter. These animals are really good at hiding when they want to; even when we know they are right in front of our faces!
On the way back to the border and our boat to Zambia we saw many more elephants hanging by the side of the road. There are no fences keeping the animals in Chobe National Park, and as a billboard said, “Elephants have the right of way”! There was also a lineup of dozens and dozens of semi-trucks alongside the road waiting to be ferried across. Our guide told us that the line was about 3km long and they had been waiting there for two weeks!! The currents were too strong to transport them across at this time and sometimes the line reaches back 5km or more. Being a semi-driver there would be quite a tiring and frustrating job description. Why they haven’t built a bridge there yet, floors me! I would think it would pay for itself within a few short months. But I digress; we got across the river just fine and were transported back to the hostel after re-clearing Zambian customs.
Our final evening in Zambia was uneventful and perfectly laid back. That final morning we attempted to spend the remaining kwacha we had left (Botswana uses pula and both countries prefer USD) and then made our way to the small airport for a flight back to the hub of Jo’Burg.
A quick flight jump at Jo’Burg got us in the air heading to the gorgeous city of Cape Town, our final vacation destination. I LOVE this city! Driving in our little rented car into the city as the sun set behind the famous Table Mountain was at the same time beautiful and frustrating because of a loss of visibility. We found Abbey Manor Guesthouse and were instantly impressed by our amazing accommodation. This B&B was located just at the bottom of the mountain and a few minutes from the heart of the city known as the “city bowl”. We fulfilled one of my major objectives of being in this amazing city within that first night: we found an authentic Mexican restaurant! Soooo good.
Since the weather for Thursday morning was sunny and clear, we took the opportunity to cable-car up to the top of Table Mountain. We hiked all over the top of the plateau enjoying the tablecloth-free views (clouds around the top of the mountain have been nick named the “tablecloth”). After taking the longest paths possible on the main plateau, we decided to hike off towards “Echo Point”. That journey was a bit more strenuous, but lots of fun! We rehydrated (well, one of us rehydrated and the other had a beer :-P) at the café on top of Table Mountain before descending the same way we came up.
With a good dose of exercise in our systems we chose a leisurely, scenic joy ride down to Cape Point. Arriving at the gate of the national park in which Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope are enclosed, we found the weather had changed slightly. A dense force of clouds had overtaken the once clear sky. A wonderfully honest women working at the gate told us that the visibility at the peninsula’s point at that moment was not worth the park entrance fee. No worries there! We still had beautiful scenery to see along the eastern side on our return trip to the city. We even stopped to walk along Boulder’s Beach and say “hello” to the famous Simon’s Town penguin colony. They wished me to pass along their greetings, although I’m sure I would butcher their accent! :-)
Being this close to the sea, we felt it would be negligent to not stop for sea food. We had the GPS do a restaurant search and it landed us in a small, local Portuguese restaurant. This restaurant had closed their kitchen ten minutes before (at 3pm) and weren’t scheduled to open again until dinner. Luckily, the hostess said that the owner/cook was still here and, after checking, he would be willing to make up another order! Not knowing exactly what we were ordering when asking for the fish and steak “esperda” (spelling?), our jaws hit the table when two skewers, hanging vertically and loaded with meat, were set in front of us. About the same time the heavenly meat arrived the radio reminded us that it was St. Patty’s Day! What do two respectable part-Irish lasses do when informed that it’s an Irish holiday while sitting in a restaurant/bar... we order another round of drinks, of course!! (sadly, no green beer present)
The next order of business, after returning to our lovely room, was to get decked out! That evening we were going to the theatre!!!! We had purchased two tickets to see the opera Carmen at the Artscape Theater. Just sitting in the house, before the show even started, I felt as giddy as a kid in a candy store. I miss theater so damn much! Anyway, Carmen was a three hour long show set in Spain but sang entirely in French. :-P As most things in Africa, it did not start on time, nor did the 2 separate intermissions keep to only 10 minutes! Regardless, I was in heaven… Mom on the other hand might have chosen a different location to describe the situation. Haha. Even with English prompts on a screen above the stage, some of the actions and dialogue were misinterpreted. :-P Although barely scratching the surface of my theatre deficit, it was one of the main highlights of the trip for me.
Friday morning we found ourselves perusing the shops and attractions at the popular V&A Waterfront. After loading up on recommendations and maps at the information center, we left the city in search of the mystical and wondrous Wine Country. Not more than 20 minutes out of town there are a plethora of amazing wine estates to make any wino drool. The first location was Bilton Estates where wine tasting was pair with Belgian chocolates!! Yummm… We sure acted like we knew what we were doing by commenting/reading up on the full-bodiedness, plum, grass, lemon, pepper, etc flavors, and how the tannin lingered on the palate. The chocolate was written in the same manner and tasted delicious! The next winery was called Uva Mira, and was in the most beautiful location nestled halfway up a hill overlooking the ocean, city, and neighboring vineyards. We ordered a cheese tray, which turned out to be enough to feed 5 people (or, as it turns out, 2 cheese-loving Crocker women :-P) and sipped our wine tastings while enjoying the spectacular scenery. The third and final winery we visited was not as noteworthy as the first two so I have promptly forgotten its name. Do not worry, my forgetting has nothing to do with my alcohol intake at the time, although I let Mom fully take over the tasting at this stop. Afrikaans names are always difficult for me to store in my long-term memory.
