ON THE ROAD AGAIN

BIG GAME ADVENTURES
SWAZI ADVENTURES:
A Blog in Two Parts

Big Game Adventures
Continuing the theme of the previous blog, "trips", we headed to the second of my raffle win game parks, Nkomazi, the holiday weekend in January.

It is located on the Komati river close to the Swaziland border surrounded by....almost nothing: 10 platform tent cabins; 3 vehicles; 15,000 hectares and no public traffic.  You park your car near the entrance and are picked up for the half hour ride to the camp.  We went on one of the weekends of bad rains and flooding, ignoring travel warnings, and as result had little traffic and only 4 other people at the park.  The scenery/topography/geography was stunning, the three young couples running the park passionate, and the food surprisingly good considering the limited number of guests.  There were only four of us on the game drives and a guide who gave little thought to staying on the dirt roads.  Lucky for us - he got us within twenty feet or so of a pride of lions: a full-maned male, two male cubs, two female cubs and an incredible alpha lioness.

Wrong lioness....

We spent an hour just parked and watching.  As long as we talked quietly and stayed within the confines of the vehicle it was safe (or so said the guide). As the vehicles are open this is important.  And because the lions are big - really big - and get bigger the closer you get.  Apparently they are used to the vehicle but are extremely sensitive to movement or anything out of the ordinary, even just putting your arm outside the vehicle.  It was an incredible experience and did much to offset the power and water outages of the past two years.

A sampling of our 60 Minutes:



This area of the southern Africa is the "Cradle of Civilization".  It is stunningly beautiful.  One has to wonder why anyone would migrate north to hotter and more barren climes.  Although, perhaps, the presence of predators provided some incentive to move on.  

Because of the vast open areas and plains within the  park, there are huge herds and many varieties of antelope we have not seen elsewhere. 

These plains also serve as smorgasboards for the lions.





We reluctantly left this beautiful experience and headed back to Maputo until.... the the holiday weekend in February!  When we were in Swaziland last May we had visited the Ngwenya Glass Factory (http://www.ngwenyaglass.co.sz/), a small glass factory originally started by Swedes.  It had fallen into disrepair, was resurrected by a South African family, and now employs and trains local Swazis and secondarily supports the economy and ecology by buying and recycling glass collected by locals.  I had seen a chandelier that I found intriguing when we visited last May and had regretted not buying it ever since.  In the interest of enhancing a sustainable economy for Swaziland, we decided a trip back was in order.  In all fairness, Swaziland is quite nice: gorgeous countryside (according to friends from Montana it is just like Montana), extremely friendly people, English-speaking (albeit heavily accented), good roads and real stores.  Africa lite.  We spent a couple nights in a mountainous, heavily wooded area not far from the capital, Mbabene, and were able to do some hiking in addition to shopping at the glass factory.  Suprisingly, or not, the light fixture was still there.  It is now packed and waiting for a good home in the U.S.

This part of Swazi is within an hour of the Nkomazi game park and like the game park is part of the "Cradle of Civilation".  It also has beautiful land areas and a fascinating ancient history.  Intrepid traveler and purveyor of all things off the beaten path, I decided I wanted to visit the oldest mine in the world and the Bushmen rock paintings.   Off we went, the good roads becoming  not so good roads. 

Ngwenya Mine is a UNESCO world heritage site(http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5421/).  They have determined by archeological investigation and carbon dating that haematite mining was begun at least 42,000 years ago.  Limited mining continues.  Haematite produces red ochre and the area is defined by its red color.  There is a small musuem, a bit of a hike to an overlook, and no tourists.

The haematite/ochre was used by ancestors of the San bushmen for rock painting.  So to complete the circle we headed off.  "Take the highway (4 lane tarred road) to the exit for the dam (two laned tarred), take the road to the right at the dam (two lane dirt) and follow the signs (dirt path that sees maybe 2 or 3 vehicles a year).

Continue to the end (a somewhat wider patch of dirt)."  So we did.  A few small abodes, many cattle and a small Welcome Shack.  After a few minutes a woman comes up, we sign the register (waiver?) and follow her down a path.  She is wearing flip-flops and proceeds merrily along.  We are wearing shoes slightly more substantial and still work to keep up.  To say we followed a path is a bit of stretch: down a hill, through the pasture (close the gate behind you so the cows don't wander in), over the rocks to a small cavern.

The paintings were of the minimalist school, but very interesting.  They told the story of the bushmen (red people) coming to the area, followed by the Bantu (black people) with their domesticated animals.  The bushmen fled and the Bantu took over.

Having sweated out, literally, the drive and the climb to the paintings, we can began our trek back to the highway and Maputo.  We - or at least our car - took the signage to heart; unfortunately on the hill and not the dale part of the journey. 

We were climbing a steep, winding part of the road when we both hear a rattle, looked at each other and simultaneously said "That can't be good".  The next minute the car dies. 

A water hose has broken and the radiator is boiling.  A long story short, a small bus finally comes by and stops, one of the passengers offers to help, hikes off to the nearest residence and comes back with water and a pliers.  The hose is spliced and jerry-rigged and the radiator filled.                                          

We get to the top of the hill and once again stop.  A call to the Swazi Peace Corps director who helps us arrange a tow and then  wait.  We were quite the local attraction.  Carl opened the cooler and had a beer but there was no way I was risking having to pee at the side of the road watched by 25 men.  Four hours later the tow truck arrived and we drove back to Mbabane: me, Carl, and two workers who maybe had taken a shower once in the past couple of weeks.  We spent the night at the PC Director's, hired someone to bring us back to Maputo and left the car for repairs, although we really didn't have much choice on that.  We were assured the car would be ready in a couple of days.  Eleven days later it actually was ready.

On the positive side, the Health Unit at the Embassy was sponsoring a contest to see who could walk the farthest in six weeks.  I logged in quite a few miles.

POST SCRIPT

So maybe this is a blog in three parts.  We were so intrigued by Nkomazi we decided to risk the trip with the car and return on the holiday weekend in March.  Well, St. Patrick's Day, but I am part Irish (O'Doran to tell the truth).  We were once again treated by fantastic drives and several liaisons with the lions.  We also had the same "I can go anywhere" driver and go everywhere we did.  Everywhere to the point of being stuck, being stuck in lion hunting territory after having just seen the lions.  There were five of us plus the driver.  The two women were put on lion watch while the men got out and tried to push.  No luck; well, some luck because no lions appeared.  The driver had to call for a tow (hmmm...this seems to be a new theme for us) and we hunkered down in the vehicle with the driver gun in hand.  The other vehicle arrived and we all got out to lessen the weight, the other woman and I still on watch.  As we were getting back in the vehicle we both looked over our shoulders and saw two of the male lions looking back. It begged the question of the location of the females, the real hunters in the lion kingdom.

We also have put a contract on a new townhouse in Ballston/Arlington.  Another long story of unfortunate/fortunate events, but it was a property we had our eye on and had to make a commitment in two weeks.  This has been a challenge from halfway around the world and we are making decisions based on less than reliable internet and downloaded pictures the size of my big toe.  And we thought the lions were scary....

  American lion