Eswatini Part Three – Caves, Crafts and Celebration in Eswatini

After the beautiful canopy tours and wildlife preserves I got to see last week, the next exciting spot I wanted to see was the bushman caves of Eswatini. For the very adventurous, there are cave systems made by the Kophola river that flow between a couple of mountains called Msunduza and Kophola. There are special trained guides who can take you through the 800 meter, nearly 1/2 a mile, course that goes down 90 meters, or almost 300 feet. Wow!

For me though, I wanted to see more of the bushman cave paintings, so I headed to the Nsangwini cave shelter, a preserve in the north-west area of Eswatini. There I got to see the ancient cave paintings that were discovered in 1955. The amazing thing is, no one really knows how old the paintings are - they could be 400 years old, or maybe even as old as 4,000 years! They weren't all painted at once though, many generations of natives painted them long before Swaziland was a colony of Great Britain. By the way, Eswatini won its independence in 1968 and became its very own country then! Oops, I got distracted, hee hee...I just get so excited when there is so much to learn!

On the rock paintings I could see all sorts of interesting animals, like elephants, lions and even a wildebeest, which is interesting because there are no other wildebeest cave paintings other than this one south of Zambezi, Mozambique, about 1000 km, or 620 miles, north of here. Even more strange, there are paintings of humans, like hunters with spears, but also pictures of make-believe characters like floating humans with feathers, or human-animal hybrids like the painting of one human with the head of a mantis! All around it was a pretty amazing experience. I wonder what the land must have looked like that long ago, before roads and buildings and power lines. Can you imagine your home town without anything man-made? Try going to your park and drawing or painting just the nature you see to get an idea of what it might look like.

What do you think some of these paintings could mean? Take a look at the pictures and ask your parent, guardian or teacher to send me a message and let me know what you think!

All pictures in this blog are courtesy of Eswatini Tourism Board

Eswatini is very well known for its artisans and craftsmen. Itembe was telling me about the Ngwenya Glass blowing factory, so I decided to go on a tour. They are very earth-friendly, and only use recycled glass! So when glass is thrown away, people who need jobs or extra money can collect it - carefully because it can be sharp! - and sell it to the factory. The factory then breaks it and melts it down, then uses it to make beautiful works of art like tableware, glasses, vases, and little decorations like African animals! The factory sells the glass products it makes all over the world. They even work with local schools, getting the children involved in cleaning up and recycling in exchange for sponsorship of their sports teams. Watch the video below to learn more!

Qiyana told me that one of her favorite crafts is one that's very popular here in Eswatini, paper mache, so I tried it with her and some of her friends. 

This is a craft where you dip strips of paper into a special paste, then you layer the paper onto a mold to make anything from
jewelry, to decorations, to piggy banks and bowls, to huge masks. I made a bee hive! If you'd like to try this, talk to your parents first and then check out DIY Ready's article on how to make a paper mache bowl with them. Don't forget to paint it bright pretty colors! You can see examples here. And, please ask our parent, guardian and teacher to send me pictures so I can share them with Qiyana and her friends! (Paper Mache Orange Fruit Bowl Photo By Christine Majul [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr).

Check out the gallery below to see more amazing creations from the artists of Eswatini. Which one is your favorite? Mine are all the little animals!

The best part of the Bushfire festival to me is how it is a place the whole family can enjoy. There are workshops, dances, art exhibits, storytelling, puppets, theater and a KidZone with face painting, bounce houses, games and more! The profits, that's the money the festival earns after it has paid for the costs of putting on the festival, are used to help support local charities like Young Heroes, a charity that helps orphans.

The festival starts on the 27th of this month, so next week I'll be able to tell you all about the things I got to see and do there! This year, they started a few days early though with a few select workshops for high school/primary school students where they can learn about different creative arts and how to help with making things better in their communities.

You can look through the pictures and video I've added below to see examples of the MTN Bushfire festival in the past. Wow! It looks like fun! I can't wait!

Come back next week to learn more about the MTN Bushfire festival, social change, and helping others!

I'd love to hear how you are enjoying my adventures in Eswatini friends! So please ask your parent, guardian or teacher to help you comment below on the blogs or send me messages through my website to let me know. If you can't write quite yet, no worries at all! Just ask your parents or teacher to help you out!

Thanks for reading and goodbye (sala kahle)!

-Joy Sun Bear