Slowly, the voice registered. Springing upright in our beds, Tamika turned off the television with a quick click of the remote. On a two week break from teaching in Inhambane, Mozambique, we were finally free to explore. After five months in our charming rural outpost, we were ready to see what else the country and its surrounding areas had to offer. Our journey began in Mozambique's capital Maputu. After a few days visiting with friends and taking in the sights and excitement of the big city, we were ready to move onwards and see a new country.
South Africa, we couldn't afford on our miniscule teacher's salary, but Swaziland- The Kingdom of Swaziland to be exact , was a short bus ride from Maputu and was a much cheaper option. Without any real plan, we gathered our backpacks and made our way to the large central bus terminal in Maputu in search of a Manzini bound bus. What was in Manzini, we didn't really know, but it was the second largest city outside of the capital, leading us to believe there would be plenty to experience.
Where we would stay and what exactly we would do, we had yet to decide. We only knew that we wanted to go. We'd met plenty of backpackers in Inhambane who had come through Swaziland and they had loved it. We'd traveled easily around Inhambane, Vilankulo, and Maputo in Mozambique without plan or purpose and had a wonderful time taking everything in as each city revealed itself to us.
We spent a day in Johannesburg, South Africa with the same ease, surely Manzini would also prove to be a beautiful adventure. Miles and miles of open terracotta road spread before us.
The sky, topaz, illuminated the morning with an ethereal spotlight. As our slow bus huffed along, red clouds surrounded us, leaving their mark on the windows, until the world became a charming blur of red. Cows, great big fat meaty ones, ambled along the roads and through open fields.
