Home » Swaziland Mozambique Kenya » Southern Africa part I.

Kenya
I started my trip with 2 days in Nairobi, Kenya, a stopover on my flight to SA. I was pretty tired after last minute revelling in London and so took the first day easy. I had heard bad things about Nairobi before i arrived but found the place not too bad. Not exactly inspiring but the central area is modern and cosmopolitan. It certainly looks like a great place to travel around and I am going to try and make it back up here overland over the next 5-6 months from Johannesburg, but we will have to see how it goes. Jetting off in the morning I got a great view on snow capped Kilimanjaro towering above a flat sea of clouds and bushland to whet my appetite to return here..

Southern Africa part I.

Stevemonty
2005-09-23 18:33:24

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Kenya
I started my trip with 2 days in Nairobi, Kenya, a stopover on my flight to SA. I was pretty tired after last minute revelling in London and so took the first day easy. I had heard bad things about Nairobi before i arrived but found the place not too bad. Not exactly inspiring but the central area is modern and cosmopolitan. It certainly looks like a great place to travel around and I am going to try and make it back up here overland over the next 5-6 months from Johannesburg, but we will have to see how it goes. Jetting off in the morning I got a great view on snow capped Kilimanjaro towering above a flat sea of clouds and bushland to whet my appetite to return here.

South Africa
From Johannesburg I went straight onto the town of Nelspruit in the East, gateway to the Kruger National Park. I did a 2 day safari drive here including a 3.5 hour morning hike with 2 armed guards through the bush. It's an incredible place to see big wildlife. We were able to walk through the bush and observe Elephants, White Rhino, Hippo, Cheetah, Wildebeest, Warthog, Giraffe and Zebra up close. The animals don't notice you when you're in a vehicle and you can drive right up to them but on foot they are vary wary, sniff the air and stare at you nervously.
Had some time back in Nelspruit relaxing and cooking steak on the braai. Food here is top quality and really cheap. For a few days now I've ate nothing but giant steaks on the braai with bread and lettice. It makes you realise how bad the ecomomised farming methods are in the UK and rubbish they sell in our supermarkets.
Paulo, Ozzie Chris and I hired a taxi for the day and visited the Blyde River Canyon area just North of where we were. Stunning scenery as impressive as somewhere like the Grand Canyon. This was also the site of a famous battle between the Swazi and Zulu people when the Zulu won.
Swaziland
UK Chris, Ozzie Chris, Mandala and I travelled onto Swaziland the next day. Both Swaziland and Lesotho are independent mountainous coutries that have managed to fight of invasions from Zulus, Boers and the British over the years. There are now about 1 million people in Swaziland. It's a stunningly beautiful place, there is a wealthy infrastructure and plenty of space.
We stayed at probably the best hostel I've ever been to, a huge residence set in a game park with a swimming pool that Osteriches come to drink out of and a view over the bush to mountains on the horizon. Two days ago we went on a walk and managed to track close to a herd of Zebra just before sunset for some great photos.

On Easter Sunday our Swazi friend Mandala took us to the National Stadium to hear the King speak and listen to prayers, all in Swazi language. The newspaper that day was more revealing and quotes the King as reinforcing the bishops views that multiparty democracy is evil according to the bible. He says that in the Bible God talks to Kings and not Presidents, when the people were given democracy they voted for Barabas and not Jesus to be freed and that all supporters of democracy were against the King and the children of gay parents.

Mozambique
I'm now in Maputo the capital of Mozambique, a slight detour on my way down the coast to Cape Town. The language here is Portuguese and the country has only been open about 10 years after a civil war breaking free from communism. Many of the streets here have political names such as Avenida Lenine and Avenida Popular Guerra. We went to the open fish market last night for dinner with a very interesting expat who seems to know all the high people in government here. He is a major invester in tourism game parks and claims to have helped introduce the great man Nelson to his current wife.