Before telling our story of our short time in Swaziland, it is important to provide a brief history of the small but proud landlocked African nation. In order to celebrate 50 years of independence from being a protectorate of the British governement, as of September 2018, the country changed its official name to eSwatini, which means "the land of the Swazis" in the local language of siSwati, mirroring it's English name.
Only one of the three absolute monarchs in Africa, the country is ruled by King Mswati III, who to date has 14 wives and 35 children. Known for his luxurious lifestyle and lavish spending, as well as his wives and relatives, animosity between the royal family and the citizens has grown during his reign.
While the majority of the country is poor, earning and spending only several dollars a day, the king and his wives have been known to spend millions of dollars of trips, shopping, jewelry, and cars. Here is a link from one Swazi news outlet blog with some examples, click here.
While 63% of the country lives below the poverty level, Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS rate of any country in the world, at an astronomical figure of 27%. More than 1 out of every adult Swazi is infected. 35% of all women have HIV/Aids, while the rate for men is lower at 20%. The transmission of the disease is nearly all from heterosexual activity, but there are thousands of sex workers who only use condoms about half the time. Polygamy is also common, as well as having multiple sex partners simultaneously.
Also, malaria is still a major concern in the area, and the government is making a concentrated effort to eradicate it.
Financial and medical statistics are not a reflection of individuals, so we were determined to venture into eSwatini, meet some locals, and of course, try some new food!
From Richards Bay, it took two hours to the border, and another two hours to the capital city of Mbabane. Much to our delight, the border crossing was surprisingly quick and painless. As in South Africa, the sides of the roads are lined with cows, horses, donkeys, goats, chickens. We also saw quite a few monkeys and an occasional warthog roaming the shoulders. En route to our AirBNB in the capital city of Mbabane, we made a pitstop in the small city of Manzini to find a well known local market of some sort. Whatever it was we were supposed to find was not meant to be. In the middle of the road came hundreds of angry Swazis marching and chanting in a language unknown to us.
We pulled up to our home for the next two nights in the early afternoon, after poor directions by our host led us on a two hour wild goose chase of southeast Africa. For whatever reason, our international T-Mobile sim cards were ineffective in Swaziland, thus we relied on the kindness of a local mini market underage teenage worker with limited English. She phoned our AirBNB host who provided correct guidance.From the outside, the wooden cabin built on the side of a small hill provided a tranquil setting with a spectacular view of the countryside. We were greeted by the maid Dudu, a gentle African soul with missing teeth who conveyed to us in elementary level English that our host (Phili) would not return for a couple more hours but would we like a couple of tea?
Realizing we hadn't had a proper meal since the day before, we ventured off into the town center of Mbabane to try some traditional Swazi food. A flipped truck down the road delayed our feeding, as we got caught behind a local school bus for 30 minutes at the bottom of our driveway. When we told our host Phili what happened, she told us that the incident had occurred before she left for work in the morning. Apparently it took a response team FIVE hours to show up on the scene.
20 minutes later we found ourselves in an American style burger joint with oddly decorated Native American paintings and African spears plastering the walls. Sibebe Rock Spur had a two for one burgers on Mondays! Perhaps American food doesn't well with the locals, because the front desk gives out Tums instead of mints.
Swaziland has roughly one million inhabitants, with 10% of them living in the capital Mbabane. In a country that is 99% African, the two of us stuck out like a sore thumb.
The experience with our AirBNB host was more that can be jotted down briefly in a short blog. In short, she was a proud Swazi woman named Phili (pronounced Pilly) who lived with a dog named Prince Harry, six geese, four ducks, and a cat named Tanzi, which Phili prolonged into Taaaanzi.
Phili is sharp, educated, and inquisitive. The evening we met her, she asked us dozens of questions about Jewish theology and the Land of Israel. When we found on Wikipedia that she did not need a travel visa to visit Israel, her mind began racing as she immediately began planning a trip. She explained to us about Swazi culture, the political situation and the discontent with the royal family, and how she believes the AIDS crisis is exaggerated and merely a ploy to receive more money from European NGOs. Considering over one million people die from AIDS every year from Africa alone, the facts weren't on her side.
Lastly, she shed some light on the protest we had witnessed in Manzini. The schoolteachers union in Swaziland is demanding more money, of which Phili is a member. For this reason, the following day she will have a day off and can accompany us as we explore her city and country.
The next morning, we set off for the only activity we had planned, which was a cultural village by the name of Mantenga.
Phili took us a took a local restaurant afterwards, where we sampled some local food that was suspicious at best.
The rest of the day was spent touring various sites in Mbabane and spending time with Phili and her animals. While our host was caring and considerate, we can not say the same for her animals. If we felt like staying with ten dogs and various other animals in Richards Bay was a farm, then this was a zoo. Sleep was hard to come by with the non-stop squawking and squabbling amongst the birds outside.
The following morning we eagerly packed our belongings early had local Eswatini breakfast prepared by Phili, said our goodbyes, and drove off out of the zoo and out of Swaziland. Green pastures awaited us in the world famous Kruger Park.
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