A goal of mine for the trip was to have Mom try Ethiopian food at a restaurant on the bustling Long Street that I enjoyed immensely with Claire the year before. Although full on our cheese, we attempted to visit said ethnic restaurant. Sadly, or maybe luckily, it was closed being between lunch and dinner at the time we arrived. Instead, we walked up and down the famous street and investigated Green Market Square. To close out the day we returned to the V&A Waterfront to enjoy an ice cream cone and then board a sunset cruise sailboat. Seeing Robben Island, the World Cup Stadium, Table Mountain, Cape Town, a glorious sunset, and even a few seals from a wind powered boat in Table Bay was truly spectacular. Being on the water, with my mother, did not make me want to run back to a dry landlocked country! Oh, Swaziland. :-) We took in some jazz music at The Green Dolphin restaurant before calling it an absolutely perfect night.
The final morning of our vacation was all about pampering. No alarms were set and the glorious breakfasts served at the Manor were thoroughly enjoyed before packing up and leaving. With the help of our hostess, we booked a quick massage and beautifying session at a nearby spa. The masseuse had a hard time getting 2 years of hand washing clothes and schlepping heavy stuff onto public transport out of my shoulders. :-P Following that utterly amazing and relaxing experience we went to the Nelson Hotel to have a spot of tea. Neither my mother nor I are big tea drinkers, but many people suggested we experience morning tea at this 5 star historic hotel. We were certainly glad we did. The selecting and preparation of the tea was literally called a “ceremony” and a two tiered plate of sandwiches and pastries accompanied our beverages. The most adorable and entertaining part of the experience was watching the gentleman near us who had brought his young daughter. She was thoroughly dressed up for the occasion, and they walked arm in arm after the conclusion of their daddy-daughter date. :-)
Sadly, the time had come. After almost two weeks of freedom and fun, I had to give up … my wheels. :-P We returned the car to the airport and hopped on the return flight to Jo’Burg. Upon arriving to the major airport, we found out that Mom’s flight had been delayed by an hour. This was great news, because we had one more hour to sit in an airport restaurant and postpone the inevitable. Once that hour was finally over, I saw Mom to security and we waved goodbye. Her story now differs a quite a bit from mine but was certainly more dramatic and entertaining. While taxiing out to the runway the nose of the plane was damaged. Unbeknownst to me, she sat in a plane in Jo’Burg for another two hours before leaving me and Africa. Although running, without shoes (taken off at security and no time to put them back on) through the Atlanta airport, she missed her connecting flight by a few minutes. Not to worry, though. According to her telling of the story to me a day later, the airport staff redirected her itinerary and she got home only an hour after the previously scheduled time.
Again, somehow having SO MANY MORE miles to cross than me she got home before I did. After waving goodbye in the airport I got picked up and taken to a backpackers near the airport. The transport from the airport back to Mbabane, Swaziland left the following day at 12pm. I stayed with a wonderful group of girls, who live and work in Mbabane, that evening. One of the girls was having a welcoming braii for her mother who was visiting for a couple weeks. Ironic, no? I had an all day meeting at the office Monday, shadowing and interviews at Baylor Tuesday (see “Future Plans” blog entry), and fulfilled my PSN (Peer Support Network) duties by showing up to the three day Group 8 Grief and Loss workshop on Wednesday. From that emotionally draining workshop I joined some friends at Hlane Game Park on Friday to celebrate Ali’s birthday. We were camping and it rained heavily both nights, but we still managed to have a blast! Finally, a week after my mother got on a plane to return to the States, I made it back down to my hut and home in the lowveld of Swaziland.
This concludes our tour. All tips should go to the wonderful person who made it all happen. Love and miss you Mom!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Swaziland in the News
Our Country Director forwarded these two articles on to us on March 28th. Interesting, interesting. Not a word of these protests are reaching my community. Peace Corps is, of course, preparing us if something should happen on the 12th, but it is highly unlikely. The third item here is the announcement and bio of our new Country Director, Steve Driehaus from Ohio.
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"Swaziland: Officials Cut Salaries"
Swaziland’s cabinet agreed to 10 percent salary cuts, a week after a huge pro-democracy protest in the tiny nation’s usually quiet capital. The cuts, in addition to three-year salary freezes for cabinet ministers, will save the government $34.9 million over the next three years, Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini said Thursday. An antimonarchy movement has gained momentum since the government proposed freezing civil service wages while King Mswati III gave himself a 24 percent increase in his budget allocation. The proposed wage freezes brought 7,000 demonstrators to Swaziland’s capital city of Mbabane, one of the largest protests ever seen in sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy. The crowd marched to the prime minister’s office and was peaceful.
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"Swazis call for change"
A groundswell of anti-government feeling, including calls for an uprising next month, has gripped Swaziland after more than 8000 people staged a demonstration last week demanding that Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini and his Cabinet resign.
The march - the largest of its kind since the country's general strike in 1997 and comprising about 6000 teachers -- brought the capital of Mbabane to a standstill and sent a strong message to King Mswati III that his subjects want change. Now there is talk of a major uprising taking place on April 12, the anniversary of the controversial 1973 decree that outlawed political parties and made Swaziland the autocracy it is today.
