Namibia to Swaziland

January 7, 2016.

Namibia to Swaziland

We took a morning flight fom Windhoek, Namibia to Johannesburg, rented a car and drove to Maguga, Swaziland. This was our first rainy day and the temperature was only in the low 60s F.

Crossing the border into Swaziland, I greeted the first Swazi official (1) with one of the three words I know in siSwati (2). She smiled and laughed and seemed quite pleased.

In the high veld of western Swaziland it was foggy and rainy and there many cows (3) wandering on and off the road. We stayed at a nice lodge at Maguga Dam. Due to recent droughts, the lake behind the dam was quite low.

I heard a rumbly, roaring sound from down near the lake. I wondered whether it might be the sound of the Hippos wallowing in the lake and my daughter and I went to investigate. It turned out to be the sound of cars driving over the rumblestrip on the road that warns them to slow down before crossing the dam!

(1) Upon leaving South Africa, there is a four step process (a) stop at the first booth and get a gate pass with your license plate number; (b) go to immigration for a passport stamp and immigration stamp on your gate pass; (c) go to customs to get a customs stamp on your gate pass; (d) go to exit gate and hand in gate pass with immigration and customs stamps (sometimes customs officials will look in the trunk). After exiting South Africa, proceed 10 yards, then repeat the process to enter Swaziland, with an added bonus step (between steps b and c) of paying a road tax (about US $4.00) when entering Swaziland with a car registered in South Africa.

(2) These three words are all variations of hello: (a) hello to one person, (b) hello to multiple people, and (c) hello in response to someone who has said hello to you.

(3) Cows are an important part of Swazi culture. When a man wants to marry a woman, he must pay the bride's family lobombo (The bride price). Lobombo is typically 10 cows, but the best brides can be worth up to 17 cows. (My wife would have been a 17 cow bride.)