Phophonyane Falls

Yesterday was the day after Easter Holiday. We quickly discovered nothing was open. So, on the spur of the moment, Dennis Little, VIM from Dallas, Texas, and a woman named Kitty who recently came to Swaziland to work with the HIV testing clinics and I decided to drive up towards Piggs Peak. It was a beautiful fall day. (Yes, it is fall time here.) The drive was absolutely beautiful. Swaziland is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It was nearing lunch time and a bio break was becoming a necessity so we started looking for the Casino that is supposed to be in the Piggs Peak area. We saw a sign that said 5 km to what we figured was the Casino and then another sign that said 4.5 km to Phophonyane Falls. The sign had the icons for food, toilets, falls, hotel, nature reserve, and more. My thought was it was closer than the Casino (which was becoming very important to me!) and the sign said there were falls. What a deal! We turned off on a dirt road that went through a large logging area. And then we came to a small one lane bridge without any sides that crossed over the top of the falls. We drove on to the reserve and down to the lodge. This place was a spot of heaven. It actually looked more like Disneyland than the real deal. They showed us the accommodations. They have permanent tents right next to the water/river. These were not your basic tent. It had electricity, heat, a fan and a double and single bed plus a deck patio that went right out over the rocks. They also had two story bungalows complete with kitchens and fireplaces on each floor. They have a restaurant and pool area that overlooks a view that seems to go on forever. We had a great relaxing lunch - the best hamburger and French fries that I have had since being in the States. It really was a perfect setting and the weather was perfect as well.

The best part though was after lunch. We walked down the path that sort of followed the falls all the way down to the bottom. It was beautiful. Now these aren’t falls like you would see in the high Sierra’s or at Niagara Falls, but they were beautiful. They were more like a very long expansion of Perdenales Falls in the hill country of Texas. It was a long way down to the bottom on a path that was not marked very well. It was an even harder walk back up but the view and just being out in God’s incredible creation was worth every step. I hope one day to go back with a picnic lunch and sit for awhile down by the water.

Enjoy the pictures…they don’t do it justice. Oh, by the way, we saw monkeys playing in a tree on the way out of the property. These monkeys were the first wild life any of us have seen in Swaziland except for cows, goats, pigs, dogs, a few cats and common birds!