Swaziland--Part 2

We went to a Swazi cultural village.  It was kind of cool...there were monkeys all over the place.  We were eating some dried mangoes (they're not like the Costco ones...they have no sugar and are REALLY dried...hard..leather) which we shared with them.

After he got his prize....(mangoes)

he headed up a tree to eat it in peace.

We watched and listened while a group of men and women sang and danced.  In the beginning they all looked a little bored...staring off into space, no smiles.  I told David they would never be hired at Disneyland.  But as they got into it...especially the dancing they were having a lot of fun.  They did these dances where they repeatedly kicked their legs up as high as they could.  It was one of those I'm old enough to get married kind of dances.  One girl kicked so high, her foot was behind her head.  It was great!

No Disneyland careers for this group!

Their singing was really beautiful...nicely blended harmony.  The fellow in the middle was the "lead".

Here we start the leg kicking with the men.

and now the ladies are looking a bit more lively and  will kick up their heels!

This fellow then took us to a mock up of a family village.  The most important thing that I remember is that the grandmother's opinion was the most revered and followed.  This is because she is the most experienced...and the wisest!  And she got her own hut!

Different huts for different wives.  The newest wife's hut is closest to the husband's hut.  

These huts were really roomy inside.  They smelled like grass...and...earth.  Nice and cool in there and your eyes adjusted to the dark very quickly.

The hill behind is called....can't remember.  People jumped off of it (encouraged by the spears poking them in the back).  We can't remember if the "jumpers" had broken a law or were sacrifices.  

We took a little hike to these pretty falls:

Here's our jumper mountain from another view.

After this full and fun day we headed up the road to Bulembu.  You already know about that little trip.  After 2 nights up on the mountain we left Swaziland and returned to South Africa.  We headed for Kruger Park for a game drive.