I have been told that the average amount of time that any traveller spends in Swaziland is 1.8 days. Jen and I are bang on average, and having seen what this little country has to offer I can't say I'm proud of that statistic. It's a lovely little place.
And actually getting here was a sodding breeze - to be honest, while we go on incessantly about the regular difficulties of getting around most of Africa, getting around South Africa has been little short of effortless. In fact, by far the most difficult moments of the journey were over with early on - firstly, when we got out of bed at something like 5.30am and made our way to the bus stop and secondly, when after being told that the bus to Swaziland left from a different place to the one we'd showed up at, we were walked down one of Durban's noted "avoid at all cost" streets by one of the bus boys without a hint of menace or danger and that was that. Aside from having to change from the bus we'd settled into to a different one just before we left Durban (ok, so we were still in Africa after all) the rest of the trip was a dream. The bus was comfortable and fast, the roads were good and we made great time - and the most surprising part was that this stayed true after we crossed the border.
I'd expected crossing into Swaziland to be crossing into Lesotho - an immediate and obvious decline in the standards of road and infrastructure, and a country and population noticeably and significantly poorer. You know, like crossing from England into Wales (ok, so it wasn't THAT bad...). But the roads were excellent and the infrastructure good, and by lunchtime we'd made it to Legends Backpackers, our home for the next two nights, via the transport hub of Manzini.
Two things to note about Manzini:
1) As a town it seemed a whole lot nicer than its reputation suggests
2) Its bus stand may just be the busiest we've encountered in Africa
However, it was for the picturesque landscapes and interesting culture that we'd come - albeit briefly - and so we based ourselves in the Ezulwini valley, so we could look at things like this just outside our hostel.
We only had one real day of sightseeing, and the highlight of that day was undoubtedly the House on Fire - a legendary live music/entertainment venue and art gallery, and a place that Hendrix would have felt right at home. The only disappointment was that during our short time in the area it wasn't hosting an event - that would have been something to see.
It was a sensational place - hell, even the ladies' toilets were a highlight.
Note: I only went in with Jen, and when we were sure no one else was in there. Honest.
An afternoon at the craft market, and cooking ourselves a spectacular braai at our backpackers completed the day nicely, and now here we are ready to get up early again tomorrow morning and depart for Mozambique. The extra time we spent in Lesotho, combined with our desire to get the most out of our 30-day Mozambique visa means that we've underdone Swaziland by quite a bit. I don't think this is necessarily the kind of country where you need to settle in and spend weeks, mind.
But 1.8 days? I reckon it deserves better than that.
Here are the photos:
No comments:
Post a Comment