Swaziland – 2011
We drove a full day from Simbavati Game Reserve south to Swaziland- a little known country that is surrounded on three sides by South Africa and on the east by Mozambique. We cleared customs, exchanged some money for Swazi money (which is on a par with the South African rand) and headed to Milwane Game Reserve, one of three Royal Game Parks.
Swaziland is a kingdom, the last kingdom in Africa, and ruled over by a benevolent king, Mswati, who practices polygamy. Not too long ago he ruled that all teenage girls in the country should practice chastity to curb the country’s AIDs epidemic- more than a third of the country’s adults have AIDS and the population has essentially stopped growing. He was then criticized for marrying a 17-year old girl.
We stayed one night in Milwane Park in bee hive huts, very cute and very spacious and practical, and not expensive. That night Misti spoke with a ranger who told her about a special once a year event taking place in another Swazi park- Hlane- which was about two hours away.
We weren’t planning on two nights in Swaziland, but this sounded like something worth seeing- and it was. The event was a native dance contest with entrants from throughout the country, men and women in their native dress (including spears and shields), dancing and singing in small groups throughout the day. It was like taking all Hollywood movies that had ever been made about Africa and combining them, and was completely authentic. Lucky that we had a chance to see this.
We spoke with the man who is director of the park and he introduced us to a US/Australian camera crew who were filming the event for Swazi promotion. I gave them my email address and they said they’d tell us when and where the video will appear on US TV.
Art Faibisch