Maxwell Dlamini, president of the Swaziland National Union of Students, one of the few organisations to identify itself publicly with the April 12 campaign, which began anonymously on Facebook, said the plan was to stage "an Egyptian-style occupation of Mbabane".
"We chose this date because it was when our freedoms were taken away from us; now we want to have those freedoms back," Dlamini said. "We're planning the biggest demonstration possible and we'll occupy the streets of Mbabane until our demands are met, this government resigns and we have democracy for the people of Swaziland."
Events in North Africa may offer a model, but the country's own economic crisis is the immediate catalyst. A 40% drop in revenue payments from the Southern African Customs Union has plunged the landlocked country into a fiscal crisis, with the central government deficit on course to reach 13% of gross domestic product by April.
In a country where 40% of citizens are unemployed, 69% live in poverty and one in four between the ages of 15 and 49 years are HIV positive, the shrinking of public services is keenly felt.
The government, led by Mswati, is now actively engaged in crisis talks with the International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank in a bid to secure an emergency loan to plug the widening deficit. Muzi Masuku, Swaziland programme manager for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, said Swazis were starting to feel the pinch financially.
"There has long been a tradition among labour movements and students to challenge the government, but not so much among ordinary people," he said. "But now, with the economic situation, more people are starting to connect their problems to governance and there is growing support for change." Masuku said people in rural areas were starting to voice their concerns, which was something new in a country where most fear challenging the government.
Organised by the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, last Friday's march was officially authorised and passed peacefully, with no arrests of protesters.
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Steven L. "Steve" Driehaus is the former U.S. Representative for Ohio's 1st congressional district, serving from 2009 until 2011. He previously served as the Minority Whip in the Ohio House of Representatives.
Driehaus, a 1984 graduate and class president of Elder High School in Cincinnati (the same high school his father graduated from in 1951), studied political science at Miami University while earning a B.A. in 1988 and holds an Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Indiana University earned in 1995. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal where he worked with village groups and local schools as a natural resource volunteer to promote sustainable environmental practices from 1988 to 1990.
Driehaus then served as Associate Director of the Center for International Education and Development Assistance at Indiana University. While serving in this role, he coordinated the South African Internship Program, which was sponsored by the United States Information Agency that is the largest professional exchange program between the United States and the "new" South Africa.
Driehaus formerly directed and now serves as a consultant to the Community Building Institute, a collaborative effort of Xavier University and United Way & Community Chest that promotes citizen-led, asset-based community development. Driehaus is a member of the Price Hill Civic Club and serves on the Board of Seton High School. He was also a part time political science instructor at Xavier University.
Steve will assume Country Director duties after completing Overseas Staff Training and being sworn-in in late July or early August.
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"Swaziland: Officials Cut Salaries"
Swaziland’s cabinet agreed to 10 percent salary cuts, a week after a huge pro-democracy protest in the tiny nation’s usually quiet capital. The cuts, in addition to three-year salary freezes for cabinet ministers, will save the government $34.9 million over the next three years, Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini said Thursday. An antimonarchy movement has gained momentum since the government proposed freezing civil service wages while King Mswati III gave himself a 24 percent increase in his budget allocation. The proposed wage freezes brought 7,000 demonstrators to Swaziland’s capital city of Mbabane, one of the largest protests ever seen in sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy. The crowd marched to the prime minister’s office and was peaceful.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Swazis call for change"
A groundswell of anti-government feeling, including calls for an uprising next month, has gripped Swaziland after more than 8000 people staged a demonstration last week demanding that Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini and his Cabinet resign.
The march - the largest of its kind since the country's general strike in 1997 and comprising about 6000 teachers -- brought the capital of Mbabane to a standstill and sent a strong message to King Mswati III that his subjects want change. Now there is talk of a major uprising taking place on April 12, the anniversary of the controversial 1973 decree that outlawed political parties and made Swaziland the autocracy it is today.
Maxwell Dlamini, president of the Swaziland National Union of Students, one of the few organisations to identify itself publicly with the April 12 campaign, which began anonymously on Facebook, said the plan was to stage "an Egyptian-style occupation of Mbabane".
"We chose this date because it was when our freedoms were taken away from us; now we want to have those freedoms back," Dlamini said. "We're planning the biggest demonstration possible and we'll occupy the streets of Mbabane until our demands are met, this government resigns and we have democracy for the people of Swaziland."
Events in North Africa may offer a model, but the country's own economic crisis is the immediate catalyst. A 40% drop in revenue payments from the Southern African Customs Union has plunged the landlocked country into a fiscal crisis, with the central government deficit on course to reach 13% of gross domestic product by April.
In a country where 40% of citizens are unemployed, 69% live in poverty and one in four between the ages of 15 and 49 years are HIV positive, the shrinking of public services is keenly felt.
The government, led by Mswati, is now actively engaged in crisis talks with the International Monetary Fund and African Development Bank in a bid to secure an emergency loan to plug the widening deficit. Muzi Masuku, Swaziland programme manager for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, said Swazis were starting to feel the pinch financially.
"There has long been a tradition among labour movements and students to challenge the government, but not so much among ordinary people," he said. "But now, with the economic situation, more people are starting to connect their problems to governance and there is growing support for change." Masuku said people in rural areas were starting to voice their concerns, which was something new in a country where most fear challenging the government.
