Cousin’s Club in Swaziland

Two of my cousins, Beth and Margel, took a ‘Spring Break’ trip to the continent in March. Beth and I grew up together through celebrating holidays and family vacations, but I hadn’t seen Margel for at least 10 years, so it was a ‘Cousin’s Club reunion’ of sorts. It was an awesome opportunity to reconnect and to spend time together. Beth and Margel arrived in South Africa on Friday 10 March and spent 4 nights in Cape Town enjoying all that the city had to offer. Then, on Tuesday 14 March they flew to Swaziland to hang out with Doug and me.

We tried to jump right in with our adventures in Swaziland on Wednesday, but the weather didn’t cooperate and instead of going to Malalotja Game Reserve to do the canopy zip line tour, we went souvenir shopping, instead. We went to Swazi Candles for lunch.

I’ve been subbing for spin instructors on vacation at my local gym, so on Wednesday evening Beth and Margel joined my spin class. Here’s a picture of the spin studio; just in case you’ve wondered what a spin studio looks like in Swaziland. Yup. The same.

On Thursday, the sunshine returned and we went to Malalotja. As with every blog entry about Malalotja, I have to say how much I love it. It’s one of my favorite places in Swaziland and the day that we had didn’t disappoint.

We got into our gear

And drove to the start of the canopy tour; passing the beautiful views along the way

Margel and Beth also saw their first zebras and blesbok

Our guides

Nice helmets

Margel zipping

Beth zipping

Ridiculous spider

Views from the zip line

Bridge

All done

This chameleon cracked me up. It was clear he was trying to hide from us, but his hiding spot was a little too small

After the canopy tour we hurried back to town to meet Keri and Lauren at the Pick-n-Pay to do a big grocery shop prior to our trip to the beach. It wasn’t really a blog worthy event, but I thought some might be interested in what the grocery store looks like (so I included the picture). Yup. The same.

On Thursday night we took the cousins to our favorite restaurant, Mantenga Lodge. Of course we had the traditional dish, iyasha inyama and thoroughly enjoyed an evening on the patio

On Friday morning we went to Ngwenya Glass Factory to squeeze in a little souvenir shopping before joining forces with Keri and Eric and their visitors (Pete/Dawn and Dave/Lauren) and heading to the beach in Sodwana Bay, South Africa.

Margel’s shorts were a tad too short for Swaziland, so she wrapped herself in the traditional Swazi wrap featuring the King

Then, it was off to the beach

We stayed at Mseni Lodge (where we’ve stayed twice before) and got settled into our respective houses before having dinner at the Lodge. Our 5-person bungalow

Mini-kitchen

Doug and Paisley

Margel and Beth

On Saturday morning, Doug and I went scuba diving and everyone else went to the beach. The beach at Sodwana Bay is one of the most beautiful beaches, ever. Completely isolated and you can go the whole day without seeing another person

In the heat of the day we escaped from the sun and went to the local craft market

Then, in the late afternoon, as the sun was setting we returned to the beach. Cousin’s club

Surfer Doug (note the moon setting)

On Saturday night we had a braai and roasted marshmallows (over the braai) to make s’mores

On Sunday, after a few more hours of beach time, we had pizza on the roadside before returning to Swaziland. This is the second time we’ve stopped at this particular pizzeria. The owner is from Italy and built a wood fire oven literally on the side of the road and makes awesome thin crust pizza

On Monday morning, Margel and Beth, embarked on their Kruger National Park adventure with Bongani

To see all of the animals, check out Beth’s Facebook album. They saw the big five on the first day! https://www.facebook.com/stampingonthelakefront

On Friday, on Beth’s last day with us, we went to House on Fire for lunch and finished up souvenir shopping.

House on Fire

Baobab Batik

On Saturday morning, Beth headed to the airport to fly home and Doug and I took Margel to Mozambique for the weekend to see our friends, Dan and Teena. Without Beth to motivate our picture taking, we didn't take any pictures in Maputo! Sad. Okay, or for the rest of the week. Sigh. Margel and I climbed Sibebe on Monday and went mountain biking in Mlilwane. Then, on Tuesday, I left for a 3-day work trip and Margel volunteered with Teen Club at the Baylor Clinic. So, she wrapped-up her time in the Swaz with Doug before flying home on Thursday.

A good time was had by all and I'm looking forward to a reunion with the full cousin's club over the 4th of July in Midland, Michigan. That's not a typo: Midland, Michigan. Look out.