It's still cold here. Well, about 16C, but the air has a damp chill to it. And it's overcast. So we decided to skip the game drive and head into town to experience Swaziland. The closest town is supposed to be the main tourist mecca, so pretty much all we saw was a couple of craft markets. At the first market, there was a silversmith shop on the premises, where I purchased a small silver pendant which is supposed to have giraffe hair in it.
The next market was a little less fancy, it contained about 120 stalls all selling the same wooden and stone animal carvings, beaded jewellery, baskets and paintings. We walked around each stall before making choices of what to buy. The whole time we were there, only a handful of other tourists stopped in, visited one or 2 stalls and left again. I think the few purchases we made were those vendors only sale of the day.
One vendor we have named "Crazy Eddie" invited us into his "crazy shop, with lots of crazy things, beware of the crazy prices!" UG bought some small wooden elephants from him. A few vendors were selling these cool shadow boxes with about 12 small elephants lined up in the box. UG wanted one, but didn't want to have to bring the whole frame home, so we bought a bunch of the elephants, and I'll have to build him a shadow box at home. There were also some giraffes in shadow boxes, so I purchased a couple of giraffes. I also purchased a pottery jar, nice and light!
We then drove on further, and saw a sign pointing the way to the "Summerfield Botanical Garden" and decided to stop and check it out. It turned out to be a fancy resort, with over the top, immaculately groomed gardens and fountains. There was a restaurant on the grounds as well, so we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner. When I get internet access again, I'll have to check out the room rates, because it seemed far too fancy to let bums like us in. Yet, in the restaurant, there were only a total of 3 other couples, in a very large restaurant.
Our camp was also very quiet last night, with maybe 20 guests at a camp that can hold a few hundred. Tonight, a couple of tour buses have pulled in, with some people camping and some staying in huts like ours. But otherwise, it almost feels like we're the only tourists here. Like Bali, but not as warm.
While driving around, we encountered a police road block twice (same roadblock, different directions). The first time, we were waved through. The second time, we were pulled aside, and our headlights and signal lights were checked. All was in working order, so we were sent on our way.
Tomorrow we head back into South Africa, to a small, out of the way town called Saint Lucia. It is near the coast in an area that is supposed to have good snorkelling, plus there's a river running through town which is supposed to be teaming with more hippos, and another park nearby is supposed to have more rhinos. But tomorrow will be mostly spent driving.
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