Field Trip

Last week we took a field trip around the country.  Right now I am in the far south, and can see South Africa most days.  On our trip we went to the far north, and since Swaziland is almost surrounded by South Africa, I could see it up there as well.  We first went to Mulwane Nature Preserve, where we stayed in a hostel (called backpackers here), and got to walk around looking for wildlife.  I saw zebra, warthog, impala, water buffalo, ostrich and some cool birds.  There were hippo as well, but I missed those unfortunately.  It is a beautiful place, and it’s fun to be free just to walk around and look for animals.  We stopped at a new mall in Manzini (the biggest city here), and also at a strip mall in Mbabane (the capital and second largest city), where we could eat, shop, and pick up our cell phones.  Then we headed up to Ngonini, where we stayed for 3 nights, taking a two-day course on permaculture.  It was very interesting, although unfortunately the one day we were in the garden it was cold and rainy.  We all got together and watched a movie at the end of the day, a great way to end a cold and wet day.  That region is beautiful, with large forests, mountains, lakes and streams.  It was nice to finally see more of Swaziland.