08.09 We remain in Mozambique and Maputo. Christer has just entered the shower. I can hear the cars out in the street, oops one of them honked! Today we will be heading into Swaziland. I am looking forward to it. It sounds kind of exotic. It´s that kind of country one have seen on a map and wondered about. Our home here has been great, with good prices and a great location.

08.55 We’ve checked out and are sitting in a taxi towards "Baixa". It is the lower part of the city and the area where the minibuses to Swaziland depart from. I am sitting upfront and a pirate doll hangs from the rear view mirror, could it be Jack Sparrow?

The trip to Swaziland starts when all the seats in the minibus have passengers.

Roberth and Christer are wondering when this journey will start.

09.08 Our passports are being registered right now by a guy in jeans and a red soccer jersey. A gentleman in a blue shirt and a green cap is holding the passports. There are several vendors outside of the minibus.

09.44 Things are for sure going on here. Further away people have gathered in a crowd. It was a fight going on. A guy covered in blood just came walking from there. Our backpacks have moved out to the little wagon behind the bus. Right now we are nine passengers. Sorry we just became ten. Where is the upper limit and when do we depart for the border?

10.23 The tenth passenger got off. Was he displeased with the price? Seven more have entered so we are now sixteen. We are still standing still.

10.30 Hurrah, we’ve started. The seat could have been a bit softer and less run down.

10.45 We’ve made a stop to fill up with petrol. That has never happened before, or? This is the second petrol station that we stop by. We weren’t allowed to fill up at the first one. It sounded like the guy at the station said something about bacteria? The petrol costs 23,10 per litre. That is in meticals. That is around 72 US cents.

11.13 The motor is running. We are standing still. We’ve just been pulled over by the police.

11.53 We did a left turn in Boane and have since then been climbing higher. The views are breathtaking. The area is extremely poor. The houses are very very simple, there is no connection for our cellphones and it is a thinly populated area to say the least. We are not going towards the regular border crossing Namaacha. To make the crossing smoother we are instead going towards Goba a bit further to the south. We’ve just reached it.

SWAZILAND

12.19 I am sitting at a bus stop in Swaziland. I managed to once again act foolishly before I left Mozambique. I took a picture of the sign wishing people welcome back. It was totally idiotic to take pictures inside a border area. Someone cried out something but no arms were raised. We will soon get on the bus to continue with the bus. Swaziland is world leading as it comes to percentage of inhabitants with HIV and people struck and killed by lightning. There might also be some positive things here as well. Things we might find out about in the days to come.

Peter was breaking the law taking this last photo from Mozambique.

Roberth in front of our minibus. We´ve just arrived to Swaziland.

12.39 We’ve just been stopped and checked by some customs officers. We are in the middle of nowhere. Everyone seems to take it calm. Ladies and gentlemen are standing in one line each with the bags in front of them.

13.48 The customs officers (soldiers?) approved us. We’ve now reached the minibus station in Manzini. Manzini is the largest city here in Swaziland. I don’t think the town has anything to do with Henry Mancini, the man behind the Pink Panther theme. We are going on from here so we have to get out of the bus and travel on with...well what, a taxi or another minibus? I guess we will find out.

Wonderful views overlooking the central parts of Swaziland.

13.57 We headed on down the streets and into another bus station. We were shown here by a guy who Christer gave some money for the job. I was about to give him some money as well but was told not to do so by our driver. The guy had done nothing special and would most likely buy drugs for my money, he claimed. Christer and I are seated upfront here in the minibus. I was asked to sit in the middle due to the fact that I am shorter.

14.30 We are slowly moving on. It is a long queue of cars in front of us. We can’t do much about it. We are ever so slowly heading towards the capital Mbabane. We saw a gathering of people as we left Manzini. The people screamed and seemed upset. Roberth asked one of the other passengers what was going on. "They are fighting, don’t they fight in your country?" was the answer he got.

15.22 It was chaotic to say the least at the bus station in Mbabane. I don’t think I have ever seen so many minibuses in the same area. With help from Christer we have reached Shield Guesthouse (http://www.visitswazi.com/shield/). Our new home is at 173 Tsekwane Street. After a while we managed to find a person who could show us where we were supposed to stay. We have; two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, toilet and a shower. The latter two can be found in some closet looking spaces. The dogs of this place have greeted us. A place with dogs is a great place. Traffic accidents was the reason and cause of the queues on the way here, one in the other direction and one in our direction.

Roberth and Peter getting closer to Shield Guest House. Just a few steps away!

We didn´t have to wait long before Peter prepared some coffee.

Roberth and the big wolf-like dog at Shield Guest House.

Peter in front of our "apartment" at Shield Guest House in Mbabane.

16.15 The hunger feels in our stomachs. Roberth is really out of shape. He has used his own method of ”water closure", don’t drink anything to avoid being forced to take a leak while on the minibus. It brings headache and tiredness with it. We all need food and we will also find out what the town centre has to offer.

