Mandla was another wonderful addition to our vacation. Dressed in traditional Swazi clothing he truly showed us the spirit of Swaziland.
First order of the day was lunch. It was 12 Noon, and we had not had any breakfast. We were hungry!
After a 20-minute drive into gorgeous hilly country we ate at a really nice little restaurant overlooking a huge water dam. Food did a belly good!
During the drive through the mountains Mandla showed us how each homestead had a roundhouse. This house is “Grandmothers hut”.
After lunch, Mandla guided us on a drive around the Swaziland Mountains. We ended up at Piggs Peak, where we took a tour to see cave paintings. The walk to these cave paintings was so steep that I only made ¾ of the way. I was afraid I would not have made it back up if I continued. Craig made it all the way down and said they were amazing. The cave paintings were x thousand years old. The pictures were quite amazing, and I am sorry I did not go all the way down.
After the cave paintings Mandla took us to a small traditional homestead of some of his friends. It was a different way to live. I think my mom was overwhelmed by everything as she stayed in the car.
The hike to the caves had wiped out most of our day, and with the early starts to our day we were tired. So we continued with a slow drive to our hotel to retire for the night.
Mvubu Falls Hotel was wonderful. It was small, quaint and really pretty. We checked in, and then crashed on the bed for an hour. Then we had a wonderful dinner in their restaurant’s outside patio.
The restaurant played American pop music. Craig, with his extensive music knowledge, felt discombobulated hearing such intrinsically American music in foreign surroundings. It was quite funny actually.
After a leisurely dinner we turned in and crashed.
Day 2 in Swaziland
Next morning we got an early start, and met Mandla the moment we stuck our little noses out of our rooms. We all had a great breakfast together. Mandla was an amazing person. Having taught himself French during a trip to Paris, he was raised traditional Swazi. Mandla embodied the generation that straddled the old traditions with the new International influences. He did so amazingly well. Talking to Mandla set me at ease. I could so clearly feel he treasured his tradition and worked hard to keep it alive.
We headed out after breakfast. Our first stop was the Swazi glass factory, which is talked about a lot online. It is really neat. Used glass, or pieces, are gathered from all over Swaziland and delivered to the factory. There, it is used to make amazing hand blown glass art. It was neat to see, and we could not leave without buying something.
Shortly after glass factory, Mandla directed me down a small dirt road. This started 30 – 40 minute drive on tiny dirt roads – some with only one track. There was gorgeous nature, and everyone we passed had such easy smiles. The livestock everywhere further complicated driving. There were plenty of cows, as they are the main wealth of the Swazi, but I could avoid them. The chickens really worried me. I had nightmares about hitting one, and then having to buy the family another chicken.
The driving continued, and the road got smaller and bumpier. Several times we crossed over large puddles. I was worried for the car that no longer had its protective covering.
Finally, we turned in to a road that was barely a track. Then we turned into a place without even that. We had arrived at some of Mandla’s friends house. A little shy, we got out of the car. Several women and children met us. Nati, an older boy, showed us his home, and how he lived. It was a really gorgeous well-designed homestead with no running water or electricity. They had the nearby river for water and fires for light.
There were several little huts: one hut for young unmarried boys, one kitchen for the men and boys, one for all the women, and another kitchen hut for the women. The women’s cooking hut was the main kitchen.
There was also a round, thatched grandmother’s house. All good homesteads in Swaziland have the Grandmothers hut. The grandmother of the family lives here. It is also the hut build specifically for their ancestors. If a kid misbehaves he or she need only to run into the Grandmothers hut and the parents are not allowed to punish the kid, because being in Grandmothers house means the kid has appeared in front of his or her ancestors and the wrong doing has been cleansed. Grandmothers house is most certainly a main gathering spot, and the most important of the huts.
Nati demonstrated how they slept on grass mats on the dirt floor, where they cook over open fires, and how they gather and braid grasses to create many household goods. We bought several grass table place mats.
When I arrived a very young child ran up and grabbed my hand. He soon wanted to be lifted, and I toured with him on my hip. Towards the tour’s end, the grandmother called all the kids to her.
Then the kids performed a traditional Swazi dance of welcome home to the warriors. They were cute in their traditional clothes and had mastered those dances so well.
Suddenly, another large grass mat rolled out, and we were served food. This family, who had so little, wanted to share their food with us. We got tasty chicken, mealy pap and gravy. The gesture displayed the Swaziland community spirit Mandla talked about. This community spirit that makes your problems the community’s problems, and everyone shares what they have. I quickly came to love this community spirit.
The family mainly lived off what they raised and grew: chickens, eggs, goats, cows and their garden. I felt honored to be served this fresh tasty food.
We wanted to thank them with some gifts at the end. I grabbed several sunglasses and a scarf. I distributed the sunglasses among the kids and gave the scarf to the grandmother. The grandmother’s smile was incredible when she got the scarf. Dancing, singing and a giant thank you hug followed. I will never forget her smile and hug; her happiness with the scarf overwhelmed me.
After saying good-bye, we got back into the car to complete the long drive back on tiny dirt roads.
At the first larger mud / water puddles, I aimed to completely avoid the water and mud. I still worried about the car’s missing protective covering. Mandla kept saying to go towards the water, but I did not listen. Sudden there was a big bump and Mandla yelled: “stop”. Because bumps on dirt roads were normal, I did not understand what the big deal was. Mandla opened his door and looked out. Then he exclaimed: “We are done”. I was surprised, but first thought he was joking. No Joke – we were “done”. I got out of the car to investigate. Some grass on the roadside covered a big ditch. Both our left wheels hung over the ditch.
