James Burnett, Steve Stavropoulos and Larry

The Stravropouloses picked us up this morning for the trip to Swaziland.  The first half of the trip is through open county that is similar to the terrain and vegetation of central Kansas.  We then entered more hilly country with man made forest of gum (eucalyptus) trees, used for electric, telephone and other poles, and pine trees used for lumber.  There were newly planted areas and others of various sizes up to those ready for ‘harvest’.  The hills then became more mountainous, similar to mountains in the Appalachians.

We reached the Swaziland border in about three hours.  First passing through the South Afrian border post then the Swaziland one.  Big changes have occurred here.  No papers to fill out anymore!!  Passports are scanned by a computer now resulting in much faster processing.

We made two stops on the way to where we are staying.  First at the Ngwenya Glass Factory then a side trip to a new dam on the Komati River just off the road to Piggs Peak.  It is an earthen dam which has won engineering awards for design.  The Swaziland Electricity Board has a 20 megawatt turbine in operation there.

We are staying in a one room cottage with bathroom next to the Stavropoulos’ house and will be eating meals with them.