On the way out of Kruger from Lower Sabie Rest Camp, we went by the lion kill from the previous night.  The lions were still there working on that buffalo, although they had dragged it another 20 yards off the road.  There were already a half dozen cars there.  We headed south toward the Crocodile Bridge park entrance, and I spotted a white rhino on the way.  Then we passed through the Kruger Park Entry gate, and got on the road to go south through Komatipoort, R571, on on south to the border post with Swaziland.

We expected to hit gravel roads eventually, but we never did.  At the border post, we passed through South African customs at Mananga, then Swazi customs.  Since we had a car, I paid a E15.00 (15 Emalangeni, the Swazi currency, equivalent to the Rand, so about US$1.50) for the road fund, and we were allowed to enter.  We drove on south south east toward Manzini, and were pleased to find the road paved all the way and in very good condition.  This area is nearly all cultivated sugar cane plantations, and many were being harvested.

Tom drove as we turned west and went through Manzini, Lobamba, and arrived in Mbabane, the capital and Tom's former residence.  We parked in a lot downtown where directed by some youths and locked the car up for a walk around downtown.  I found it to be a hub of bustling activity - much more going on than in downtown Syracuse.  People driving and walking everywhere.  We found a shop to buy postcards, then a restaurant in a new mall downtown, where we ate lunch and wrote cards to our friend John Hanna, who had also worked for the Peace Corps and lived here in (a different) Mbabane with Tom in the early 1970s.

After lunch we went in Tom's old bank so I could buy some souvenir currency and we got in a traffic jam getting out of town, went by Tom's former school and village, and stopped for a few photos.

This photo was taken in downtown Mbabane.

These were taken looking back down the hill to where Tom used to live, at the base of the hill on the right.

We drove on north east now, toward Piggs Peak.  We were in the mountains and the scenery was absolutely beautiful.  We stopped in Piggs Peak for gas, and then headed on through the mountains for the border crossing.  We crossed out of Swaziland at Matsamo.  Between the gates (leaving Swaziland and entering South Africa) two girls approached us as we got out of the car to go in the South African customs office.  They asked if we were going to Malelane and could they have a ride.  After we passed through customs (in South Africa the name of the place is Jeppe's Reef), the girls got in the back and we headed on northward.  We assumed they were South Africans, but one was from Finland and the other from Norway.  They were spending 6 months in South Africa teaching teachers how to teach physical education.  They were almost done with their tour and anxious to get back home.

Back into the Kruger Park at the Malelane Gate and to our accommodation at Berg-En-Dal.  It is without a doubt the most luxurious rest camp we have seen.  Elegantly manicured, well built, it seems like a good place to linger and relax.  We walked around the perimeter and the best tortellini I have ever had with dinner.