Expedition Africa
Swaziland Welcomes Adventure Racers From Around The World To Expedition Africa 2015
German Cuevas/AdvFeel Communication (Edited by Rob Howard) / 05.06.2015
After two days of safari in the fantastic country of Swaziland we arrived at the hotel near the presidential palace in this small country.
On our travels the people were very friendly, walking kilometers along the roads that connect the country, sharing them with cows and other livestock scavenging for any food dropped along the way.
At dawn and at midday the streets and roads are filled with children going to or returning from school, all dressed in their uniforms. The buildings, often without windows, are located amidst sandy wastelands where children play football or roll a tire, anything to pass the time in the intense hours of the midday sun.
Teams were told to gather near the large hotel pool at 4pm. Here there was a huge arch, adorned with the logos of the race and set amidst the greenery of the gardens, decked out with multiple sponsors’ flags. After some group photos it was time to wander into the nearby congress center.
This was only a short walk and the presentation of the room is spectacular, with all the teams and volunteers tinting everything with their vivid red and black vests and shirts and the stage colourfully decked out with flags from the ARWS, organizers and sponsors.
At the beginning of the presentation the Prime Minister, the Minister of Tourism and other officials are introduced, followed by a local group with their voices and drums, their music filling the room. We were also told a few words in the local language to remember.
Hello is ‘sawubona’ and How are you is ‘unjami’. Hopefully I’ll remember.
After a short break in which the teams took a snack the route of the race was revealed and it was a tense time for the 23 teams, who now knew what lay ahead after they had planned and trained for so long and travelled so far.
Tomorrow the teams will hand in gear boxes and complete their technical checks in the area by the hotel pool, and they will be handed the maps of sections 1, 2, 3, 4.
The race will start at 7:30 the next day after a short bus ride to the start line.
The outline of the route is as follows;
Leg1 -Trek 33km
Leg2 - Canyon 1km
Leg3 – Trek 9km
Leg 4 – kayak 22km
Leg 5 - MTB 69km
Leg 6 - Trek - Caving - Trek
Leg7 - MTB - 155km
Leg 8 - Kayak 16 Km
Leg 9 - Rafting 7km
Leg 10 - Trek 38 Km
Leg 11 - MTB 61 Km
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