Swaziland

As promised, here are some more photos of Swaziland. For those of you like myself who did not know, the King of Swaziland currently has 13 wives. Every year there is a traditional reed dance held in late August. Only the childless, unmarried girls may participate in this dance. The ultimate aim of course is to catch the eye of the thirty-seven year old King!

I knew very little about this custom before we went, and was surprised when the women I saw carrying the reeds appeared to be, well a little long in the tooth. I took way too many photos of women and reeds, although many of the women seemed to be happy to get their photos taken. I wasn't sure what to say to them - "Good Luck" or "God Help You." Am still not sure. Anyway, we found out later that day that the women who took part in this dance were older women, who were in fact dancing for the Queen Mother and not the King. Nevertheless, it was an impressive sight and the cultural highlight of our trip. Carrying these reeds are not for the faint of heart.

Another highlight for me was visiting the Ngwenya glass factory. My boss Verne Harris has a little glass elephant from this factory on his desk, and I just fell in love with it. So, I had to go and get myself one. Then I fell in love with the glass hippos, glass rhinos, agh! One only has so much room in one's carry-on I am afraid.

Later that day, we visited the Mantega Cultural Village. This village was built to represent and display traditional aspects of Swazi life. There was a small outdoor theatre where the cast below put on a beautiful performance of both singing and traditional dancing. What was unfortunate was that they made us dance with them...

Saturday is out last day at work - hard to believe. On the 29th is the Foundation's annual lecture. This year, South African President Thabo Mbeki will be giving the address. On Monday morning, we are leaving for a week long trek through the eastern provinces of South Africa, as well as Lesotho. If any of you have driven through the Sani Pass in Lesotho, we could use some advice. Are we crazy to attempt it in a rental car? It looks spectacular, albeit a bit of a donkey road.