The Long Weekend

Found out my Siswati name!! It is Fikile which translates to 'you have arrived'. So cool. We had our first parents meeting at Injabulo the other day which was interesting. We introduced ourselves while one of the teachers translated and we told them about fees and things then the rest seemed to be in Siswati which made it quite difficult to understand what was happening haha. We're still getting used to being the bosses at Injabulo but we're getting there.

This weekend Rachael and I decided to have a little adventure in Swaziland so we booked a canopy tour at Malolotja National Park which was about two and a half hours away from Big Bend. We decided to travel on the Friday and have the tour on the Saturday morning. We were going to take kombis all the way but just as we were walking up to the kombi rank the deputy head of the school and his wife pulled up in the car. They told us they were going to Mbabane which is the capital city of Swaziland and really close to the place we were staying!! We were dropped off by a kombi at the top of the road where Hawane Resort was (where we were staying over). We started walking. And kept on walking until we eventually reached our destination. It seemed really peaceful when we arrived and the receptionist told us where our room was. There were stables all around the area and so when we first opened up the door to our room I thought we had made a mistake and it was more stables. But I was wrong. It was a converted barn with about 20 stables in it and in each stable there were beds. I'm sure it wouldn't have been spooky if it was full but it was just me and Rachael so it was really creepy! The rest of the resort was really nice though and we just chilled by the pool for ages and ate quite a lot.

Learned how to walk on water

Next morning we walked to the main road to catch a kombi. We waited for about 20 minutes and we were beginning to think we weren't going to make the tour which started at half 8 but thankfully one arrived! One thing we didn't do when we were booking this was look at the weather forecast... It was very misty, drizzly and cold. I felt like I was in Scotland not Africa! Not good weather for a canopy tour where it is mainly all about the views. We got to the National Park and we got a safety brief and our sexy gear on. Then we got into a jeep to take us to the first platform. We were still absolutely freezing even with blankets over us!! As we were driving the mist was clearing luckily and when we reached our first platform it wasn't nearly as cold yeeey. We were attached to zip wires and it felt like we were flying over trees it was amazing! At one point we had to cross a suspension bridge which went across 2 cliffs and was so high up. It was pretty terrifying but so much fun. We also had to walk down steps which were over thin air! Overall I loved it!

Me and Rachael

Every day except for the weekends we have to get up at about 5 in the morning so I always fall asleep around 9 sometimes even just after 8! My sleeping pattern has completely changed from when I lived in Scotland. The weather is also a lot different. From it being about 40 degrees Celsius the other day it has dropped to about 20 degrees because the summer rain is coming. Can't wait for the first thunderstorms!