16.40 We are finally at a table again. We are at Pablos, a restaurant in the proximity of Hotel City Inn at Gwamile Street. Roberth has ordered a hamburger. Christer will be having chicken curry; they have run out of township-curry. I am not as daring as my friends. I settle with the plain and simple. I will be having honey glazed pork chops, not so special or local. The only local thing I am about to try is a beer.

View towards central parts of Mbabane.

Peter and Roberth on Smuts Street, Mbabane.

18.04 This place has excellent service. The staff carried all the beers the place offers, none of them from Swaziland. After a tasty dinner we´ve done some surfing on the internet. It is lazy and slow but who cares? We are at an internet café in a small mall here in the centre.

After a day without food on the minibus it´s nice with some Chicken Curry at Pablos.

20.13 We haven’t done much since we got back. Roberth is washing his clothes. Christer and I are watching Swazi TV. It is time for the weather. They predict rain on Saturday. The sun is up between 06.37 and 17.24. My cellphone has no connection. The same thing goes with Roberth’s and Christer´s.

21.48 It has been a lazy evening. We’ve mostly watched TV and relaxed. We are currently looking through today's pictures. It is soon bedtime; Christer will be having the single room with the double bed this time. Tomorrow we will be seeing more of the town and the country. Swaziland is one of the few remaining countries in the world with an autocratic king.

Swaziland´s flg on the police station in Mbabane.

Friday 31st of July

09.21 The water is bubbling in the water heater, Christer and I are seated on the side of my bed and Roberth is resting. I still haven’t got any phone contact. We’ve seen plenty of ads for cellphones here but are not able to call.

09.52 One of the dogs popped in during breakfast. He is small and limps a little. Roberth tried to give it a bread crumb but the dog ignored it. As Roberth tossed a quarter of a roll the limping one swiftly caught it and ran out to the buddies.

Dogs visiting us during breakfast.

10.15 No this isn't right, we have to get out of here and go downtown. We have things to do and find out. We have to find the tourist information for example.

10.57 We’ve reached the shopping mall Swazi Plaza. It is just a short walk down here. Without any luck we have searched the mall for postcards and tourist information. Mbabane is a small capital with just 95 000 inhabitants.

In this picture you can see a woman doing something we can´t do.

Lots of people around the lunch hours at Swazi Plaza.

The bus station in Mbabane, a chaotic place.

11.28 After more searching in the mall area we were informed how to find the tourist information. We asked some people. Some knew nothing at all and others gave us some advice. It had moved and is situated next to a petrol station. We are there now and are getting useful information and pamphlets. They have told us where we can find postcards. They also informed us about a music festival, Bush Fire. We will see what we will do about that. It takes place in a village further down the valley, Malkerns.

12.13 We went to another mall, Emphalwini Mall, and we found what we were looking for. Postcards and stamps are bought. I’ve also bought a souvenir shot glass. We are right now having some coffee at the café Portofino.

Roberth and Christer in Mbabane.

Emphalwini Mall, Mbabane.

13.28 The postcards are sent. We are sitting on a yellow wall. A small stream is behind us. Two ducks are standing next to it. They are eating some bread. We also want to eat. The question is where and what we will eat. The stream divides the mall area into two parts.

14.39 Our lunch will be had at Phoenix, a restaurant in the Emphalwini Mall. Here there will be Cordon Bleu for Christer and Sirloin Steak for Roberth and myself.

17.05 We spent an hour on the internet before we went home. We were greeted by the three small dogs who live here as we got back. We call them; “the limping one”, “the red fox” and “the third one”. There is also a slighter bigger dog here, a dog that we call “big wolf”. We are planning tomorrow’s adventures. It includes paying 1050 lilangeni for staying here´at the guesthouse. It is the same amount which we have paid in advance. The swazi currency is tied to the South African rand and has the same value.

Everywhere in Mbabane you can see these people dressed in yellow. They are helping people, they sell phonecards and lots more.

19.43 We will cook our own food today. We’ve been at a supermarket and bought a long minced meat sausage. We are about to cook it. Shall we slice it in pieces or just squeeze the interior out of the skin?

21.15 We tried both kinds. It wasn't any culinary sensation but we are far from hungry. Maybe we should have grilled it over charcoal. We are now watching TV and taking it slow.

21.51 We had visitors. The dog we call “the red fox” was here and we´ve also been visited by two cats. They all decided to leave as the “big wolf” barked. We are having evening coffee and are thinking about when we will wake up tomorrow morning.

How do we prepare this one?

Saturday 1st of August

08.41 A new month is here and so are we as well. We just had a hearty breakfast. Today we will settle the bill and also head out for new adventures. Swaziland is a small country (17 363 square km) but it still takes some time to go around. We will have to settle with a nearby tourist location.

09.15 More was added for bank fees (?!), as we were about to pay for the room. We are now at the bus station and are about to go by minibus to Lobamba. One has to hold things apart. Lobamba is a village in Swaziland, "La Bamba" is a song from the 80´s and Lumumba is a warm drink.

Taking a long walk to this day´s destination.