Organised by the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, last Friday's march was officially authorised and passed peacefully, with no arrests of protesters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven L. "Steve" Driehaus is the former U.S. Representative for Ohio's 1st congressional district, serving from 2009 until 2011. He previously served as the Minority Whip in the Ohio House of Representatives.
Driehaus, a 1984 graduate and class president of Elder High School in Cincinnati (the same high school his father graduated from in 1951), studied political science at Miami University while earning a B.A. in 1988 and holds an Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Indiana University earned in 1995. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal where he worked with village groups and local schools as a natural resource volunteer to promote sustainable environmental practices from 1988 to 1990.
Driehaus then served as Associate Director of the Center for International Education and Development Assistance at Indiana University. While serving in this role, he coordinated the South African Internship Program, which was sponsored by the United States Information Agency that is the largest professional exchange program between the United States and the "new" South Africa.
Driehaus formerly directed and now serves as a consultant to the Community Building Institute, a collaborative effort of Xavier University and United Way & Community Chest that promotes citizen-led, asset-based community development. Driehaus is a member of the Price Hill Civic Club and serves on the Board of Seton High School. He was also a part time political science instructor at Xavier University.
Steve will assume Country Director duties after completing Overseas Staff Training and being sworn-in in late July or early August.
Professional Tour Guide (By Mother’s Appointment Only)
March 30, 2011
3:13pm
I had an amazing trip with my Mom this past month! If you have been within a 100 mile radius of her and your ears are ready to bleed from constant talk about this trip, then I suggest you skip this blog entry. :-) For the rest of you, welcome to Zodwa’s African Tours. I will be your guide.
Our first destination was Johannesburg International Airport on March 4th. Although my Mom was thousands of miles and an ocean farther away from this point than I was, her journey went much smoother than mine. I left my community at 6:30am and estimated, with a planned multiple hour wait for public transport to fill, my arrival at the airport to be around 3pm in the afternoon. Plenty of time before greeting my Mother’s 5:25pm flight from Atlanta. After the expected wait in Nhlangano for a khumbi heading for Jo’Burg to fill, an UNEXPECTED 1 lane road construction, a back country detour, a slow police vehicle inspection, and multiple u-turns made for a stressful journey. I arrived, in a full out sprint (very movie-esk), to the arrivals gate at exactly 5:17pm! About a half an hour later, the hugs that I received from the crazy American who threw her bags in the middle of the floor and ran at me could have shattered bones. It was amazing.
For a bit we thought the trip was not going to get much further than the airport. After retrieving a forgotten coffee mug, we returned to our newly rented BMW (they were out of regular stock and had to upgrade us :-P ) to find a car blocking it in. Once that was sorted out, getting out of Jo’Burg construction, in the dark, proved to be a bit of a challenge. Between bad signs, our confused GPS, and sheer luck we were on the main highway heading back toward Swaziland. That night we got as far as Ermelo, arriving at about 11:30pm and running on pure excitement, and called it quits.
We hit the same construction the following morning, but it was much nicer waiting it out in an air conditioned car with your mother. :-) We went shopping for groceries in Piet Retief, South Africa (made me feel like I was in college again) and then crossed the border into Swaziland. We were held up at the border for a little while as the border patrol tried to verify that our rented car was permitted to cross borders and discuss how many cows my Mother would be willing (or thankfully - not willing) to take for me. Nhlangano is located just past the border, so we stopped to take a tour of one of my “closest” shopping towns. We also tried to track down a certain size chain and clips for a swing set I’m putting up in my community, so a certain amount of hardware store hopping occurred.
Heading East, we stopped in the teeny tiny clump of stores called Hluti where Mom got her first taste of Swazi food. The little café that I sit at when on a post office run while waiting for the bus was the perfect spot for her to try lipalishi (stiff maize meal) with veggie soup gravy and fried chicken. You could tell we were getting closer to my community in the lowveld, because we were informed that there was no water due to the taps being dry. Not more than a 15 minute drive later (so quick in a car!!!) we were at my homestead in Ekuphumleni.
Introductions with my host family went very well, even though I was trying to interpret. Both sides kept saying how happy and grateful they were… I can handle that. :-P My Mom did extremely well settling into my hut and we even got a short community walk in. It was a busy first day in Swaziland!!
Sunday morning was extremely relaxing as we talked and Mom proceeded to drink all my coffee. :-P Then we drove up to A1 for Mrs. Broodryk’s Birthday Braii (BBQ)! There Mom met my second, Swazi/Afrikaans, host family and had some excitement when a Green Mamba (venomous snake) was sighted on the property. Good food, good drinks, and great company made the small birthday party a huge success. My Mom especially had a good time, since everyone kept commenting on how young she looked and that our relationship was more likely as sisters instead of mother – daughter. True, true.
