I was excited about this day because after 12 days in South Africa I was about to exit it (for a while atleast) and enter my 12th country…The Kingdom of Swaziland.
I was also mindful of the fact that Joaquin’s adventure in SA was coming to a close since he was about to fly out to Buenos Aires in a couple of days and I was probably bidding both him and Geraldo adieu and going on my own for the rest of my travel. We had made sure that we exchanged out emails and pictures the night before because I woke up early that morning to hit the road. Joaquin was asleep when I left and Geraldo was in the shower so I said a quick good bye and caught up with Aldo who was waiting for me to drive back toward his hometown.
I had decided to head back with him as far as I can get and then get some other modes of transport and finally enter Swaziland through the Northern part of the country..little did I know what I had in store for me.
Talking of Swaziland, I bet most of the people who will read this blog (I hope there are a few :)) have never heard of this country before. Most of the people that I speak to about Swaziland still mistake it with Switzerland leading me to correct them.
Maybe the reason for that could be that the country is pretty small (smallest in Africa), no more than 200 km north to south and 130 km east to west. Looking at the map of southern Africa it appears as a minute dot. It’s a landlocked country in the southern region of Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. The name of the country comes from the populations that inhabit it, ethnic Swazis. You can find a wealth of info about the country on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaziland).
Anyway, going back to my drive with Aldo, it was pleasant and that’s when I got a White South African perspective to life in SA. I will share my thought on that in my final chapter on South Africa.
Aldo dropped me off at the intersection of the roads not far from their farmhouse (the place where I had stayed wile I was in the mountains a few days). I had met this dude (Aldo) for just a few days and I thought that we had got along very well in that short amount of time but as always it was time to move on. We did exchange email though.
At the intersection, a couple of locals helped wave a minibus for me so I could hitchhike. I don’t quite remember the name of the bus driver but he was a really nice chap who drove me more than 120kms through the same Panorama route that I had hiked a few days earlier. The ride was spectacular even though it was probably the 4th time I was going through that route…I tried to soak in the ride as much as possible as I knew that that would be the last time I would be driving through that route again. The guy who gave me a ride was working for a logistics company who deliver goods from Jo’burg to the region of Nelspruit.
He took me all the way to Nelspruit and on the way we stopped at a mall in Hazyview where he unloaded goods for about 30 mins while I just walked around the mall. Later he dropped me off at a public transportation center where I could get a minivan towards the border town. That taxi actually took me to a town that was closest to the border. From there I had to get another taxi to the border between South Africa and Swaziland.
The border on the SA side was called Jeppes Reef and by the time I got to the border it was already dusk and I had to walk to the Border control post of South Africa to get my passport stamped. The folks over at the border control were extremely pleasant. I even got a picture with one of them right at the border control office. I haven’t met friendlier border control personnel in my travels so far.
After getting my passport stamped, I had to walk over from the SA border to the Swaziland border control office through the No Man’s Land which was about 500 meters long. It reminded me a little of my border crossing from Nicaragua to Costa Rica.
There was a marked difference in the infrastructure on the other side of the border and at the control office the officers were fine too (probably not as friendly as the SA officers) but they did not have any problems with me taking pictures of them and their office space.
After I got all my docs stamped, it was time to get another taxi from the border gate to the nearest town of Pigg’s Peak. From there I had to take another taxi to the capital of the country called Mbabane. From Mbabane, I had to take another taxi and get to the Ezulwini valley where my hostel was located. Once that taxi dropped me off I had to take a maxi taxi (or the regular taxi to my hostel).
I know I must have confused you with my taxi travels but here’s a breakdown to recollect if you are as dizzy as me in understanding how many modes of transport I took that day.
1) Drove with Aldo in his truck
2) Hitchhiked with a bus driver to Nelspruit
3) Taxi to town closest to the border
4) Taxi to the actual border crossing
5) Taxi form the border crossing to a town called as Pigg’s Peak
6) From Pigg’s Peak to the capital, Mbabane
7) From Mbabane to Ezulwini valley
8) From Ezulwini valley to my hostel in a maxi taxi…!
That’s a whooping 8 modes of transport with my backpack in mostly crowded minivan taxis. The total time of my travel was more than 12 hours. I don’t thing I have done anything like that ever in my life. I can look back and say, I wasted a whole day just traveling from one place to another but then I try to look at it the other way and say where else could I get to see the rural land, talk to the locals at length, experience their pain in traveling and finally say that I was crazy enough to take 8 modes of transport in 12 hours passing from one country to another!!!
I checked into the hostel that I had booked (when I had applied for the visa) but there was a surprise waiting for me that night. I was sharing a co-ed dorm and I got into a brief conversation with a Malaysian Australian and she inadvertently mentioned that that she was miserable since she did not have her iPod or any other electronic devices with her. When I probed her a little more she said to me that I might not want to hear it and when I insisted on hearing what she had to say she said that just a few days ago, she and a few of the residents in that dorm that night were robbed at gunpoint at the very same hostel in the very same dorm room. She had the look on her face saying sorry…I did not want to tell u that but you insisted…!
