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!

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.

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!

1 2 3... A B C

With left over paint from the Bus Stop Project, I decided to paint the preschool. I had a ton of fun with the ladies there and even my Sisi helped one day!

There’s a New Chief in Town

February 10, 2011
4:33pm

A little over a week ago we had a very important visit in my community. The new Chief of our area, Chief Gasa WaNgwane, and his new chief Indvuna, Vusi Ndlovu, came to greet everyone and proclaim his visions for his new chiefdom. The Lavumisa area, the largest chiefdom in Swaziland, has been without an appointed chief for just over 10 years since Chief Ngwane’s father, Chief Tsekwane, passed away in 2000. I’m told that this area became as large as it did because the late Chief Tsekwane was a brother to the current king, King Mswati III. In an attempt to appease a possible rival for the throne he was given a massive area of Swaziland to oversee. One person told me he was suppose to be the king, but since he was blind in one eye he was unsuitable to take the throne. If I have not mentioned this before, the King is chosen from his plethora of siblings and ½ siblings by the lack of male siblings. If only one boy is born to a certain wife and the rest of the children from that wife are female, that child is deemed to be chosen by God.

But I digress, back to my corner of the country. Every year since the death of Chief Tsekwane one of his sons from his many wives have been brought before the elders in Swaziland. Until this year, every son has been turned down. This year they agreed that this son was the one to rule over the Lavumisa area. He was then brought to the King to be re-named. I don’t actually know what his name used to be, but from now until his death he will be Chief Gasa WaNgwane. He then appointed his chief Indvuna or his second-hand man. Their credentials are quite interesting. The chief was, and I believe continues to be, a chef or cook to the King. The chief indvuna was and is a police officer. It sounds like they do not receive compensation or a salary from the government, so they are chiefdom leaders on a part-time basis.

The community greeted both of them in great numbers. Bedecked in traditional garb, a truck full of people came in chanting and cheering over a handheld microphone. Chairs were set up under a tree and the group from the back of this truck sat there. As community members we sat under a couple trees facing the bank of chairs. A cow, several goats, and a few chickens were given to the new leaders. The chief Indvuna gave a speech after a prayer was said. Even before this speech, many people were not pleased with this appointment, and predictions have been made that he will be taken out of office. As a PEACE Corps volunteer I am not allowed to talk politics or voice opinions with host country nationals. I’m actually not suppose to discuss it in a public blog form either, so I will attempt to not show my personal thoughts here as well. Anyway, quite factually, many of his statements circled around the thought that to get to the Chief for any reason you, as a community member, need to go through him first.

The topics brought up by the Chief during his 20 minute talk were a bit more goal focused. He targeted the concept of “development”. Bullet points in his speech included the need for every home to be built well and have a toilet; couples need to be faithful to each other to decrease the spread of HIV (he practices monogamy); the secondary school that the community has been attempting to build for over a year is not close enough to the shops and should be rebuilt; he wants a completely new Umphakatsi (community meeting area and Chief housing) to be built. Other things were certainly discussed, but that was what I caught at the back of the crowd. Again, I’m not going to discuss my personal reactions to this, but the main question off the lips of my community members and friends are, “with what money?”.

At this presentation he also appointed a new Indvuna (community leader) for Ekuphumleni. He asked this individual to pick a new inner council of about 10 members. Thus, our entire leadership has changed overnight. Today I found out my Make (Mother), is a part of this council. I believe she is a “super-Make” being involved in every committee possible, so that was a very good choice. Plus, the fact that she is on this usually male-only council is a good step for women’s equality in my very conservative community.

In National political news, there have been protests by university students to the Ministry of Education to restore the scholarships they used to receive. From what I understand, almost all students going to college in Swaziland are doing so with financial help from the government. Last year “free education”, or publicly funded schooling, for grades 1 & 2 started with the negative effect of scholarship cuts occurring as a consequence. Protests have occurred or have been predicted to occur semi-often during my service for a plethora of reasons. Peace Corps always puts us on Alert and restricts our travel to these areas. Being in my hot corner of the country and at least an hour walk from the nearest Swazi “newspaper”/tabloid, I don’t usually get the dish until I talk to other volunteers who live closer to the cities. Another protest in scheduled for Monday, but Ekuphumleni won’t be the wiser.

P.S. While I have been writing this blog entry Nothando and Neliswa have been napping in my hut. After school today they came into my hut probably to escape the 100+ temperatures outside and to draw. We worked on how to tell time from a clock drawing I made, and then they fell fast asleep on my cool concrete floor. :-)

Tooth Mouse

January 30, 2011
5:39pm

I just got back to my house from a lovely weekend with the Broodryks. They are such a wealth of information on the history of Ekuphumleni and the whole of this African region. I love their company and only wish I knew more of the Afrikaans language. :-P The Afrikaans people are descendants from the Dutch settlers in South Africa, and learning about this completely different African culture is fascinating. I am very blessed to have the Broodryk family at A1.

