Heading to the border at Swaziland today. The stretch of road that took three hours a few days ago, only took us one hour on the return journey. Unreal! Saw a brave car bumper sticker today on the back of a 4x4 "Women don't think just remember". Nice buddy!
Absolutely breezed through Swazi immigration which was so casual and laid back that even all the staff were out of uniform, wearing jeans and brightly coloured t-shirts and jewellery.
We arrived into the new deliciously air-conditioned building, officials were very cheery, stamped us in quickly and efficiently. No visa was required and they were delighted to hear that we were staying in Swaziland for a few nights and not just passing through back to South Africa from Mozambique (which apparently the majority of tourists do).
They were such a pleasure to deal with, the complete antithesis of their Mozambican counterparts. We even caught one lady sneakily playing Freecell on her PC in between dealing with requests. She was having a terrible time, and from her actions I do not think that she quite understood the rules. Just as we got through a full coachload of Dutch tourists rocked up to the counters - result! The jamminess just keeps on continuing for us...
Tonight we are staying at Shewula Mountain Camp, which is fully owned and run by the community, meaning all profits are shared back to them in an effort to continually develop and improve this impoverished area. From the camp there is pretty views of the Lubombo Mountains and the three famous game parks (Mbuluzi, Mlawula and Hlane). We are staying in cute, thatched round huts. My room has a double bed and two sets of bunk beds in it - and I have it all to myself!
In the afternoon we went on a walk through the Shewula community. The guide informed us that they depend heavily on agriculture (maize, cotton and vegetables) and are very friendly. Their houses consist of thatch and stone circular huts. We stopped at a house that had a white flag outside it, meaning that the head of the household was selling local beer "umcombotsi". Another variation we were told was a red flag, which would indicate that the household was selling meat, however no-one was selling meat today.
The lady of the house welcomed us in and we sat on reed mats as the guide told us a little about the her background - she spoke no English so he translated for her. She asked us where we were all from and blessed us for coming to visit her. We questioned her about the beer making and learned about the process.
The beer is brewed from maize, yeast and water. It was opaque in colour, had a thick, creamy, gritty consistency with a heavy and distinctly sour aroma. Accordingly to our guide it does not have a very high alcohol content, usually less than three per cent.
Then the lady got down to business and asked if anyone would like to buy some beer. Steve gamely stepped up first - never one to turn down a beer. Having missed out on tasting homemade brew on the Lares trek due to being ill I was curious to try this time so I also agreed to one (and thankfully only ended up sharing one with Jim).
The lady got up and sloshed a huge plastic tumbler around a pail and scooped up a massive pint of the liquid for Steve. On seeing the gigantic tumbler Steve was given, Francois piped up if he could just have half a tumbler. This request seemed to amuse the lady, but she obliged and the rest of us all thankfully jumped aboard that ship. The beer looked a bit iffy and it would be terribly disrespectful to leave most of it behind. Accepting the tumbler with thanks I could not fail to see that there were quite a few flies practicing the dead man's float in my beer. Mmm mmm mmm, additional protein! The taste was weird, definitely gritty, sharp and honestly, not too pleasant. Sooo glad Jim is helping me finish my portion!
We paid for our beers, thanked the lady and took our leave. Continuing along the walk we were surrounded by all the local children. They had seen us coming down the path; whoops and yells rang out around the countryside as they all came thundering down to check out the strangers. The majority were timid and shy but very curious of us; albeit for one little boy who was obsessed with getting his photo taken. He was a little hyper dynamo. Everyone who had a camera got frantically approached as he demanded that we take his picture. He then immediately wanted to see the result on the camera - kissing his portrait on the LCD screens. Watching some of the children's reactions as they saw themselves in the screens was utterly heart-warming. Their smiles got even brighter and they got even more shy and bashful, hardly believing what they were seeing. Our guide asked if we could print out the photos and send them back to the lodge as the kids love getting copies for themselves.
We arrived back in camp just in time to see the sun set. It was quite an incredible sight. Because the farmers are currently burning the land to encourage regrowth, there is constantly huge amounts of haze in the air. This allowed us to stare directly at the setting sun right until the final ray disappeared behind the clouds on the horizon. What an absolute rarity - a delightful treat.
Back in the BBQ area, the locals were preparing a feast for us. Beef ribs, chicken in a satay-style sauce, pap (a kind of polenta made from maize), rice with beans, spinach, cabbage and squash. Absolutely delicious!!
The nights entertainment was a few of the local teens displaying the Sibhaca (a vigorous foot stomping warrior dance), accompanied by a drum and rhythmic traditional chanting. The boys wore colourful short kilts in the colours of the national flag and decorated their legs and wrists with mohair warmers. The girls simply wore a toga-style dress (emahiya).
One of the main parts of the Sibhaca involves raising your leg and foot as high as possible over your head. I was well impressed at their agility and thanking my lucky stars that they are not looking for any group participation from us. Seemingly the dance always ends when on the last beat they all fall down; a fate they wish on their enemies.They finished to rapturous applause from us, it was a lovely way to round off the evening.
Stayed up chatting until late with Geoff and Francois, both of whom took it upon themselves to try and empty the JD bottle - they nearly succeeded as well, leaving just a dram for token's sake.
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