Monday, September 25, 2017

On Saturday, September 22nd, we joined our district YSAs for an activity at Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary not far from Ezulwini.  We were all to meet at 9:00 am, but the YSAs all rolled in from Manzini and Mbabane at almost 11:00 am.  (They all laugh here and say it's "Swazi Standard Time"!)

We did a drive through the sanctuary in our own vehicles, ending up at a campground near some places people can stay in, and had a little devotional, visited, played games and had a braai!! We left at almost 5:00 pm and it was still going on! Mlilwane is in such a BEAUTIFUL place!  It's surrounded by amazing scenery on every side!! We had a WONDERFUL day with the YSAs!







The ceiling in the hut where we paid


I LOVE all the trees here!  BEAUTIFUL!!!


There were several large skulls on display....




Even the restroom was so typical of Swaziland,
round with the thatched roof


There were so many pretty birds!!


Off 


I couldn't stop taking pictures!



This guy is a blesbok


I LOVED the zebras!!



Trees were everywhere....


A big termite hill !





In this lake was "Crocodile Island"....



We all had to stop and get out to get a closer look at the crocs!! 


Here are 25 of our great YSAs in the Swaziland District of the Church
(Two more were taking the picture...)


A close-up of the crocodiles.... I zoomed in! 



These were the most interesting trees, perfectly 
even along the bottom!? 


I LOVE the pretty jacarandas.  They are all over Swaziland!


Colorful birds!!



Next to the fire pits/ grills was this swimming pool!  Several
of the YSAs swam but it was pretty chilly!!


People can stay overnight in these houses.



A very interesting cactus-like tree






SO PICTURESQUE!!!


This tree was FULL of birds!! 



Warthogs wandered all around the campground looking for
food!  It cracked me up how they kneel when they are looking...







I enjoyed playing with this cute baby! 




Some more pretty flowering bushes I like and
some fun birds' nests in this tree





Gcebile (black jacket), who teaches Institute, and her sister and friend, 
who are also YSAs from Mbabane, who did most of the food preparation



Lungelo Victor Nyoni, who was Christian Bingham's 
companion in Uganda the same time we were in Ethiopia.
He also knew Spencer Taylor very well and served with him
in Uganda. Nice guy!! He did most of the cooking for the braai (BBQ).


This tray was hand carved from mahogany.


We ate chicken, beef, pork, russian sausages,
pap, their staple food ~ which is a mixture of cornmeal 
and water, and salad.  (Bob and I shared this plateful of food!)




I organized a "speed dating" activity after the braai .
They really enjoyed it!!










1 comment:

  1. And there's another reason why you're so awesome...did you just organize the speed dating activity at the spur of the moment?? You're amazing- I would've had a completely blank mind if I had to come up with something....! And the scenery is so beautiful!

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