Getting to Swaziland

Last night at Kruger, we experienced a torrential downpour. We stayed dry in our canvas tent, and were happy to not have to go outside to use the bathroom.
This morning, it was cold and wet. By cold, I mean about 18C, which I guess means I am in serious trouble when I return to Calgary. On our drive out of the park, we saw some zebra, some wildebeast, more impala (including some sitting down, which we hadn't seen before), a hyena, and a rhino.

As soon as we exited the park via the southern gate, there was an immediate change in scenery. Wild bush, grassland and scrub became sugar cane, banana and tree farms. UG had some trouble adjusting back up to 100+ on the roads, after doing no more than 50km/h for the last several days. We also found ourselves slowing down behind every parked car looking to see what animal they had discovered.

After about a half hour or so, we came to the border crossing. Getting across took about 45 minutes, most of that just exiting South Africa. We were required to list the serial numbers of all of our electronics, so that we can import them again without paying duty. So we had to compile a list of all our cameras, GPS units, cell phones, laptop, and probably some stuff we forgot about. There are 2 things absurd about this, number 1 nobody asked about this stuff when we brought it IN to the country, and anything we'll have with us when we go back to South Africa will be leaving again a few weeks later. And number 2, where the heck in Swaziland are we going to buy a laptop?

Another interesting thing to note in the customs office was the big box of condoms free for the taking. It makes sense when you realize that Swaziland has over 30% HIV infection rate. South Africa wants to make sure everyone is wrapping it.

After creating a list of stuff to steal and getting it stamped, we got back in the car and drove about 15 feet and told to park again to visit passport control in the next building. We go in, and without even LOOKING at the ID pages of the passports, she finds a blank page and stamps it. Surely the woman stamping our list of valuables could have stamped a blank page in our passports, too?

Onto the Swaziland side. We pull up to a check point, and they asked if our passports had been checked. No. Okay, park here, go inside and get them stamped. Inside, the immigration officer made a joke about us trying to sneak into the country illegally. Apparently he could see us pull up to the checkpoint. We then paid our $7 "road toll" and were sent back outside. 2 things, one building, how efficient! SA, you should come check this out sometime.

We pull out of the parking spot and go back to the checkpoint and a new guy is there. We hand him our proof that we'd paid the toll and he's about to send us on our way, but he stops and asks us where we are going. I struggled with the name of the game park, Mlilwane. He laughed at me and asked if we have a good map. No, we have a GPS. So he runs into the building and gets us a tourist map!

The country is beautiful, despite being cloudy and wet today. The terrain is very hilly, with beautiful vistas around every curve in the road. We climbed quite a ways, at one point we were driving through the clouds, and the outside temperature dropped to 12C. We stopped for lunch at the top of Pigg's Peak, at a restaurant with awesome homemade bread, cookies and cakes, and a fabulous view. The restaurant was also located between some high end craft stores, where I purchased some jewellery.

The game resort turns out to not have much game. Mostly antelope and smaller animals, along with hippo and crocodile. I don't think we'll be doing any game drives here.
Our "room" is a traditional style "beehive" hut. It's cleaner than the tent in Kruger, but it smells like grass. I think I will probably have hay fever by the time we leave. It also has no windows, so we'll have to set an alarm to keep from sleeping until noon.

The restaurant is outdoors, overlooking a pond. There is a sign on the railing next to the water that warns of crocodiles, and not to stand too close to the railing. All through dinner, we could hear splashing in the water, but it was too dark to see what was splashing.