Day 111: Mokopane to Manzini, Swaziland 505km 16.5°-31.5°C

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Long straight roads
Fenced farm boundaries
No roaming animals demanding constant attention from my driver.

120km/hr speed limit on the open road,
Dropping to 80km/hr and then to 60km/hr in towns,
40km/hr near road works.
A perfect solution for New Zealand roads.

No speeding tickets today,
No arbitrary stops by traffic police,
No road safety education.

Great progress along the highways.
Friendly waves
Lots of road-side stalls

Perfect white churches
KFC, Wimpys
We are not going to be hungry in South Africa.

Blue skies
Grey skies
Lightning dancing along the ridges and among the vehicles

Roaring thunder as we arrive at the border post
No shelter
Warm rain

Air temperature drops from 31°C to 16.5°C
Heat energy is converted to lightning and thunder.
We start to cool down.

South African border crossing is straight forward.
What's that queue outside the Swaziland border post?
Uh, Oh... many people returning home for Christmas...

Too late we are committed now.
In the midst of a fresh downpour
People crowd into the arrivals hall.

My hand holding the helmet is on one side of the door 
and the rest of me is squished by a generous bosom...
"This is the line," the gentleman said.

It feels overcrowded in here
Breathe... slowly, inhale...exhale...
Ahhhhhh.... 'Stamp, stamp',  the border post music.

We are on our way through Swaziland's motorways
To the treelined entrance to 
Summerfield Botannical Lodge.

Our room  keytag says
Trust.

 

 

 

 

 

 
4 way compulsory stop = "4 Righting way".
First person to arrive at the intersection has right if way...we think.
The last time that we saw these 4 way compulsory stops in North America. 
 

 


 


  
 
 

 

 
 

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