Swaziland

This small kingdom holds a dance festival with about forty thousand participant girls. I was disappointed that my trip (2008) didn’t coincide with this traditional annual event.  Swaziland is rich in minerals, but its water supply is scarce and cannot sustain the fast-growing population. I also learned about Ted Reilly who in the 50’s saved the wildlife of Swaziland from being destroyed by hunters. When Reilly offered the British Colonial government his family farm as a conservation area and the government declined, he took matters in his own hands and, turned the farm in Swaziland’s first wildlife refuge where wildlife now roam freely and protected.