The Kingdom of Swaziland is a small, land locked country that is only about a four hour drive from Johannesburg. We took advantage of one of our last Saturdays on the continent by taking the short drive out to one of the world's last remaining absolute monarchies. Our itinerary consisted of just two things: Go to Swaziland, and play football with kids. Anything else would have been a bonus.
We accomplished our tasks for the day! As we drove through the mountainous countryside, Connor spotted a couple of children playing football a ways down the mountain that we were driving on. We trekked down to find the kids playing on one of the most interesting pitches that we have seen yet. It was small, covered in cow poo and rocks, and was on the top part of a smaller hill. This meant that the pitch was not flat whatsoever. Small wooden goals stood proudly at each side, right before the hills became too steep. Cattle were just hanging out, as if they were watching the kids play.
The views all around the little field were terrific. You could see tree capped hills upon mountains for miles, with small houses way off in the distance. Roads were nowhere to be seen as the one we were driving on was obscured by the angle of our descent, and because there aren't many roads anyway. We played with the kids for about an hour before we realized that there was no way that we were ever going to beat them, so we climbed back up the mountain and drove on.
Before leaving Swaziland, we had dinner at a hotel that overlooks the Maguga Dam. It was nice to sit and chat about our day as we watched the sun come down. The area is beautiful, a large dam in the middle of the mountains. After chomping away, we headed back to South Africa for the last border crossing of our African adventure.