This study abroad to southern Africa was simply incredible! I could not have imagined how much fun, but also educational it was. We started our journey in Cape Town, South Africa, then went to Zimbabwe, Zambia, back to South Africa for Kruger National Park, then finished our trip in Eswatini. One thing I clearly saw was the difference between South Africa and the other three countries we visited. I read that South Africa is the one of the most advanced countries in Africa, but we really saw it firsthand on our trip. While there are rural parts to every country, it seemed very industrialized as a whole. When we departed from the Johannesburg airport, I discovered that it is the busiest airport in the entire continent of Africa.
This image of South Africa was vastly different than the smallest nation we visited, Eswatini. Eswatini used to be called Swaziland up until a few years ago. Eswatini is still currently a kingdom, ruled by Mswati III. The kingdom is also only made up of 1.2 million people, so both of these facts may play into Eswatini?s industrialization compared to its neighboring South Africa. The king operates very differently than the government in South Africa, and we heard there are constant requests from the international community for him to make Eswatini a democracy. Things like legalized polygamy, practiced by the king himself, draw criticism from other world leaders. One thing that did not change from country to country was the hospitality we were shown throughout our stay. All the staff that helped us on our trip were some of the kindest people. One man even stayed over two hours past his shift at a hotel restaurant to make sure we enjoyed ourselves and had a good meal. This emphasis on serving others and being a welcoming host is one of the most noticeable parts of the culture, and I hope I can bring that back with me to the US.