A termite mound and the arena where the Umhlanga Dance is held.
Read more about the dance here: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umhlanga)

09.49 We’ve reached the village of Lobamba. It is actually quite big and we couldn’t just say "Lobamba" as they asked where we were getting off. We finally got off in the intersection where the village road crosses the main road. We sat like wrinkled candy wraps on the bus here. There are around 5800 persons living here in Lobamba. It is the place where you can find the parliament and the home of the king’s mother. We are currently next to King Sobhuza II Memorial Park. King Sobhuza II ruled between the 10th of December 1899 and the 21st of August 1982. The country was run by his paternal grandmother until the 22nd of December 1921. The long lasting king had 70 wives and 210 children between the years 1920-1970. A bit further away is the parliament the national soccer arena. We are heading in the other direction though. We will go by foot from here to today's excursion place.

One of all the odd locations in the world where Peter has updated his travel journal.

A curious boy discovered white men on the road.

Saying hello to the tractor boys!

A supermarket in the village, just perfect! We need something to drink.

School was closed this Saturday.

10.19 We´ve got three kilometres left to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary. There are supposed to be animals there. I can hear the bird (pigeon) which cried “pole-vaulter” in the distance. We are walking along the main road.

10.38 We followed the signs and turned right into a smaller dirt road. Ahead of us is Lusito Supermarket. We will go inside for some beverages. Well, supermarket and supermarket.... It is more or less a small store in the middle of a village. The store shares the building with a butchery.

Finally, we made it! Roberth is at the entrance of the wildlife park Mlilwane.

Peter captured a beautiful impala on this photo.

11.07 We’ve walked on for some more kilometres. I let some local guys have some of my beverage, we passed a school and have just signed in and paid the fee to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary. This is it. The area opened in 1961. Gentle (?) grass eaters stroll freely around here. We might add that we are the only ones that have walked here. The rest have come in cars or buses.

11.48 We are sitting on a log near the Rest Camp. We are taking a rest, a log break. Tourists are resting while birds are singing. We’ve seen wildebeests and impalas on our way here. We’ve also seen fenced in warthogs and ostriches. Here we’ve seen some kind of antelope with stripes. We will soon see more of the area. This is an excellent place to see African animals. They are fairly domesticated but are still wild. They are easy to spot in a limited area.

A very good lunch consisting of wildebeest sausage and chicken.

Mother and baby approaching the water.

A popular hippo ended up in many photoalbums.

12.04 We are about to have something to eat. We are at Hippo Haunt Restaurant. We are by a small pond. It is a hippo on the other side of the pond.

13.01 Today’s lunch was salad, fries, chicken/vegetable shish kebab and wildebeest sausage. The sausage had a meaty filling. This was just what we needed. The hippo and her cub move around in the pond and the area next to us. There are also some warthogs and an ostrich here. The hippo became really popular as she submerged and posed near a stone wall. She posed for anyone that wished to take pictures of her. We were some of them.

Three europeans in Africa.

Roberth and Christer watching a female nyala.

We met these animals on the walk back. Now it really feels like Africa!

14.31 There seems to be rain in the air. We’ve slowly moved back to the park’s reception. We’ve seen more animals such as zebras and some kind of antelope, a bontebok or a blesbok. We can hear music in the distance. It is coming from that festival we heard about yesterday, Bush Fire. It is not far from here.

15.22 A minibus appeared just as we got out on the main road. We are taking it back to Mbabane.

15.58 We went home quickly. We’ve returned to Mbabane. Roberth is surfing the internet and Christer just left to buy some candy or similar to remove the wildebeest meat which has stuck between his teeth.

It was a lovely day in Mlilwane.

17.03 It didn’t go that well to use the internet. It went just fine to remove the meat. We had some problems in buying something to eat on tomorrow’s bus ride. We weren’t allowed to take our backpacks into the first store. We weren’t let inside the second one at all. They were about to close. It went just fine in the third one. We found a note in our room which said that we still owe them 5 rand. It also says that we’ve prepaid 1000 rand. I’ve paid 1050 rand though and got a paper which says so. We have to figure this out.

19.09 We know nothing new about the debt. We are looking at the rugby game between Springboks and All blacks or to simplify it South Africa versus New Zealand. At 15.31 into the game the All blacks lead with 10-6. The game is being played in Durban. We are supposed to be there in a couple of days.

19.31 I’ve spoken to our hostess Patricia. We solved the questions regarding the economy. The banks had taken those 50 rand and we no longer owe her that fiver. We skipped the rugby and went for dinner at The Mediterranean Restaurant.

20.51 The guys had roti and I chose a hamburger. We are back at home. I am trying to watch a movie, I don’t know which, Christer are checking facts for tomorrow and having coffee and Roberth is reading. My cellphone still hasn’t got any contact with the outside world.

21.47 The bell has tolled. It is time to pull the cover over me and get some sleep. I think the movie was ”The Interpreter”. I didn’t finish it. We’ve thought about tomorrows trips. The rain is gently falling outside but everything is peace and quiet in here.

Evening entertainment. Rugby on South African TV.