His Majesty Mr. T

June 25-28

After the driving fiasco to and from Joburg, we were pleased to escape the shackles of urban life and driving. Swaziland, the north-eastern, land-locked kingdom within South Africa, provided us with such refuge.

After fixing our flat tire we were welcomed to our hostel by Cambridge PhDs. They were already quite far in their cups and were having an incredibly animated dance party. We quickly joined in due to the euphoria we felt when we finally reached our mountainous destination. We were armed only with a magnum of the delicious Four Cousins wine. Not nearly enough, but we did well with what we had.

The resulting dance party was a climax of energy and cultures: we had an Argentinian, a Slovenian, two Greeks, a French woman, a Columbian and we four Canadians. The dance-off culminated in a dance-circle centered by our Swazi security guard, who danced better than any man having 4 or less teeth.

We had gone to Swaziland to decompress: most activities were rather domestic in nature and we often reveled in our lack of productivity.This was, however, the first country we visited which provided us with a glimpse of the Africa we had all expected. We visited and received a guided tour of a traditional Swazi village, sat by a waterfall and then observed a traditional Swazi dance.

The aforementioned spectacle was splattered with colour, singing, storytelling and drumming. We were encouraged to join in and the Chris' and I quickly jumped at the opportunity.


We danced like most whites would among Africans: very poorly. We had dance battles, high-kick competitions and just had an amazing time.

The other activity we did was adventure caving: crawling 90m beneath the earth in pitch-black caves, littered with thousands of tiny bats; armed only with a jumpsuit, hardhat and a head-lamp. To top it off, we spent quite some time lounging in some hot-springs.

Swaziland, one of the few remaining kingdoms in Africa, is ruled by King Mswati III, who is also husband to 13 or 14 wives. Coincidentally enough, his face is found on souvenir T-shirts all over the country and at a quick glance he kind of looks like Mr. T, or at least according to Chris Ong Tone.

We felt completely welcomed and refreshed to spend the time we did in Mbabane, the Ezulwini valley and in Swaziland as a whole. The culture and the food (thanks Dolores for those two magnificent feasts!) were beyond compare.

If anyone makes the trek to southern Africa, I pity the fool who doesn't visit Swaziland!