Enter Into The Kingdom of Swaziland

This side trip on our South African journey, seemed like an after thought to me at first. However, the warm people and beautiful scenery of Swaziland made a quite an impression on me. One of the few monarchies of Africa, Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III who has somewhere between 13 and 16 wives. Big love! Apparently they all drive identical BMWs (color make and style). Now, that really is big love.

All kidding aside, the locals love their king and king mother (figure head). There are pictures of them everywhere inside the lodges, stores, and restaurants. One very sad and disturbing fact about Swaziland is the percentage of population with AIDS. Close to 40% is infected with HIV due to poverty, lack of information and treatment, and some challenges with the government.

While in Swaziland we stayed in traditional Swazi huts in the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw more hippos and crocodiles very close to the lodge. I also had a family of warthogs and impalas wandering casually around my hut and the campsite.