Driving to Swaziland, 03/02/2012

The next morning, we prepared ourselves for a long drive. It's about 5 hours from Johannesburg to Swaziland, and being piled into small cars filled with teenage boys for that long seemed a little daunting.

The drive was GORGEOUS. I kept telling Chris "This doesn't feel like Africa!" Everything was so green and lush. From all my years watching The Lion King, I guess I was expecting savannas, grasslands, and the serengeti. 

These photos are blurry because I was taking them from inside the moving car. I wish we'd stopped to take some good photos. 

We made it across the border into Swaziland pretty quickly, we avoided the Friday afternoon rush of Swazi citizens who work just across the South African border. About an hour later, we were at the Moya Centre meeting Jane and some of her staff, Lina and Julie. They are all amazing women.

Jane Cox, a native of Swaziland, runs the Moya Centre, a community healing center focused on the well-being of Swazi children, particularly those who have lost their parents to AIDS.  

After meeting with Jane, we drove to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, where we would be staying for the remainder of the trip. These are the offices for Mlilwane, where we checked into a backpacker's lodge called Sondzela. 

After checking in, we made the drive through the park to get to Sondzela. It was so surreal seeing zebras in the wild, not fenced in or caged in a zoo. It finally felt like Africa to me. 

We also saw plenty of warthogs on our drive. I just had to laugh every time I saw one, they're so silly looking.

That night, after eating an awesome dinner with the rest of the campers, the staff performed a traditional Swazi Sibhaca dance for us. 

The face on their robes is King Mswati III. He has reigned in Swaziland since 1986, and is considered to be one of the last "absolute monarchs" in the world (meaning he has the power and authority to choose the Prime Minister, members of the cabinet and judiciary, etc. He doesn't, however, have the power to choose his own heir.)

After the show, we went back to Sondzela to plan some workshops for the morning, and get caught up on some much needed sleep!