Friday, July 11th

We spent Thursday night at the Inyati lodge in Pongola game reserve, which was both stunningly cheap and beautiful. There were four buildings in the compound, one kitchen and living room and three smaller huts with the beds and bathrooms.

The morning view from Sue's porch was spectacular. We were perfectly placed on a hill at the bend of the Pongola River that was flush with wildlife and had a mountainside for a backdrop. We spent most of the morning training binoculars along the banks in order to get a better view of the crocodiles, warthogs and impala coming for a drink. Other animals would walk right next to the crocodiles, which we figured would lead to an exciting morning. The crocs, however, were much more interested in sunning themselves on the rocks than in doing something interesting, like eating a warthog. Guess they weren't hungry.

We left around 10. The check-out building had a wild white rhino laying lazily in the trees outside of it. The lady at reception had nicknamed the rhino "Cheeky" because of the way it would stare her down in the mornings.

We crozzed the border into Swaziland a little after noon. We then stopped in Manzini, a perfectly sized small city. We ate peri-peri chicken at a small cafe and walked up and down the streets afterwards. Swaziland definitely has its own feel to it. It is much more traditional and feels a little more relaxed than South Africa. Nearly every shop has a photo of the King of Swaziland, which all the people seem to love.

We then left for Sondzela Backpackers, which is located deep inside of Mlilwane Game Reserve. Upon entering the park, thousands of snares are on display that had been removed from the park once it had become a preserve.

We stopped at what is called the Haunted Hippo, a restaurant along the river where you can see hippos and crocs from the deck while you dine. We didn't eat, but we did get our photos taken with the hippo that would walk right up to the four foot rock wall that separated the camp from the river and rest its head on it.

That night, we ate dinner where all of the tourists eat, Malandelas, which was one of the only open restaurants in the area. The service was very laid back and slow but the food was delicious.. Afterwards, we went outside to check out the fire pit, bar and club that was next door called House on Fire. We were very disappointed to find that the live music club was closed for the night because it looked incredible inside. However, we were able to speak with an awesome couple from Mozambique. We began talking to the wife first at the fire pit. She was from California but had family from Sun Prairie. She joined the Peace Corps after school and went Western Africa, where she met her husband, who was from Senegal and they now have two daughters together. She now works for the US embassy and moves to a new country every few years.

Her husband joined us later and told me that he actually studied in D.C. and took online courses in literature at the Univerity of Colorado. He told me about the cultural differences between Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa. They had recently visited Cape Town and loved it, but found there to be too much racial tension for an interracial couple outside of the city. When he heard I was from Wisconsin he said that he had heard a lot of good things about a city in Wisconsin and that he would really like to visit there. After describing it, I realized he was talking about Madison, which was awesome.