Home » Swaziland Ukraine » South African Adventure 1999, Part 9: Exploring Swaziland

The first days in Swaziland we took part in the daily life at the orphanage, learning how Borgny coped with everything. We also had some time to explore Swaziland in more detail than during the tour with Drifters. Eventually we visited Mbabane to obtain visas for Mozambique and drove to Hlane Game Reserve near the border to spend the night. We stayed in a nice big house near a water hole and saw lots of animals coming to drink in the evening.

South African Adventure 1999, Part 9: Exploring Swaziland

Jan Arild Teland
2006-05-08 20:28:11

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Day 25 - July 21

We got up at 0730, and after the morning routine we went over to Borgny's house to eat breakfast. During the night it must have gotten pretty cold outside, but Borgny had made a fire in the fireplace so it was warm and cosy inside. It was nice to eat a Norwegian style breakfast again. After breakfast we all drove into Nhlangano to get some supplies and have a closer look at the town.

Before entering the town itself, we drove by the King Sobhuza II Memorial football stadium to take a look at it. Despite the impressive name, its appearance was not very spectacular! Although I hadn't expected much in the first place, I was a bit disappointed. The area was very shabby and almost without facilities for the spectators.

Then we drove through town center to make a short visit to Borgny's Danish friend, Gunnar Jřrgensen. He had been sorting out the details for our visit to Mozambique, and told us that all formalities had been taken care of, except for the visas which we would have to obtain in Mbabane. We would do this early in the day on the 23rd and then head towards Mozambique afterwards.

After saying goodbye to him, we finally went in to the center of Nhlangano. We parked our car and strolled around the shops in and around the Nhlangano Mall. What surprised us the most was the enormous amount of stores selling clothes, shoes or furniture. They seemed to be everywhere, so the Swazis shouldn't be in lack of any of these things, provided they had the money to buy them. According to May Tina, though, the Swazis seemed to have no idea on how to match clothes of various colours. There were certainly many colourful outfits here in Swaziland! Also, they were apparently not quite up to date on fashion, judging by Western standards.

After browsing in the many of the shops we visited a grocery store to get supplies for the orphanage. The store seemed to be selling out and ...