Day 11 - The Near Kidnapping on our last day in Swaziland

On our last day in Swaziland, there was one more nearby place we wanted to see - the Mantenga Falls. Now these falls weren't really anything spectacular, but we did want a little bit of a hike before the long car ride we knew we would have the following day, so we thought a hike to a waterfall would be nice. Little did we know that we had to check into the visitors center and then PAY to see the little waterfall. But we really wanted the exercise and view of the falls, so we paid and drove to where they told us to park. We got out and followed the signs down a little gravel hill. But as soon as we turned the corner, we saw the falls right there in front of us. Here are some of the pictures we took of the falls from that view.It was pretty, but we were a little disappointed that we didn't have more of a hike to get there. So we decided we would find our own way to the top of the waterfall for a longer hike and a better viewing angle. There wasn't anywhere to go from the base of the falls, so we walked back up to the car to see if there was maybe a different path. The only other path we saw was a dirt road with a stick across the entrance saying "Do Not Enter". We knew that the sign probably meant what it said for cars and pedestrians. However, we rationalized that it was really only for cars, and if we happened to see anyone who questioned us about what we were doing there, that's what we would tell them. We walked up the road for a couple of minutes seeing no sign of anyone for a while. Then all of a sudden a truck with a few men in it slowly drove up to us and a uniformed guard with a huge machete walked behind it. The truck stopped and the men asked us what we were doing. We innocently said we were trying to find the top of the waterfall and thought it was up this way. The men said it was not up this road and told us that they had been harvesting gum trees up there. They then proceeded to talk to the guard in some African language, and then back to us in English. Pointing to the guard, they said, "We will give this man to you. He will take you to the falls." And they drove off, leaving us with this old African man in uniform with a large machete who spoke no English.
He marched off into the woods and motioned for us to follow him. We all followed silently in a single file line with all kinds of scenes out of movies racing through our heads. My thoughts were, "Oh, great! This man leads us into the woods in the middle of nowhere, Africa, then begins to speak broken English to say, 'We kill you now'. And proceeds to slaughter us with the machete!" I know, sometimes I have too vivid an imagination. Luckily none of the nightmare scenes came to pass, and the guard simply did take us to the top of the falls. We learned then why the road had been closed to this view point. Apparently with the rain they had had, and the very poorly constructed guard rail, there had been accidents of people slipping under the guard rail and getting hurt, so they just closed the access. We definitely took advantage of this forbidden view, taking lots of pictures.



Once we were satisfied, the guard practically took off back through the woods leaving us trailing far behind. But we knew the way back at that point, so we were fine to get back to our car. However, on the way back, we saw this eerie view of Execution Rock to add to the experience. A quick aside, we were told that this is the mountain that was used as punishment for those convicted of a terrible crime. The convict was made to march up to the top of the rock and jump off to their death. So that is how the mountain got it's name.
On the way back to the house for the last time, we all reflected on and talked about the near possible kidnapping experience we had just had. What a way to end our time in Swaziland!