That certainly was interesting piece of information but I was too tired that night to look for another place and decided to put my faith in statistics by which the likelihood of a place being robbed twice within a week was pretty darn low. If at all I thought that hostel would be the safest place to sleep that night.
I still had to have something to eat so I went to a nearby restaurant to grab a late night meal and catch the game between Ghana and Germany. Needless to say I was tired that night (and still a little sick) so I hit the sack as soon as I got back into the dorm room.
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| On the way towards Swaziland |
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| One of my several rides to get into Swaziland |
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| South African side of the border with Swaziland |
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| Map of Swaziland |
Maybe the reason for that could be that the country is pretty small (smallest in Africa), no more than 200 km north to south and 130 km east to west. Looking at the map of southern Africa it appears as a minute dot. It’s a landlocked country in the southern region of Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. The name of the country comes from the populations that inhabit it, ethnic Swazis. You can find a wealth of info about the country on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaziland).
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| Swaziland's flag |
Anyway, going back to my drive with Aldo, it was pleasant and that’s when I got a White South African perspective to life in SA. I will share my thought on that in my final chapter on South Africa.
Aldo dropped me off at the intersection of the roads not far from their farmhouse (the place where I had stayed wile I was in the mountains a few days). I had met this dude (Aldo) for just a few days and I thought that we had got along very well in that short amount of time but as always it was time to move on. We did exchange email though.
At the intersection, a couple of locals helped wave a minibus for me so I could hitchhike. I don’t quite remember the name of the bus driver but he was a really nice chap who drove me more than 120kms through the same Panorama route that I had hiked a few days earlier. The ride was spectacular even though it was probably the 4th time I was going through that route…I tried to soak in the ride as much as possible as I knew that that would be the last time I would be driving through that route again. The guy who gave me a ride was working for a logistics company who deliver goods from Jo’burg to the region of Nelspruit.
 |
| Walking across the border |
He took me all the way to Nelspruit and on the way we stopped at a mall in Hazyview where he unloaded goods for about 30 mins while I just walked around the mall. Later he dropped me off at a public transportation center where I could get a minivan towards the border town. That taxi actually took me to a town that was closest to the border. From there I had to get another taxi to the border between South Africa and Swaziland.
 |
| South African immigration official who wanted a picture taken with me |
The border on the SA side was called Jeppes Reef and by the time I got to the border it was already dusk and I had to walk to the Border control post of South Africa to get my passport stamped. The folks over at the border control were extremely pleasant. I even got a picture with one of them right at the border control office. I haven’t met friendlier border control personnel in my travels so far.
After getting my passport stamped, I had to walk over from the SA border to the Swaziland border control office through the No Man’s Land which was about 500 meters long. It reminded me a little of my border crossing from Nicaragua to Costa Rica.
There was a marked difference in the infrastructure on the other side of the border and at the control office the officers were fine too (probably not as friendly as the SA officers) but they did not have any problems with me taking pictures of them and their office space.
After I got all my docs stamped, it was time to get another taxi from the border gate to the nearest town of Pigg’s Peak. From there I had to take another taxi to the capital of the country called Mbabane. From Mbabane, I had to take another taxi and get to the Ezulwini valley where my hostel was located. Once that taxi dropped me off I had to take a maxi taxi (or the regular taxi to my hostel).
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| Swaziland's immigration (refreshingly relaxed attitude to photos being taken) |
1) Drove with Aldo in his truck
2) Hitchhiked with a bus driver to Nelspruit
3) Taxi to town closest to the border
4) Taxi to the actual border crossing
5) Taxi form the border crossing to a town called as Pigg’s Peak
6) From Pigg’s Peak to the capital, Mbabane
7) From Mbabane to Ezulwini valley
8) From Ezulwini valley to my hostel in a maxi taxi…!
That’s a whooping 8 modes of transport with my backpack in mostly crowded minivan taxis. The total time of my travel was more than 12 hours. I don’t thing I have done anything like that ever in my life. I can look back and say, I wasted a whole day just traveling from one place to another but then I try to look at it the other way and say where else could I get to see the rural land, talk to the locals at length, experience their pain in traveling and finally say that I was crazy enough to take 8 modes of transport in 12 hours passing from one country to another!!!
I checked into the hostel that I had booked (when I had applied for the visa) but there was a surprise waiting for me that night. I was sharing a co-ed dorm and I got into a brief conversation with a Malaysian Australian and she inadvertently mentioned that that she was miserable since she did not have her iPod or any other electronic devices with her. When I probed her a little more she said to me that I might not want to hear it and when I insisted on hearing what she had to say she said that just a few days ago, she and a few of the residents in that dorm that night were robbed at gunpoint at the very same hostel in the very same dorm room. She had the look on her face saying sorry…I did not want to tell u that but you insisted…!
That certainly was interesting piece of information but I was too tired that night to look for another place and decided to put my faith in statistics by which the likelihood of a place being robbed twice within a week was pretty darn low. If at all I thought that hostel would be the safest place to sleep that night.
I still had to have something to eat so I went to a nearby restaurant to grab a late night meal and catch the game between Ghana and Germany. Needless to say I was tired that night (and still a little sick) so I hit the sack as soon as I got back into the dorm room.
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