That night the kids on my homestead got a wonderful treat. In the 2 very large suite cases from America, there were books and corresponding stuffed animals for the little ones. Both of my host families were given a taste of Traverse City with a plethora of cherry products. In her amazing generosity, we also got to make up care packages for my amazing PC volunteer friends who we would be visiting the following day. I have to mention, for posterity sake and your amusement, that she brought us deprived Americans some cans of beer from the states (yes, this was possibly illegal, but the beer here is soooo bad!). Every single kind of this “American” beer that was lugged over here was actually imported from other countries!!! Guinness, Heineken, Corona, and a British Ale. Haha! No worries, though, we enjoyed them juuuuust fine. ;-)
The amazing people that I am blessed to have “near” me and working with me in this country were treated to a front door pick-up and lunch at Nisela Game Park. This is a luxury that you can not begin to fathom. Laura, Brandon, Ali, and Tristan (Rachel was sadly ill) got to be adopted for a day. In true motherly fashion she also took said volunteers to Matata so they could get some public-transport-free shopping in. By the time we got everyone back home and had picked up old donated tires at Laura and Brandon’s for our swing project, it was getting dark. Oh, this day was also the day that the vacation long tradition of a sun-downer (drink enjoyed at dusk) of Amarula began. Yummmm.
We got the following morning started, packed up the car, and headed north. Our task for the day was to get a pair of my hiking boots to a fellow volunteer. We were going to meet at a coffee shop in Manzini, the largest city in Swaziland, but due to some Nursing protests in Mbabane she was unable to meet us. We enjoyed a coffee and pastry, since it was Fat Tuesday after all, and walked around the bustling and grungy city. I even took my mother into the bus rank to acquire some true Swazi fat cakes and boiled umbila (maize cob). She had an experience with an over friendly drunk man there that I’m sure she won’t quickly forget. We also went to the craft market and through the small shopping mall.
It must have been a day for shopping (or at least window shopping), because our next tourist destination was the craft stalls in the Swazi Candles complex and House on Fire. Neither of us are big shoppers, but we did get to see how some of the items were made and had a very enjoyable lunch. Although still in Swaziland, I felt like I was in a totally different world. This world could only be reached by a privately owned vehicle / tour bus, and catered to people not from Swaziland. Our accommodation for that evening was a “beehive hut” in Milwane Wildlife Reserve. These kinds of structures were the most traditional form of housing in Swaziland, and not used anymore. They are made entirely of the thatching reeds which are bent over rounded sticks to form a dome. At this establishment, there was a mix of very traditional and very modern. In the back of these huts was an attached but separately constructed bathroom. Having been in my home, without running water, for a few days, long showers with accompanied singing was a blessing for both my mother and me. :-) After feeling “like a new person”, we got to see traditional Swazi dancing (kukitsa) performed by the park staff.
Being a wildlife park we would be amiss if we didn’t search out some animals. Hiding hippos, which are not as easy to spot as you would think, made our short morning drive on Wednesday well worth it. Next stop, the capitol of Mbabane! Not to fear, the small protests were over and life returned to normal in the city. We met up with Nancy, the awesome volunteer we tried to meet the following day, and drove up to Ngwenya Glass Factory. We watched from the overhang walkway as the highly skilled workers blew molten glass into vases, stemware, and figurines below. With some encouragement from both Nancy and my Mother, I purchased some beautiful and unique wine glasses for my hypothetical future house, which I hear made it home safe and sound in my mother’s extra suite case. :-P After our purchases, we returned to the city and stopped at the Peace Corps office before lunch. In town we ran into another awesome PCV (it’s a small country :-P), Cameron, who joined us. Sadly, there isn’t much else to do in the 2nd largest city in Swaziland, so we made our way north to Malalotja Nature Reserve nestled in the mountains. The scenery at sunset was breathtaking as we checked into our small cabin accommodation and then sat next to the braii area for our sundowner.
I have to give major props to BMW and major apologies to AVIS for what we did with their car the following morning. Feeling energetic, we decided to drive to a picnic area that also marks the start of a nice hike. About 20 minutes into this nature walk we realized that any trace of a marked “path” had been lost months before at the start of the growing season. Thrashing through the think, hopefully non-snake inhabited brush, we climbed a steep hill to find the gravel road that was present on my poor excuse for a map. We did safely make it back to our car with only minor bumps and scratches. :-P Then the real challenge began. We should have taken the hint that this park was not well maintained by the lack of hiking paths, but we thought surely the roads would be better... We drove to two different lookout sites that would have been much easier to get to with a 4x4 off-roading vehicle. Maneuvering the washed out and crumbling sections of this one car width sized path was stressful but quite exhilarating. There wasn’t another soul out there with us, which probably just meant that they were smarter. :-P Adventure, hoorah!
Out of the park, and back on tarred roads, we continued on our northern trajectory stopping only to admire the Maguga Dam (mini-version of the Hoover) and Piggs Peak. The little town of Piggs Peak was where I went shopping during my training months at the beginning of my service. Not much has changed there except for the addition of a KFC (seriously - its Swaziland’s McDonalds)! Oh, I almost forgot, because I’m almost ashamed to admit it. Just outside of the town there is a casino called The Orion. We had to stop and play a few slots so we could say we did it. Needless to say, we lost all of our few rand within a short time and proceeded to the Matsamo/Jappes Reef border gate. Lying just a 30 minute drive past the border of Swaziland was Kruger National Park, and our safari location for the following few days and nights!
We wasted no time searching out animals! From car to reception, reception to bungalow, bungalow to safari vehicle, safari vehicle to LIONS!! That evening’s night drive was a blast. We saw everything from un-submerged hippos, hyenas, owls, rhinos, impala, cape buffalo, hare, to a pride of lions strolling down the tar road! A male lion walked by me no more than a few meters away! Amazing.
