Crossing the border and Samora Machel Monument

Swaziland and South Africa stamps are quickly filling up the pages...

My thirty days was nearly up (hard to believe it has nearly been a month since Angie left), and thus I had to leave Swaziland and then re-enter so my thirty day stay would start over. There is a border post into South Africa just over an hour from my house.

Angela agreed to accompany me. Our plan was to exit Swaziland and spend an hour or so relaxing in South Africa. There aren't many large towns just across the border, so we figured we might just end up reading books while we killed some time before crossing back into Swaziland.

However, as we were driving in South Africa, we noticed a sign for the Samora Machel Monument, so we decided to check it out.

Samora Machel was the President of Mozmbique, when he was killed in a plane crash on October 19, 1986. He was returning in the presidential plane from official business in Namibia, when the plane crashed into the Lebombo mountains in South Africa, just across the Mozambican border. Thirty five people died including President Machel, and nine survived.

Samora Machel

Samora Machel was a compatriot of Nelson Mandela (who was still imprisoned when Machel perished in the plane crash). Mandela eventually married Machel's widow, Graca, in the late nineties.

The Monument is a nice tribute to the people who died. There is also a nice museum discussing the political unrest at the time (apartheid in South Africa, etc).

Plane wreckage in foreground and 35 steel tubes representing the lives lost in the crash. This photo is looking toward South Africa.

South Africa in the foreground, Mozambique in the background (rocky area). I haven't been to Mozambique because it requires American's have a Visa, and it is pricey (about 700 rand, or $70).

Angela and me