Day 5 of tour - Swaziland

Here is a another thing I never thought I would do: I never thought I would be in Swaziland.  This small country is landlocked and is bordered by South Africa and Mozambique. It is mostly rural.  The Queen is the King's mother and she selects another wife for him each year.  Right now he has 14 wives.

Crossing the border from South Africa to Swaziland felt like a scene from a bad movie.  It was very hot.  We got off the bus and waited in a long line for a single taciturn South African border control officer to stamp our passports.  Then we had to walk across a desolate "no man's land" to the Swaziland  border control, wait in another line, and have our passports stamped again.  When we got back to the bus, the driver calculated that it was about 100 degrees.  

This is the dry season in this part of the world.  It's desert dry, even when it's not very hot.  It was an ideal time for animal viewing because the vegetation was not yet lush, but everyone has cracked skin on hands and lips and we are constantly drinking water to try to stay hydrated.

Our last stop before getting to the hotel was a glass blowing factory that was not at all impressive.  Fortunately, there were shops selling beautiful hand made crafts made by local women who are being taught how to support their families.

We have seen many wonderful and fascinating things on the tour so far, but we are also a bit disappointed at the pace.  We have spent a lot of hours on the bus and many of the stops have felt like a waste of time. They were intended primarily as needed breaks for the driver and bathroom breaks for us, but didn't do much for furthering our education about Africa.