I don't know how my parents did it.

Some 30 years ago, two fresh-faced graduates in their early 20s left the comforts of Sheffield to move to a remote corner of Swaziland. Even now, in 2012, the village of Tjaneni that they made their home, felt incredibly rural. It's amazing to imagine the two of them living there for 3 or 4 years (amongst the cows and goats) bringing up a new-born baby. Auntie Lisa & Uncle Nick as well. Hats off to you.

The overwhelming impression after five days in Swaziland was that of an incredible sense of warmth (the people matched the temperature!), friendliness and compassion. The simple things that are often forgotten in Western culture are treasured and appreciated fully, and it's those things that make this small country so inspiring and enjoyable to visit.

Swaziland doesn't have a skin to get under. As soon as you touch down at the airport, you're immeresed in their culture. A friendly face and a smile greet you ("welcome to the Kingdom"), pop-up markets line the streets, cows wander freely and school children, proud in their uniform, skip along 'motorways' on their long walk back to the villages. With our hire car, we found it much easier to explore and get a sense of the place. And we were surprised by how green, mountainous and "lush" it is.

As you've probably seen from the photos, activity number one was visiting the Swazi Football Association. Unfortunately, there weren't any trials that day and despite an explanation of my extensive career and CV, apparently being top scorer in the Vauxhall Monday night 6-a-side league isn't enough to represent a country... The disappointment was quickly put aside and we moved onto an exploration of the Swazi Cultural Village and a lesson (for Han at least) in traditional Swazi dance. And we couldn't miss the clinic. It's safe to say not many of you would make a pilgramage-like visit to High Wycombe General, but we drove up brimming with curiosity. Suffice to say it's grown and developed a lot these past 28 years, as explained by the Hospital Manager who gave us a guided tour of the place, and was able to point out the exact ward (there was only one back in the day, so it was easy!) where it all began. I didn't exactly get flashbacks or a deep feeling of deja vu, but I could feel the significance, put it that way.

Perhaps the most valuable part of the visit was that spent with a tour guide we hired for half-a-day. The aim was to get shown some of those sights the average tourist misses, whilst also understanding what day-to-day life for a Swazi is really like, something we didn't get enough of in South Africa. Sandile (pronouned San-dee-lay) didn't disappoint, with various insights including:

• Ben being given the Swazi name of Mabamba which means "holding on" in SiSwati (the national language). Fitting.
• The previous King had a greedy 120 wives and an expensive 600-odd(!) children. The current King is lagging behind with a mere 13 wives and 20-odd children.
• Sandile built his own "dream home" for 40,000 Rand - roughly 3,300 pounds - on the same plot of land alongside his parents and brothers. This is very typical with rural families and once his father dies he inherits the land. When his brother dies, meanwhile, he inherits his wife!
• Big houses to buy in urban areas will set one back approximately 400,000 Rand - a simple 33,000 pounds.
• Every December the historical Incwala festival takes place. This six day 'harvest' or 'first fruits' festival includes boys attempting to kill a bull with their bare hands.
• Much like international drinking rules, no one is allowed to point a finger at significant landmarks, such as the royal residencies and Houses of Parliament, instead doing so with a clenched fist.
• As we found out later, Swazi culture is very similar to that of the Zulu's. Before men are allowed to confirm their engagement to their fiance, they must go through the process of Lobola, whereby they and their family negotiate a price for the lady, which is usually several cows and a few thousand Rand.

Overall, it was a real joy to go back and I know that Han got as much out of it as I did. If you're looking for a taste of Africa, away from the regular tourist route, I highly recommend a trip.

Back to South Africa, and after a night's stop in Nelspruit, we headed north to the Kruger National Park. Not enough words will ever describe the experience of your first safari, but we'll try and give you a taste...

The four days were the biggest (Kruger is the same size as Wales!) and best Game of Patience imaginable. You can go hours without seeing anything, but you don't mind, because you know that just round the next corner could be another member of the Big 5. Those long periods of staring longingly out of your 4x4 pay off when you get the unbelievable feeling of seeing a huge elephant squirt water from its trunk, or that of seeing your first lion through the binoculars, or even a hippo projectile poo to mark its territory! Whether you see another herd of impala or zebra, a family of giraffe munching on their breakfast, or a hippo roll into the river for its morning dip, the 4:30am alarm is well worth it. We'll never look at a zoo in the same way again, as seeing them in their home, their natural habitat, is the only way to do so.

Two weeks before we arrived there were huge floods across the park, which made the sandy roads very tough to drive on by the time we arrived. Thankfully this job was left to our Park Ranger - who affectionately referred to himself as "the chocolate man" - and the feeling of bumping and bouncing our way through the bushes without seatbelts just added to the experience.

The majority of our nights were spent in our Tree House - a rickety, rugged box made of wood overlooking a waterhole. Before the floods we would have found buffalo and hippo happily drinking there, but the floods meant water was easily accessible anywhere, so they drank from a different spot. We were actually quite pleased not to find a killer hippo on our walk back to bed at night, instead bumping into plenty of huge spiders - eeeeewwwww!!

Once again, the thing that really made Kruger awesome was the people. As part of our tour group we had an eclectic mix of Ramona, a lovely 22-year-old Bavarian girl, Kent, a well-travelled US Will Ferrell lookalike, and his Argentine partner, Sara, who gave us lots of recommendations about Buenos Aires. All new to safari life, we were able to share the highs and lows of "The Game" together and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The past few days have been spent exploring the sights and tastes of Buenos Aires - the local meats which inspired our blog's name haven't disappointed! On Tuesday, we start our 26-day trip through South America, but before we depart we had to share the final few experiences of Southern Africa.

As we head inland to, what we imagine will be rather remote spots of this continent, we're unsure as to how accessible internet will be. So, please try and survive the withdrawal symptoms if you go the next few weeks without your latest read!

For those of you who haven't seen the photos, they're all up there now. I'm sure the shots of the idyllic beaches are grating given the snowy, freezing temperatures back home, but Han is still slightly jealous of you all!

Until next time.

Lots of love,

Ben & Han xx