That Swaziland Solo Trip
Anyone who's ever done a group trip knows all about the shrink in number realities when the day approaches. And I will tell you this; I've organised and been on a handful, but you see the Swaziland trip showed me flames in this regard. The last hopeful out of 8 dropped the bomb a day before departure. I threw a brief pity party at the realization of no sing-out loud episodes in the car, cool group pics in the middle of the road, in front of the coolest backdrop. That was short lived as hype myself up mode kicked in; plotting solo fantasies for the next five days escape.
Nkoyoyo Dam
Thursday, 22 December came, long distance administration were underway at the hub of economic travel. eMalangeni sighting and the typical distractions that come with being in a taxi rank were part of the Wanderers taxi rank (joburg taxi rank) scenery. Four hours later we crossed the Mahamba border, the big deal moment- you know that look around for spectators typa moment, this was it for me with gentle humming as I captured everything that said Swaziland. Nhlangano was my first base, at an old pal's homestead, the small city gave a nolstagic Nongoma trip with its rural picturesque and one main road. Alot of activity went on at the pal's place- different groupings taking on chores as a collective;young males huddled by the fallen cow, some older Mama's in the kitchen and younger females sorting out the gifts inside all in preparation of Nozi's send off before her traditional wedding that Saturday.
Nhlangano
Friday morning the adventure began,a newly acquired bud Gugu took on the hill behind the Host's home. We summitted the backdrop in no time, set up camp at a shady spot at the peak and for a good forty five minutes took in the beauty below us. The rest of the day was filled with festivities as the community came in numbers for Nozi's pre-wedding ceremony. Saturday came and Nozi's send off was a good 5 hour road travel from Nhlangano to Luve. The journey offered beautiful scenery with flowing mountains and a touch of urban life as we drove through Manzini.
Ezulwini between Mbabane and Manzini was the next base at a local backpackers, it was pretty much a ghost town over the Christmas weekend. A brief walk led me to Mantenga Natural Reserve, the distant waterfall spotting was an anti climax but the guided cultural tour and dance redeemed the spot. Ezulwini proved to be pretty central and public transport friendly, later in the day I took a local taxi to the Mbabane township; Nkoyoyo. My local host led me to her backyard secret gem, a beautiful dam just a few streets from her house.
Mantenga Cultural Village
The next day I committed to a solo 5km hike, really took the route lightly. The intense steep and rather forestry character with foreign noises humbled me... okay okay nearly wet my pants. A strange dog came to my rescue and lived up to the saying dog's are a man's best friend. Doggy sniffed and peed away as he led the path, stopping now and then alarming me of foreign sounds. Often his gestures seemed like a signal to turn back as my mind ironically replayed scenes of the move 24 Hours. A good hour later Doggy and I were at the peak of Sheba's breast sharing water and KFC and doing all the celebration stuff a dog and a man does. The rest of the day was easy as I secretly celebrated the hike victory, a stop at the water springs was disappointing. The bargains at the market outside the Southern Sun made it all well, that evening I lazied around the backpackers with new buds before making my way back to the city of gold the next morning.
A video posted by Travellingcheapskates (@travellingcheapskates) on Jan 27, 2017 at 11:00pm PST
