Matenga Cultural Village & Getting To Maputo from Manzini

Woke up Thursday morning with a plan to get to the Matenga Cultural Village to learn about Swazi culture. It had pretty good reviews on trip advisor and I had been recommended it by a few people, so I was keen to go. At 11:15am and at 3pm there is a performance at the village, so I was hoping to catch it. I had woken up a bit late and it was a bit wet outside, so I called up ‘Taxi Tom’ and arranged him to take me there for E180/R180/$18aud.

He showed up late however, as he had gone to the wrong location. By this time it was getting close to 11:15am, and he said that if we show up to the village and I miss it, he’ll give me the ride for free. I thought this was very kind of him, but we made it to Matenga on time for the performance.

Because it was wet we were directed into the restaurant where a group of people performed traditional Swazi dances. It was very interesting to watch, and involved a lot of kicking legs into the air and basically over your shoulder, of which I am definitely not flexible enough for. After the dancing and singing part, a guide took the group of us around to the village and showed us the traditional houses. These houses have tiny doorways and are made of grass, with each one having a specific purpose, kitchen, hut for the unmarried women/men, huts & kitchen for the first wife, second wife, third wife … in Swazi culture a man can have as many wives as he wants, as long as he can afford to buy them with cows.

It was a very interesting tour that felt quite authentic. Women are submissive to men, and there are separate areas for both genders, so that men can discuss “men’s business” and women “women’s business”.

After the tour I went for a walk to find the Matenga waterfall. It was pretty close by and took about 15 minutes to get there. It was quite nice, but you couldn’t really get that close. I didn’t stay that long though as the sky was grey and I was worried about rain. I opted to walk back to the main road instead of call a taxi. It was closer than what I expected, only about 2.5km in total. I was walking quickly as it had started raining lightly, so I had my phone in a Ziploc bag and my waterproof jacket on.

I was dry though when I got to the main road and headed to a nearby shopping mall to get a few things (snacks) and to use the WiFi at an internet café. Afterwards I caught a bus back towards Malkerns and was at Sundowners Backpackers. I’ve had some pretty good experiences using the combi buses in Swaziland, not once has someone tried to overcharge me and I’ve always managed to get off at the right stop.

The next day the plan was to get to Maputo, Mozambique. I had been advised to get to Manzini early, around 7am, to get a bus. The combi to Manzini only cost E10/R10/$1aud, and from there I was directed to a bus to Maputo, where it would cost me 90rand to get over the border (including 10rand for my backpack). I told the driver that I would need to buy a visa at the border, and he said this was fine, and within half an hour we had left the Manzini bus rank.

We were out of of Swaziland at 9:30am, and then on the Mozambique side where I had to get my visa. The driver told me I had to be quick, and I soon realised that I would be holding up the bus for a bit. It only took about 20minutes, I had to fill out a form, pay $70usd, have my fingerprints recorded and get a horrible picture of myself taken, but I managed to get a 30 day, single entry visa. One of the ladies on the bus was with me helping, and she made me very conscious of the time. Most of the people on the bus, including her, wanted to get to Maputo as soon as possible so they could go shopping and come back to Swaziland the same day. There was also a man who was headed to the airport, with a flight at 2pm. I apologised to everyone on the bus as soon as we got back on, and soon enough we were driving to the capital of Mozambique.

The roads weren’t terribly good and there was quite a bit of traffic as we got into Maputo, but we got to the downtown area at around 12pm. From there I needed to sort out a taxi to the backpackers. A man had flagged me down and knew where The Base Backpackers was, and I had assumed he was a taxi driver. Apparantly not though as he got his phone out to call someone. I couldn’t do much as there weren’t any other taxis around, so I waited (and sweated). I exchanged a small amount of rand into meticals (Mozambique currency) and tried to negotiate the price. He wanted 200rand, but when I refused he said 100rand and 200 metical. This still seemed to much, but I was expecting that I was only getting a little bit ripped off, which I can live with.

Eventually a taxi showed up, a little tuk-tuk like the ones you see in Thailand. We were at the backpackers in around 10mins, which definitely did not warrant the $12aud price tag. I was greeted by two people at the backpackers, and they were shocked by how much the guy wanted from me. Apparently a taxi ride from the down town area should only be 100metical, $2aud! There wasn’t much I could do as I had agreed, and though the woman looked like she wanted to fight the guy on my behalf, I just paid it to avoid any trouble.

Currently in Maputo where it is very, very warm. Been up since 5:30am and I could do with a nap.