Anyway, they told me this weekend about the Tooth Mouse. This is an interesting variation of the Tooth Fairy. A young Afrikaans child, after losing one of those precious baby teeth, will place the tooth in a shoe next to his/her bed. During the night the Tooth Mouse will come and exchange the tooth for some money. It is said that this mouse builds his special house out of the teeth he collects.

According to an event in the Broodryk family history, the Tooth Mouse does not want any other kinds of teeth for his house. The Broodryk children, now grown adults, had supplied the Tooth Mouse with a shoe full of cow teeth collected from the community. It is said that they removed the teeth from the discarded skulls, washed, and polished them. They arose the next morning expecting to cash in on their creativity, and found out that the Tooth Mouse can only build his house with young children’s baby teeth. Nothing else is known about this magical creature and his tooth house. It was discovered, though, that both the Tooth Fairy and the Tooth Mouse have had to deal with inflation. Every generation is astounded at the next generation’s reward for wriggling out one of their loose teeth.

Swimming with the Fishes!!

January 28, 2011
4:35pm

Mozambique was exquisite. It truly, truly was. During the planning of this beach get away (sorry to all those in the snow right now), I had apprehensions that 7 days was too long to spend at a beach. I’m not your typical sun worshiper. Spending hours baking in the sun sounds painful, because my now slightly darker than neon white skin fries in the African sun. Plus, I get bored. Nonetheless, my friends were psyched for this retreat and I was ready for a long break from Swaziland. Ocean-ward ho!!
The first night of our adventure got us just to the northern border of Swaziland were we crashed with our amazing PCV friends, the Goldens. I had made it up there a day early to discuss the library project with Brooke, who is my partner in the Books for Swaziland project. Once the rest of the vacationing crew, 7 of us in total at this point in the trip, arrived at their homestead the holiday officially began! The Goldens’ part of Swaziland is much different than my dry bushveld area. They live on top of a plateau that makes up the northern part of the Lebombo Mountains, which run down the eastern border of Swaziland. They get a lot more rain, the vegetation is drastically different, and a cool ocean breeze can be felt. A few of the guys and I even explored a waterfall, which was only a 45 minute walk away! Gorgeous. On clear days they can even catch glimpses of the ocean and the city of Maputo, our first destination in Mozambique.


With the wonderful directions given by the Goldens, as well as a small lift from their Babe to the main road in the back of his truck, we took public transport to the Lomahasha/Namaacha border gate. There we had to wait while some of our friends got their visas, since the Embassy in Mbabane was closed for the holidays and did not open on the day posted. They had to pay a LOT more at the border, but Ali and I tried to decide if that would have been better (see Black Friday Fiasco blog entry). On Mozambique soil we jumped into the back of a truck that took us to the small bus rank. Already we noticed major differences in this neighboring country. Portuguese was spoken and not English, buildings were still touched by the remembrance of Portuguese design and art, flowers were grown to sell, and the most striking difference for us was the adherence to the concept of a line or queue. We are so used to being trampled on and fighting for a seat on public transportation that when a line started forming behind us while waiting for a khumbi, we all were shocked and awed. We thought surely this was just a trick of our minds and tried to get on the khumbi as fast as humanly possible when it arrived. Most of the people >laughed at us and the order was actually kept!! Oh the first of many wonders of Mozambique!! :-)

The port city of Maputo is much larger than any of the “cities” in Swaziland. Mozambique’s very violent history is apparent on the tattered and damaged facades on many of the buildings. These post war-zone buildings present the perfect foil to the malls, cinemas, and restaurants that are being built next door. As on any other PCV vacation, the first objective after dropping our stuff at a backpackers is showers and good FOOD!! Gelato was our target, but was sadly closed. Plan B (which was actually what we were going to do anyway after Plan A) was Thai food. We then perused a craft market before deciding it would behoove us to get some sleep before the 5:30am transport the following morning.
The vehicle that pulled up in front of Fatima’s Backpackers was a strange hybrid between a mini-bus and a khumbi. Plus, it had cases of alcohol under every seat and some under the aisle seats! Transporting passengers isn’t the only source of income for this driver it seemed. With the 7 of us and another foreign couple there were still about 8 seats vacant. To remedy this, the driver pulled into the Maputo bus rank and there we sat for over an hour waiting for the remaining seats to be filled. Transport doesn’t seem to work unless full in Africa, and in Mozambique that means people are hanging out of the doors. Luckily, ours didn’t have to get this full … well, until our return trip to Maputo.

Notable observations on these trips include that mangos, coconuts, pineapple, and papaya grow wild like weeds in Mozambique; rural houses are rarely made with concrete blocks, like in Swaziland, but instead are constructed using thin poles bound vertically with thatched roofing; and to indicate that you can buy cashews (not grown in Swaziland but abundant here) multiple white, plastic grocery bags are tied to branches, poles, or signs like eerie, ghost, cashew banners. The landscape is so much greener and denser in Mozambique. Even though it was raining most of the trip, which kept us cooler, the scenery was beautiful. Six hours on this road running parallel to the coast delivered us to the paradise known as Tofo.


