sacred site, ntfungeni

This rocky outcropping, located not too far from the Royal Kraal at Ntfungeni, is a sacred site for Swazis. This young man is a member of the Royal Guard, wearing the typical clothing of a Swazi man, with the Swazi flag on his arm and a feather in his hair.

At the moment, the large rocky area is closed off by a barbed wire fence. But, the SNTC, who I work for at the museum, is working with the community to enable them to "open" the site to interested viewers -- and for the community therefore to retain all profit from doing so. If funded by the government, the museum will set up a small visitor's center and exhibit
area, and community members will be
"trained" to take visitors to see the special areas in the park.

For example, here the guard/guide is showing us an area in the rock where Swazis believe a lion put his paw and the print was left behind. And, in the next picture is the famous "footprint of God," which Swazis and many southern Africans believe is a footprint left by their God who was walking the continent. There are examples of other footprints in Lesotho and Botswana -- so God is a giant whose strides were so long, the strides cross the whole continent.