Back in the 80s Swaziland was a weekend getaway, where thrill-seekers went to to snub the Immorality Act, sample the country's herbal export and gamble.
Two decades later and some things haven't changed - the Mdzimba Mountains still stare down on a verdant Ezulwini Valley, the casinos still pump out fistfuls of Lilangenis (the local currency) and Hotel California remains on the playlist at the Royal Swazi Spa Hotel.
But other things have changed. The once teenage king has grown up and has acquired several wives over the years, and a new breed of adventurers have swopped the thrill of the-one armed bandit for a weekend of outdoor adventure.
The Royal Swazi Spa Hotel has become the stopover point for quad biking, adventure caving, canoeing, horse riding and white water rafting. And that is how I, one weekend, came to tangle with one Monica Lewinsky.
Monica lay in the middle of the Great Usutu River, a graded rapid.
This was the first bit of white water of the morning and it looked scary. Negotiating Miss Lewinsky meant manhandling a narrow, two-man inflatable boat called a Croc between a couple of rocks and making sure we hit the rapid head on.
All went according to plan until, halfway down the rapid, I was thrown from the bucking Croc, tumbled through the white water and came to bobbing along in a life vest and wearing a cheesy grin. My partner hadn't even noticed I had left the boat.
I had just "gone down on Monica Lewinsky", was the insider white water rafter's joke.
'Monica Lewinsky was nothing compared to the final rapid of the day' -- By Shaun Smillie
Read full article -- IOL
Nice one!
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