We rented a house up on a small cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean about a 4 minute walk from the beach!!! Fan-frickin’-tastic! It was up a flight of 92 steps (I don’t remember who counted them) and was divided into three sections. The center section was a large kitchen and dining area with a thatched covered deck of about the same dimensions. On either side of this building were mirrored, identical 2-bedroom 1-bathroom buildings. Sans the stealthy, silent mosquitoes (we all left with limbs looking like small pox was back in vogue) the deck was by far our favorite spot. Coming in a close second was a tie between the showers (running water amazes us :-P) and the kitchen, which quickly turned into a seafood experiment lab. Some nights we got dolled up and went out to the restaurants which obviously catered to the tourists, but a few nights we rolled up our sleeves (if not still in our bathing suites), bought seafood at the market which came in that day from the boats (and hopefully didn’t have too many flies buzzing about it), had a cocktail… or two, and attempted to figure out the anatomy and culinary secrets of prawns, barracuda, and squid!! I can proudly report that every single one of our dinners was a huge success, even better than a couple experiences at the restaurants! Mmmm…. seafood.

It seemed that we picked the perfect time to vacation at Tofo. The beach was practically clear of tourists, which were in abundance just over a week before during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Heavy rains were predicted for every day of our vacation, but other than rain on the trip there and morning showers the first full day, we had clear, sunny skies. Most in our group, which grew as other PCVs from Swaziland joined at different parts during the time there, enjoyed reading, laying on the beach, swimming in the unbelievably warm waters, walking the coast, and/or renting body boards. Brandon and I enjoyed these things, but also had other plans for our vacation. We signed up for the 4 day course to get PADI certified as scuba divers!!! It was the best decision I could have made. The first day, which happened to be the only rainy one, we had book work to do and movies to watch. By the time we emerged from the classroom the skies were sunny and swimminga was the only logical action. The next day we spent hours in a pool learning all the practical skills necessary to avoid issues when underwater. The most interesting fact I learned that day was that I don’t use much air! Our instructor was shocked when I reported, using the newly learned hand motions, the amount of air left in my tank. No one can accuse me of being full of hot air (sorry, lame joke :-P).

On the third and forth days, we dove four different times. Clownfish Reef, Mike’s Cabinet, and Simon’s Town were the names of our underwater destinations (don’t ask me who gets to name them). There truly were completely different worlds hidden just a short distance from our beach house. Being in “class” we had to perform a few tasks underwater first. I HATE taking my mask off, and we had to do it every single time! After those were completed, though, we got to go hang with our underwater friends. By the way, Nemo says “hi”. :-P We saw moray eels, different colored star fish, barracuda, lion fish, baby reef sharks, sting rays, crocodile fish, octopus, spotted box fish, and a whole bunch of brightly colored, beautiful fish I could appreciate but not identify. On the surface, after we completed our final task of the course, we were congratulated for being officially certified and then slapped the water, which I am now convinced is the cool scuba diver’s clap. :-P Before the final day of our trip we convinced Laura, who has previously certified, to take a review course so we could dive together on our last day in Tofo. It was all amazing, and I am now addicted. :-) If I happen to have any friends who are scuba divers out there, LET ME KNOW!! I’m thinking there are some sunken ships I want to explore and underwater adventures to plan.

As a huge group of PCVs, we went on an “Ocean Safari”. This meant we were all given flippers, masks, and snorkels and then tooled around the ocean for 2 ½ hours. This area off the coast is known for the whale sharks, but sadly they were nowhere to be found that day. Instead, we got to swim with dolphins! Someone would spot them jumping and the boat would get as close as it could. We would then get the signal from our guide to slip off the side of the boat and start swimming! I got so close to them. Most of the time they would let us tail them for a while and then decide we were too much of nuisance. At that point they would simply dive down out of our reach and we would hop back onto the boat. It was a fun experience to say the least!

The trip was so good for my physical and mental health! I did get a bit of sun, read a couple books, threw the Frisbee, and didn’t felt bored for even one second! Our trip back through Maputo was just as fun. We went through the markets and bought some beautiful fabrics (with my sewing skills they will probably all turn into tablecloths!!). A few of us die hard seafood lovers went to the Maputo-famous Fish Market. There we walked by stalls and stalls of different fish, spitting clams, lobsters, pots of raw prawns, and crates of live crabs! We picked out some barracuda and a few pounds of the active crabs. From there we went to the other side of the market where about 8 different kitchens circled an area of picnic tables. As with ever business transaction in Mozambique, we bartered for the price of cooking the seafood and then sat down at a table with a draft Lorientina, a Mozambique beer. Soooo delicious, sooooo fun, and a perfect way to end an amazing vacation!