We thought our private game drive, in the faithful BMW, the following day wasn’t going to be as successful because of the hot hot sun. Just as we decided to head back to the Berg-en-Dal camp (Afrikaans for “Mountains and Valleys”), we spotted a couple elephants nonchalantly mudding themselves in a water hole right next to the road. There was a vehicle stopped taking pictures directly in front of us. While we were looking right at the two elephants, many MANY elephants just started appearing from out of the thick brush on the left not more than a couple meters from the front of the gentleman’s car! What made this situation all the more dangerous, and thus thrilling, was that there were multiple baby elephants in this group. Fearful of being surrounded by angry Momma elephants, and not wanting to trap the photographer in front of us, I slowly inched backwards with every intention of flooring it if necessary. We watched as the herd kept materializing out of the dense growth and made for the crowded mudding hole. There were so many of them!! Once we thought that the herd had finally all arrived, we slowly followed the previous car’s example an inched by the elephant teaming watering hole! A few of the largest elephants tracked our progress quite diligently, but allowed us to pass without charging. Phew…
I’m sure we had a couple beers with lunch after that adventure! We also signed up for the sunset drive that evening. Not as many animals were spotted that evening in comparison to the night before, but the highlight was certainly seeing the babes of the lion pride napping on the side of the road. We were informed that the rest of the pride was probably out hunting and left the young ones with the “nanny” or eldest female of the group. The two month old cub was completely adorable, but my Mom wouldn’t let me keep him. :-)
Our last day in Kruger was quite nice, and began with a guided morning walk. Our guides both carried a loaded gun. :-/ It was a really informational walk, and we got to identify animals by their prints, poop, and palate preferences. We spotted rhinos, giraffes, and zebras, but were far too un-stealthy to get very close. A light snack was enjoyed on the top of a hill overlooking the park. One item that our guide provided for our tasting was the nut found inside the marula seed. These seeds were collected from dried elephant feces, and were quite tasty. Got to try everything once! Mom also got to try biltong here for the first time, which is very similar to our jerky. Interesting and disgusting fact learned on this walk: a termite queen can live up to 25 years and births her own workers, protectors, and mate. Yuck.
We took a very long, scenic route out of the park to see as many animals as possible before saying goodbye. Looping northwest, we exited the park at a different gate, Numbi, after lunch in Pretoriuskop Rest Camp. We knew we were out of the park when the amount of cows by or in the road quadrupled the number of impala we had seen. :-( The one night stop outside of Nelspruit ended up being one of the nicest places we stayed in our entire trip! The quaint and really inexpensive Bed and Breakfast was gorgeous, and certainly the most romantic get-away location I’ve ever been to!! There was a sprig of some smelly plant on our pillows, a shower ½ the size of my hut, and sherry on the nightstand! Sooooo nice. We treated our car to a well deserved wash in Nelspruit and made a very early start toward the Johannesburg Airport on Sunday morning.
TO BE CONTINUED...
NEXT TIME ON "Darryn Turns Swazi":
- Livingstone, Zambia, Victoria Falls, and the adopted Swedish guy
- Chobe National Park, Botswana and more animals!
- Gorgeous Cape Town
- Updates on work and life in the Swaz!
3:13pm
I had an amazing trip with my Mom this past month! If you have been within a 100 mile radius of her and your ears are ready to bleed from constant talk about this trip, then I suggest you skip this blog entry. :-) For the rest of you, welcome to Zodwa’s African Tours. I will be your guide.
Our first destination was Johannesburg International Airport on March 4th. Although my Mom was thousands of miles and an ocean farther away from this point than I was, her journey went much smoother than mine. I left my community at 6:30am and estimated, with a planned multiple hour wait for public transport to fill, my arrival at the airport to be around 3pm in the afternoon. Plenty of time before greeting my Mother’s 5:25pm flight from Atlanta. After the expected wait in Nhlangano for a khumbi heading for Jo’Burg to fill, an UNEXPECTED 1 lane road construction, a back country detour, a slow police vehicle inspection, and multiple u-turns made for a stressful journey. I arrived, in a full out sprint (very movie-esk), to the arrivals gate at exactly 5:17pm! About a half an hour later, the hugs that I received from the crazy American who threw her bags in the middle of the floor and ran at me could have shattered bones. It was amazing.
For a bit we thought the trip was not going to get much further than the airport. After retrieving a forgotten coffee mug, we returned to our newly rented BMW (they were out of regular stock and had to upgrade us :-P ) to find a car blocking it in. Once that was sorted out, getting out of Jo’Burg construction, in the dark, proved to be a bit of a challenge. Between bad signs, our confused GPS, and sheer luck we were on the main highway heading back toward Swaziland. That night we got as far as Ermelo, arriving at about 11:30pm and running on pure excitement, and called it quits.
We hit the same construction the following morning, but it was much nicer waiting it out in an air conditioned car with your mother. :-) We went shopping for groceries in Piet Retief, South Africa (made me feel like I was in college again) and then crossed the border into Swaziland. We were held up at the border for a little while as the border patrol tried to verify that our rented car was permitted to cross borders and discuss how many cows my Mother would be willing (or thankfully - not willing) to take for me. Nhlangano is located just past the border, so we stopped to take a tour of one of my “closest” shopping towns. We also tried to track down a certain size chain and clips for a swing set I’m putting up in my community, so a certain amount of hardware store hopping occurred.
