The Kingdom of Swaziland

Two weekends ago I met up with an old friend from Alaska who happened to be in the country.  Together we went to Kruger National Park and then to the Kingdom of Swaziland. Driving to Nelspruit on a Thursday afternoon through the province of Mpumalanga (which means “land where the rising sun”) the traffic quickly came to a dead halt.  After about an hour of playing cards with the taxis drivers I found out that they were burning the grassland and that the section of highway up ahead was engulfed in a thick blanket of smoke.

 

Waiting for the fires to die down on the N4

After staying with one of my good friend’s parents for the night, I picked up my travel buddy and headed north for the park.  Another friend of mine’s mother works and lives in the park and was letting us use her house as well as organizing free guest permits for us.  A few hours of getting lost on the pothole ridden country/forestry back roads, we made it to the park.  Despite cold rainy weather, we had a great day in the park with tons of great sightings.  Herds of buffalo, prides of lions next to the road, 2 leopards, a rhino, and of course tons of elephant traffic and many other animals. 

Always a pleasure to see a white rhino

One of two males sitting just by the side of the road

Coming into the staff camp (where tourists aren’t allowed) we drove by the spotted hyena den where 3 females were laying on the side of the road, one nursing a cub.

Hyena with cub in the staff camp

That night we had a braii at the house and sat outside listening to the hyenas and watching the bushbabies crawl around near our feet. 

The next morning we drove south out of the park and directly to the border of the Kingdom of Swaziland.  Swaziland is a tiny country only slightly larger than the state of Connecticut and is mostly rural and mountainous.  Driving through the mountain kingdom if was hard to remember that we were in Africa with roads spiraling around steep pine tree covered mountains. Most of Swazis live on subsistence farming and as such there were few towns, but rather just sporadic villages with a few people selling trinkets on the side of the road. Swaziland has one of the highest levels HIV infected people, one of the highest wealth inequality ratings, and also ranks 191 out of 198 for life expectancy. 

Within an hour we had reached the capital city of Mbabane, where I received my first speeding ticket ever.  Going 86km in an 80km zone too close to the residence of His Majesty King Mswati III.  For that I paid 60 Swazi Lilangeni (or about $6 USD), which I paid directly to the police officer who had what appeared to be a small bank in the boot of his car. 

King Mswati III of Swaziland

Later we arrived at the Mlilwane Game Reserve where we did some hiking and game viewing. That night we had a dinner of impala steaks and watched the reserve rangers and guides perform some traditional Swazi dancing and singing.  Our accommodation was a traditional thatched beehive style hut, which was really comfortable and spacious.

Out for a hike in the gum-tree forests

Swazi dance

Traditional beehive hut we stayed in

Watching the sun set with some Zebra

The next morning we went for an early morning horseback ride through the reserve.  By simply claiming for be “experienced” they let us canter and gallop on the horses, until one of the girls that was with us was thrown into a tree while her horse was galloping through the woods.  She was fine, but the Swazi guide seemed indifferent and unsure what to do (very atypical to what you’d see in the states). We rode past the “execution rock” which was really just a mountain they used to throw people off of if they committed crimes.

Having to be home that night, I tried to take the most direct route back to South Africa, which ended up being the most interesting part of the trip.  Upon reaching the road to heading west to RSA, we found that it was under construction (a bit of an understatement).  Really the road didn’t exist, just a dirt path cut through the forest, however TIA (This Is Africa) and I continued knowing it was only 20km to the border.  It was raining and foggy on the road, which being in a forestry section of the country made it feel like a Congolese rain forest.

Having not seen a single other person or vehicle on the road we traveled for what ended up being hours through this misty, tropical jungle, climbing mountains, and going through mud paths.

Eventually we reached an area in the middle of jungle where a single hut was standing and a solider with gold teeth, sporting a thick ski coat came to check my license and life a wooden gate for us to continue.  On the other side of the gate was pavement, but it was probably worse than the dirt/mud road since there were potholes that could of easily of swallowed my car.  Constantly spinning the wheel to avoid the minefield of pavement/brick/rock terrain we eventually made it to a small village…which turned out to be a creepy ghost town with just a person or two walking around. 

The border ghost town of Bulembu

Finally the road conditions picked up and we made it to a mountaintop where the border crossing was; another small building with a single guard who looked very lonely and cold. I have to say it felt like the most “African” experience I’ve had.