Swaziland by Royal Appointment and Blyde River Canyon

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St Lucia was difficult to leave behind, but we had a cross border mission to accomplish for Fedders in Swaziland. The border was a bit more active than our last excursion into Lesotho, but just to confirm that everything has it's price in Africa one guy managed to gain entry with an out of date passport!

We opted to stay away from the bright lights of Manzini or Mbabne in a backpackers within Milwane National Park - very convenient for walking amongst the antelopes and zebras, but a little isolated. However the following day, excitement came to us! At the posher lodge next door there was a Rhino Conservation meeting and it turned out that HRH King Mswati 111 of Swaziland was coming to open it......and so the King accompanied by a few members of the Government, his security guards and probably 1/2 the Swazi Police Force delivered his opening address to a few delegates and a handful of appreciative backpackers. The King has apparently got 16 wives, but only 2 and the King's mother surfaced on this occasion so there were enough chairs to go round! We even got a free meal - a choice of impala, warthog or goat served with maize. The rest of the time in the National Park was spent on walks in the bush, photographing hippos and fending off the ultimate backpacker's landmower - a family of warthogs who had escaped the King's dinner table.

We are now back in South Africa and picked up another car in the incredibly bland world of shopping centres otherwise known as Nelspruit.....and headed north along the escarpment to Blyde River Canyon and a tour of the tourist destinations and towns of Sabie, Graskop and Pilgrims Rest. England's World Cup dream came to end during this stage of our trip, but at least we had the combined talents of Garry Bailey, Terry Paine and Garry Mabbutt (who has surfaced as a TV pundit on all things English) to explain where it all went wrong in Wayne's World.

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Photos

Milwane National Park
Happy Hippo

Milwane National Park
Unhappy Hippo

HRH Mswati 111
The opening address

Warthog
The ultimate lawnmower

Long Tom Pass
Long Tom Cannon

Long Tom Pass
View over Sabie Valley

Pilgrim's Rest
Main Street

Blyde River Canyon
The Pinnacle

Blyde River Canyon
God's Window

Blyde River Canyon
The Three Rondavels

Blyde River Canyon
The Three Rondavels

Blyde River Canyon
Blyde Dam

Blyde River Canyon
Fancy going abseiling again?

Blyde River Canyon
The Three Rondavels again

Comments

[alex waring]

King of Swaziland
Wow, you got to see the King of Swaziland! I got to see the King of Lesotho as he was on my flight there from Johannesburg! Together, we got to see them both then, yay! :D

[John Miranda]

King of Swaziland & Lesotho
Ha. In the world of travel tales .... low budget travellers meet royalty ...... both make great stories to tell.