Heading East, we stopped in the teeny tiny clump of stores called Hluti where Mom got her first taste of Swazi food. The little café that I sit at when on a post office run while waiting for the bus was the perfect spot for her to try lipalishi (stiff maize meal) with veggie soup gravy and fried chicken. You could tell we were getting closer to my community in the lowveld, because we were informed that there was no water due to the taps being dry. Not more than a 15 minute drive later (so quick in a car!!!) we were at my homestead in Ekuphumleni.
Introductions with my host family went very well, even though I was trying to interpret. Both sides kept saying how happy and grateful they were… I can handle that. :-P My Mom did extremely well settling into my hut and we even got a short community walk in. It was a busy first day in Swaziland!!
Sunday morning was extremely relaxing as we talked and Mom proceeded to drink all my coffee. :-P Then we drove up to A1 for Mrs. Broodryk’s Birthday Braii (BBQ)! There Mom met my second, Swazi/Afrikaans, host family and had some excitement when a Green Mamba (venomous snake) was sighted on the property. Good food, good drinks, and great company made the small birthday party a huge success. My Mom especially had a good time, since everyone kept commenting on how young she looked and that our relationship was more likely as sisters instead of mother – daughter. True, true.
That night the kids on my homestead got a wonderful treat. In the 2 very large suite cases from America, there were books and corresponding stuffed animals for the little ones. Both of my host families were given a taste of Traverse City with a plethora of cherry products. In her amazing generosity, we also got to make up care packages for my amazing PC volunteer friends who we would be visiting the following day. I have to mention, for posterity sake and your amusement, that she brought us deprived Americans some cans of beer from the states (yes, this was possibly illegal, but the beer here is soooo bad!). Every single kind of this “American” beer that was lugged over here was actually imported from other countries!!! Guinness, Heineken, Corona, and a British Ale. Haha! No worries, though, we enjoyed them juuuuust fine. ;-)
The amazing people that I am blessed to have “near” me and working with me in this country were treated to a front door pick-up and lunch at Nisela Game Park. This is a luxury that you can not begin to fathom. Laura, Brandon, Ali, and Tristan (Rachel was sadly ill) got to be adopted for a day. In true motherly fashion she also took said volunteers to Matata so they could get some public-transport-free shopping in. By the time we got everyone back home and had picked up old donated tires at Laura and Brandon’s for our swing project, it was getting dark. Oh, this day was also the day that the vacation long tradition of a sun-downer (drink enjoyed at dusk) of Amarula began. Yummmm.
We got the following morning started, packed up the car, and headed north. Our task for the day was to get a pair of my hiking boots to a fellow volunteer. We were going to meet at a coffee shop in Manzini, the largest city in Swaziland, but due to some Nursing protests in Mbabane she was unable to meet us. We enjoyed a coffee and pastry, since it was Fat Tuesday after all, and walked around the bustling and grungy city. I even took my mother into the bus rank to acquire some true Swazi fat cakes and boiled umbila (maize cob). She had an experience with an over friendly drunk man there that I’m sure she won’t quickly forget. We also went to the craft market and through the small shopping mall.
It must have been a day for shopping (or at least window shopping), because our next tourist destination was the craft stalls in the Swazi Candles complex and House on Fire. Neither of us are big shoppers, but we did get to see how some of the items were made and had a very enjoyable lunch. Although still in Swaziland, I felt like I was in a totally different world. This world could only be reached by a privately owned vehicle / tour bus, and catered to people not from Swaziland. Our accommodation for that evening was a “beehive hut” in Milwane Wildlife Reserve. These kinds of structures were the most traditional form of housing in Swaziland, and not used anymore. They are made entirely of the thatching reeds which are bent over rounded sticks to form a dome. At this establishment, there was a mix of very traditional and very modern. In the back of these huts was an attached but separately constructed bathroom. Having been in my home, without running water, for a few days, long showers with accompanied singing was a blessing for both my mother and me. :-) After feeling “like a new person”, we got to see traditional Swazi dancing (kukitsa) performed by the park staff.
Being a wildlife park we would be amiss if we didn’t search out some animals. Hiding hippos, which are not as easy to spot as you would think, made our short morning drive on Wednesday well worth it. Next stop, the capitol of Mbabane! Not to fear, the small protests were over and life returned to normal in the city. We met up with Nancy, the awesome volunteer we tried to meet the following day, and drove up to Ngwenya Glass Factory. We watched from the overhang walkway as the highly skilled workers blew molten glass into vases, stemware, and figurines below. With some encouragement from both Nancy and my Mother, I purchased some beautiful and unique wine glasses for my hypothetical future house, which I hear made it home safe and sound in my mother’s extra suite case. :-P After our purchases, we returned to the city and stopped at the Peace Corps office before lunch. In town we ran into another awesome PCV (it’s a small country :-P), Cameron, who joined us. Sadly, there isn’t much else to do in the 2nd largest city in Swaziland, so we made our way north to Malalotja Nature Reserve nestled in the mountains. The scenery at sunset was breathtaking as we checked into our small cabin accommodation and then sat next to the braii area for our sundowner.
