Little Brown Willies, Sore Behinds and Hippies...

Hi all,

Are you SOOOOOO proud that we have managed to blog again this quickly?

Bry, I think that you might need to get another hobby, and the rest of you might need to pick up your game a little bit! Its nice to know you are all still reading this though and that it was worthwhile.

Mum are you still alive???

Righto, we will try and add a bit more detail into this one since we have time. I think last off we told you about the leopards etc

Since then we have travelled into the Kingdom (fancy!) of Swaziland. They still live under the rule of a king, and in some ways its fairly traditional. Men in Swaziland can have as many wives as they want but women can only have one husband. Stu did his homework, but alas, left Swaziland with no wives and a tentative girlfriend. The King marries one new wife a year, the last one ruled for 60 years and had 600 grandchildren! Don't get any ideas Pam! In order to get his crown he also has to spear kill a leopard on his own! Not much to ask huh!

We stayed in the most amazing place in Swaziland. A wildlife sanctuary in Mlilwane. Beautiful views and we also got to stay in a traditional beehive hut! The walls are pretty thin... It has a thatch roof dome and made of reeds and has a clay floor.

On the ride in we passed a village and a wee boy ran out and flashed us his willie. It was hilarious!

A few highlights from staying here... We visited what we thought was going to be a tradtional village ruled by a chief. The chief turned out to be a 70 year old woman and the village turned out to be an orphanage. The children here are victims of AIDS in Zimbabwe. At a guess I would say there was about 50 of them there. We were welcomed into the village, saw how they lived day to day, had to sing and dance with them, and it was all very moving and a bit much for us really! The children were very cuddley and took a liking to Marcelles Boobs! A few good shots with little black hands on them.

We also went on a horse trek in the wildlife sanctuary at sunset. The horses were awesome and we rode in Argentinian (sp?) saddles. Comfy as! It was lovely and quite surreal riding past wilderbeast and impala.

We have seen quite dramatic differences in countries in Africa. And have also spent long hours in our truck. We brought cushions to sit on but to be honest, they have stopped providing any comfort! One day we spent 11 hours in it. It got a bit tedious! Today, however, was our last day in the Orange Elephant! Yay! No more aching bums!

We are now at Twana Lodge in Pretoria. Our tour ends tomorrow which is a bit bittersweet. We are happy to be leaving some people on the bus though...I think if we had any longer, Stu might be done for manslaughter! Theres always one!

Twana Lodge is like a South African hippie commune. You take what you want from the bar and just write it down - dangerous stuff! You just tick up everything! Dinner, washing, internet, and pay it all at the end. Sounds pretty good to us! I think tonight might get a bit messy...Alright!

Righto, there are many beers and Jack to be drunk so will sign off here. Many more stories to tell, but I am sure we will have lots of time when we get home.

Love to you all.

Marcelle and Stu

xxx

(Bottle of Duty Free (size not specified) for whoever is first to leave a comment)