On Saturday I returned to Swaziland, and for the first time I flew.
It was beautiful to see the majestic mountains that form the South Africa-Swaziland border from the air.
It was saddening to see the dry riverbeds with only a small glint of water in them; it reminded me that Swaziland still suffers a catastrpohic drought.
It was fascinating to see the network of roads - mostly unpaved - that connect the homesteads and villages across the country.
As the mountains yielded to the flat highveld, I looked out my window and snapped a photo showing the pristine bush (with the shadow of my plane visible in the lower right corner).
And as I landed at the King Mswati III airport, I tried to see it for its potential. There were no other planes aside from the small 50 passenger puddle-jumper that I rode in. The airport felt like a ghost town from American's old wes, but one that has yet to even experience a "boom" of economic activity. This new airport may be just a gigantic boondoggle, a waste of already scarce resources that could have been better allocated. Or it may be an investment - an expensive and perhaps even risky one - in the future, part of Swaziland's ambitious Vision 2022 national development strategy, the goal of which is to transform the kingdom into a first world country by the next 6 years.
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