This was scary. Over 30 minutes drive on tiny dirt roads, in the middle of Swaziland where our “roadside assistance” would not help us. Mandla examined the car to determine if the wheels could grab anything. I tried with no luck.
Then Mandla whistled loudly towards a nearby homestead. A guy ran down, and they spoke Swazi. The two guys made plans, and the guy from the homestead ran to get some rope. Then some women arrived, and then two soldiers happened to drive by. The soldiers really changed the landscape with their strength as the farmer returned.
Now all 4 or 5 men lifted the rear wheel onto the road. My jaw had hit the dirt road a long time ago.
Then they lifted the front wheel onto the road. We were good to go. Everyone immediately disbursed, and no one asked for money. As we passed the guy from the homestead, we gave him some money. He had earned it! This was too much excitement in a day. Again, we were shown that: “your problem is my problem” and “I share what I have”.
I had learned my driving lesson. Listen to Mandla, and don’t be afraid of the puddles. From then on, I drove slower too.
Our day ended at a large outdoors crafts market. Yummy. Then we attended the official show at the “Swazi Village”. The show included several traditional dances, and had built a perfect traditional village to display how they lived.
Their gorgeous dances contrasted to those earlier in the day. Visiting Grandmother and her beautiful children had been organic and those kids danced traditional dances at home. The homestead was real – that was how they lived.
As we started to return home, the heavens opened again with hard rain. While we really wanted to visit the traditional Swazi food restaurant Mandla had recommended, the weather was just too nasty, and we again ate dinner at the hotel.
A Swazi Medicine Man and Onwards to Sodwana Bay
Sunday morning dawned white washed and sunny. Mandla joined us for breakfast again. We then drove to Mbabane to meet a local medicine man. I was excited about this meeting, which had been arranged, on my request.
I expected to drive another 30 minutes down tiny dirt roads, but not today. The medicine man lived in a fairly large homestead on the outskirts of Mbabane. This medicine man was clearly doing quite well.
Stepping out of the car I looked towards the house, and completely missed the medicine man as he stepped out of a small hut next to the house. He had a thin figure and very unassuming demeanor.
We left our shoes out front, and then Mandla led us into the hut. Inside, the medicine man sat among a lot of debris. The earthy and dry room had a strange, different smell.
I tucked my feet under me and settled on the grass mat. In several other spiritual contexts, tucking your feet up under you shows respect, so you never show the soles of your feet. Mandla said to show respect here I must sit more openly and let my legs go. This surprised me, but I happily followed the tradition.
Mandla introduced us, and then translated. I could freely ask questions. Here is a summary of what I learned.
Like most Africans, the Swazi are focused on their ancestors. They believe their ancestor’s spirits guide them in all they do. They also believe all ancestors originate from a single ancestor for all humanity. This is the one legged man. The one legged man symbolizes what we would consider God. He has one leg because there is no division – He is Oneness. I immediately connected and understood this wonderful metaphor. With this foundational belief, oneness between humans must always be respected.
When a new person comes to him, he lays them down on the floor and throws his bones. The bones reveal everything about his patient, including their health and anything else bothering them. The bones also guide him to remedies, which is largely what surrounded him.
Illness is viewed n much the same way as Western medicine. A stomach ulcer is a wound that requires an herbal remedy. But he does not ask the patient what is wrong, and relies on the bones alone to tell him. Illnesses from evil magic spells require a slightly different remedy.
His parents were both healers and both had given the gift to him. At first, he did not consider himself a healer, but eventually he was chosen. Before he was chosen, his spiritual home was a local Christian Zionist church that believed in speaking in tongues. One day in church, he received instructions on how to heal someone. That was his first foray into being a medicine man.
Someone is rarely chosen to be a healer. This medicine man’s father had 97 children and he alone had the gift. While his father had several wives, he had two wives
After discovering this remedy, he returned to his roots and began to pay attention to his destiny. Eventually, his dead parents tested him. One day, while bathing in a river a huge male python attacked him. He pulled the python off, then broke off its head and drank its blood. He took the python home and skinned it. This happened again with a slightly smaller female python. These two tests made him into a full medicine man. He believed each parent sent a python to initiate him. The giant python skins now hung from the hut’s roof. I kept thinking of the python we saw in Kruger. These skins were around 8 feet long and either one could easily kill a man.
It was hard to reconcile this relatively slight, seemingly gentle and unassuming figure with someone ripping off the python’s head and drinking its blood.
As the audience drew to a close, I left some money on the floor. Getting up and walking towards the door I got entangled in one of the python skins, which jolted me.
Our visit lasted about 20 minutes, and had been absolutely fascinating to me.
Our next stop was Sodwana Bay on the coast. My heart beat quickened pondering that soon I would be back in my beloved Indian ocean. I got my divers license in Malaysia in the Indian Ocean 13 years ago. That experience stayed with me. Most of my traveling had focused on returning to warm waters with coral reefs and gorgeous wild life.. Mandla met with his family at a restaurant a few miles from the border.and we said good-bye. Another friend to say good-bye to, and like Genie, it wasn’t easy!
With a last look at our map to confirm our directions, we set out on our own. Returning to South Africa was fairly easy. For once the map was easy to read, and the most direct route to Sodwana bay was easily marked.
With our estimated drive time to Sodwana at 2 to 3 hours from our 1 PM departure, we expected to arrive early.
