Day 5 - Candles and Crafts

The first day we arrived in Swaziland, the guys took off to see about booking a safari for us, while Mom and I stayed and unpacked and visited with Ann. The men came back later with the good news that they were successful in booking a two day safari for us and that we would leave in two days. We knew we were going to need to bring back some authentic, handmade African souvenirs for lots of people, so the next day we went up to a place called the Candle factory where they sold hand made candles and lots of other crafts too.
The candles were amazing! The women would shape and form the wax into figures of animals and all kinds of other things. Some of them used brightly colored and patterned wax and some were just plain looking, but they were all so well done. Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful candles.We also looked around the craft market where vendors were not only selling but still making their crafts. In this picture, this man is hand-painting a giraffe he carved, and in the back ground you can see some of the batiks (material that has gone through an extensive dying process) as well as a few other craft tables behind him.After "shopping" out in the African heat, we had to stop and get a drink at this cute little cafe. You can also see one of their other famous crafts on the tables - hand woven mats. We actually did come home with candles, giraffes, batiks, mats, and other crafts as well.

That night we packed again, but this time for 2 days only, heading to the lowveld for our REAL safari!