I have to give major props to BMW and major apologies to AVIS for what we did with their car the following morning. Feeling energetic, we decided to drive to a picnic area that also marks the start of a nice hike. About 20 minutes into this nature walk we realized that any trace of a marked “path” had been lost months before at the start of the growing season. Thrashing through the think, hopefully non-snake inhabited brush, we climbed a steep hill to find the gravel road that was present on my poor excuse for a map. We did safely make it back to our car with only minor bumps and scratches. :-P Then the real challenge began. We should have taken the hint that this park was not well maintained by the lack of hiking paths, but we thought surely the roads would be better... We drove to two different lookout sites that would have been much easier to get to with a 4x4 off-roading vehicle. Maneuvering the washed out and crumbling sections of this one car width sized path was stressful but quite exhilarating. There wasn’t another soul out there with us, which probably just meant that they were smarter. :-P Adventure, hoorah!
Out of the park, and back on tarred roads, we continued on our northern trajectory stopping only to admire the Maguga Dam (mini-version of the Hoover) and Piggs Peak. The little town of Piggs Peak was where I went shopping during my training months at the beginning of my service. Not much has changed there except for the addition of a KFC (seriously - its Swaziland’s McDonalds)! Oh, I almost forgot, because I’m almost ashamed to admit it. Just outside of the town there is a casino called The Orion. We had to stop and play a few slots so we could say we did it. Needless to say, we lost all of our few rand within a short time and proceeded to the Matsamo/Jappes Reef border gate. Lying just a 30 minute drive past the border of Swaziland was Kruger National Park, and our safari location for the following few days and nights!
We wasted no time searching out animals! From car to reception, reception to bungalow, bungalow to safari vehicle, safari vehicle to LIONS!! That evening’s night drive was a blast. We saw everything from un-submerged hippos, hyenas, owls, rhinos, impala, cape buffalo, hare, to a pride of lions strolling down the tar road! A male lion walked by me no more than a few meters away! Amazing.
We thought our private game drive, in the faithful BMW, the following day wasn’t going to be as successful because of the hot hot sun. Just as we decided to head back to the Berg-en-Dal camp (Afrikaans for “Mountains and Valleys”), we spotted a couple elephants nonchalantly mudding themselves in a water hole right next to the road. There was a vehicle stopped taking pictures directly in front of us. While we were looking right at the two elephants, many MANY elephants just started appearing from out of the thick brush on the left not more than a couple meters from the front of the gentleman’s car! What made this situation all the more dangerous, and thus thrilling, was that there were multiple baby elephants in this group. Fearful of being surrounded by angry Momma elephants, and not wanting to trap the photographer in front of us, I slowly inched backwards with every intention of flooring it if necessary. We watched as the herd kept materializing out of the dense growth and made for the crowded mudding hole. There were so many of them!! Once we thought that the herd had finally all arrived, we slowly followed the previous car’s example an inched by the elephant teaming watering hole! A few of the largest elephants tracked our progress quite diligently, but allowed us to pass without charging. Phew…
I’m sure we had a couple beers with lunch after that adventure! We also signed up for the sunset drive that evening. Not as many animals were spotted that evening in comparison to the night before, but the highlight was certainly seeing the babes of the lion pride napping on the side of the road. We were informed that the rest of the pride was probably out hunting and left the young ones with the “nanny” or eldest female of the group. The two month old cub was completely adorable, but my Mom wouldn’t let me keep him. :-)
Our last day in Kruger was quite nice, and began with a guided morning walk. Our guides both carried a loaded gun. :-/ It was a really informational walk, and we got to identify animals by their prints, poop, and palate preferences. We spotted rhinos, giraffes, and zebras, but were far too un-stealthy to get very close. A light snack was enjoyed on the top of a hill overlooking the park. One item that our guide provided for our tasting was the nut found inside the marula seed. These seeds were collected from dried elephant feces, and were quite tasty. Got to try everything once! Mom also got to try biltong here for the first time, which is very similar to our jerky. Interesting and disgusting fact learned on this walk: a termite queen can live up to 25 years and births her own workers, protectors, and mate. Yuck.
We took a very long, scenic route out of the park to see as many animals as possible before saying goodbye. Looping northwest, we exited the park at a different gate, Numbi, after lunch in Pretoriuskop Rest Camp. We knew we were out of the park when the amount of cows by or in the road quadrupled the number of impala we had seen. :-( The one night stop outside of Nelspruit ended up being one of the nicest places we stayed in our entire trip! The quaint and really inexpensive Bed and Breakfast was gorgeous, and certainly the most romantic get-away location I’ve ever been to!! There was a sprig of some smelly plant on our pillows, a shower ½ the size of my hut, and sherry on the nightstand! Sooooo nice. We treated our car to a well deserved wash in Nelspruit and made a very early start toward the Johannesburg Airport on Sunday morning.
TO BE CONTINUED...
NEXT TIME ON "Darryn Turns Swazi":
- Livingstone, Zambia, Victoria Falls, and the adopted Swedish guy
- Chobe National Park, Botswana and more animals!
- Gorgeous Cape Town
- Updates on work and life in the Swaz!
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