In the early hours right after dawn Norman took as to spot in the Crocodile River. Forty or fifty snorting, yawning, groaning hippopotami were spread across the river, blowing geysers of air and baring their huge teeth at one another. After that we spent twenty minutes in the midst of a pride of 8 hungry lions. I say in the midst of in the most literal sense possible, as we were no more than twenty feet away at one point. When the pictures are posted we'll send everyone a link. Both were incredible experiences.
We went back to the lodge to get our bags for the drive to Swaziland. I think each of us was contrasting, in some part of our mind, the movie-style splendor of the lodge against the homes we knew the children of Mhlosheni lived in...
Where one had polished hardwood floors the other would have packed dirt. Where one had hot showers and big soft towels, the other might have no running water at all. We were ready to get on with the reason we came to Africa.
Norman pulled a rabbit out of his hat on the drive to the parking lot where George would collect us for the drive to Swaziland. Driving down a paved road out of the park he stomped on the brakes and pointed to a fever tree in the near distance. Out of one of the lowermost visible branches a fat tail was hanging, flicking irritably at the noise of the truck.
It was a leopard. We watched it watch us for a while, then it slipped down the tree trunk and disappeared into the bush. This one glimpse of Kruger's most elusive big cat was a great way to end the safari portion of our journey.
-----------------------------------
I don't think any of us were prepared for the way Swaziland looked when we crossed the border.
The first of the rains finally fell on this drought-stricken land three weeks ago, so where we were all expecting burnt, parched, brown, everything was instead green and lush. Where we expected mostly rolling terrain like South Africa, we saw a mountainous country of peaks, slabs, and cliffs.
We came into Swaziland at the northernmost border crossing, Jeppe's Reef, and drove down its mountainous spine nearly four hours before reaching Manzini in the far south.
In that four hours we saw the severe terrain gradually lessen, though it was still steep in places. Overall it was like the terrain your find in the Andes or the high Rockies. We saw vast tree farms full of conifers, which thoroughly surprised us all. We saw the scars from acres and acres of forest fires, the effects of the drought.
The thing about droughts is that they're not overcome easily. Last year had begun with spring rains too, but when the maize fields tassled and needed water the rain had dried up, and many many crops were ruined. The rain is a blessing for today, and allows the farmers to get their first planting in. But it needs to keep up.
We met the Swaziland World Vision staff at the Manzini airport, as well as our old friend Ruth Nottingham. We also collected Andy Smith, the new World Vision church relations director from the states, who would learn with us about the ADP process in the field. We all transferred to another van, hungry and tired.
I pulled my MP3 player out my pack and sat in the very last row of the van, watching the rain slick the windows. At some point in the darkened drive we hit a dog, but I barely remember it. I think were all that tired.
At eight o'clock, after yet another day of driving, we finally pulled into the parking lot of the Nhlangano Sun Hotel. We had dinner with the World Vision staff and headed to bed, ready to meet again for breakfast at 7:00.
On a personal note: it was both Braden and Kaelly's birthday. I'd sent text messages with a promise to call early in the day, but ever since arriving in Swaziland my phone had stopped working. When I started thinking of this trip 6 moths ago I'd prepared myself to not have any contact with the family the whole two weeks I'd be gone. But I'd since set up international roaming service, and had been able to send text messages to the kids and Joie whenever I wanted.
I could receive them too: Hi dad, what are you doing today? Miss you dad! Are you having fun? Hi dear - the big kids survived another day, barely... These rapidly became the highlights of my days, if not my lifeline.
When we got to Swaziland, however, my phone stopped working. No voice, no messages. I went to bed grateful to be in the place I've been thinking of for so long, but sad at the thought that I'd lost the connections that mean the most to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment