Mom and Patty visit Swaziland!

Just over an hour ago I sent my mom and sister off in a khumbi(taxi van) to thew airport and back to the First World.  Their plane leaves Johannesburg, South Africa tonight and they will be back in New York (JFK) tomorrow.  I don't have pictures to upload today, but I hope that Patty will do a guest appearance and load pictures for me *hint-hint.*

They arrived  in Swaziland 10 days ago and we have been busy traveling around the country and seeing the sights ever since.  When they arrived at the Jo'burgh Airport, they had no trouble finding the transport we arranged to bring them to Mbabane, Swaziland, the capital city where I met them and from there we took a taxi to the first place.  We stayed at a backpacker's hostel called Sondzelas at the Mlilwane Game Reserve.  We had a private round house to ourselves with a beautiful view of a valley and mountain range on the game reserve.  We could look out our window impala and warthogs in our 'front yard' and zebra in the distance.  One morning I was brushing my teeth and looked out the window to see three warthogs staring at me.  At dinner we watched impala grazing, monkeys climbing the trees, and birds diving for fish in the pond the restaurant overlooked.  We went on a safari there, saw tons of animals and watched the sunset over the mountains.

Next stop, we moved to a hostel called Lidwala's Backpackers which is located on a main road between Swaziland's two main cities: Mbabane and Manzini in the Ezulwini Valley.  We used public transport and taxis the whole time, so by staying at this location we could easily get to the Handicraft Markets.  We visited Ngwenya Glass Factory where  they do glass blowing and glass art.  We watched from a balcony above the factory floor as they made wine glasses, vases, and glass hippos.  Also at Ngwenya they have some of the higher end craft shop boutiques in Swaziland.  Gone Rural and Tintsaba Crafts feature their sisal basket weaving, Rosecraft has beautiful scarves that I wish I could afford made from bamboo fiber, Imvelo eSwatini makes ceramic bead jewelry that I am in love with and the unique paper jewelry of Quazi Design.  Check out these companies.  Most of them support rural women in Swaziland and Ngwenya Glass helps gives money to the Animal Reserves specifically to save the rhino population.

On Friday, we braved the public transport and the Manzini bus rank with all our luggage to go to Mkaya Game Reserve for Endangered Species.  This game reserve is the closest game reserve to my site, it has four of the Big Five Animals (rhino, buffalo, elephant, leopard, but not lions), and they say that this park rivals Kruger in South Africa because of the accommodation which was so unique and awesome and the amount of animals you are able to see.  At Mkaya we went on three game drives where we saw tons of animals: rhinos, hippos, buffalo, elephant, giraffes, a crocodile, hyena, impala, and many more!  We stayed in this cool hut that's stone walls only went half way up so we were basically sleeping outside and we were surrounded by forest so no one would see in.  There was no electricity since we were so far in the bush, so at night everything was lit by lantern which gave it such a pretty, and romantic feeling.  It felt like a different world, it was hard for me to believe a place like this could exist.  In the morning we went on our third game drive at Mkhaya.  It was early, before breakfast and as we were driving to the fence that separates the camp section from the elephants' section our guide discovered elephant tracks on the wrong side of the fence! Uh-oh!  Unknown to us we had been sleeping with 13 elephants very close to us the previous night!  He said they would need to get a helicopter to come to herd all the elephants back to the other side of the fence.  That sounds expensive!

After breakfast we were dropped off at the closest bus rank where buses and khumbis come to take me to my site.  we loaded ourselves and all our stuff into a khumbi and waited for enough time to make Patty and Mom become anxious.  The khumbi took a while to load but it eventually did and we took off down the dirt road for 1/2hr to my home.  When we arrived at my homestead, Gogo was the only one there.  She instantly cried seeing my family.  I'm not sure how many white people she has seen in her life, but I can't imagine it is many.  Anyways, we got settled and then headed back to the bus stop which is the meeting place  and center of my community.  We met with some of my counterparts and friends who arranged a tour for us to drive around my community.  They explained a lot about life and culture in Swaziland and some of the history of my community.  Afterwards, we went to the butchery for a braii (bbq) of chicken and beef with lipalishi (corn porridge).  This was the first time Patty and Mom ate lipalishi which is a staple food here they eat at every meal, and we ate it like real Swazis: with our hands!!  I am accustomed to eating with my hands now, but it was funny watching Patty and Mom figure it out and put unhygienic-ness out of their minds.

The last stop was the Mountain Inn Hotel, a luxury hotel with a beautiful view that is located in Mbabane and really close to where they would pick up transport back to the airport.  We went from staying in the bush of rural Swaziland to a hotel with TV, showers, and free WiFi, but the best part was the view.  I could never get tired of looking at the mountains and the valley below dotted with homesteads.  Simply breathtaking!

We had a wonderful time together!  I was able to show them the many facets that exist in Swaziland, and I think they got a taste of what my life is like here.  Please look out for pictures and hopefully a post from Patty once they return back to America!