Mphaphati is a impoverished community of over 100 homesteads, whose existence is a fragile mix of subsistence agriculture and remittances from family members working in the distant agricultural estates and cities of Swaziland. The Great Usutu River is one of southern Africa's major water systems, with its source in South Africa, the bulk of its catchment area in Swaziland and its estuary in Mozambique just south of Maputo. The river has exciting white-water rapids in the mountainous Swazi Kingdom.
“We have a very long relationship with this particular community,” explained Swazi Trails MD Darron Raw, “as not only do we pass through this area on a daily basis with our rafting groups, but all of our river guides are drawn from families and homesteads within the Mphaphati area.”
Swazi Trails, a Swaziland-based adventure company, has operated white-water rafting trips on the Great Usutu River since 1991. The company offers half- and full-day rafting excursions departing from the kingdom's tourism hub in the Ezulwini Valley.
“Back in the 1990s we undertook to voluntarily contribute a sum of money for each person who joined one of our trips,” explained Raw, “as we wanted to contribute in some way to the development of this area, long before the concept of responsible tourism was born.”
Like many under-developed communities in Africa, the people of Mphaphati are linked by a common desire to provide greater opportunities for their children. Education is the key to this and it is for this reason that the Swazi Trails donation is directed to the local primary school.
“There are hundreds of homesteads in this community with many differing needs, some exceedingly desperate, however the one thing that cuts across all of them is the need for quality education for their kids,” Raw said.
