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Published: February 1st 2023
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What to do about the nyala? We don't want to frighten them, they are easily frightened, but we would like to get into our little rondavel hut. In Hlane Game Reserve animals take precedence over people; are we allowed to walk through a group of antelope with our luggage? While we ponder, they wander - luckily in the right direction opening a clear path to our front door.
Hlane is a game reserve best known for rhino but there is plenty of other wildlife in this corner of Eswatini, a small country completely surrounded by South Africa; we used to call it Swaziland but the country recently reverted to its original, pre-colonial, name. We are in Hlane for two days and soon get used to sharing the lawns around the hut with nyala and colourful birds.
We take two drives around different areas of the park. There are antelope everywhere, mainly impala but also kudu, wildebeest and water buck. On the first drive we spot a tree full of hooded vultures; maybe there is a kill nearby? Well, we didn't find a kill but we did find two young lions, probably twins. They had recently
eaten and were heading to a waterhole to drink; they lay side-by-side at the water's edge, lapping up the muddy water. Later we see a solitary bull elephant and then a wonderful herd of southern giraffe. They largely ignore us, eating trees is much more interesting.
Initially, we only see white rhino in the distance but in on early morning drive we stop close to a mother rhino and her baby. We're allowed out of the jeep and walk towards and around these huge animals, the mother always watching us but not overly worried. They are a beautiful sight in the morning light. Eventually mum decides that she's had enough and our rhinos wander off, disappearing surprisingly quickly into the jungle.
There is a waterhole in front of Hlane's small restaurant and over dinner we watch hippo and antelopes enjoying the last of the daylight. Then, before breakfast, we arrive to discover three white rhino laying between us and the water. Five more wander around a little further away. They ignore us completely, of course.
The park is closely guarded 24/7 to protect these endangered animals from poachers. Around the entire
perimeter of this huge area of land is an 18-strand, electric, barbed-wire fence; it is patrolled night and day. Sad that precautions are necessary to protect these wonderful animals.
Our second park in Eswatini is a bit trickier to reach. First, we must spot the correct unremarkable shop in an unremarkable village on the MR3. Here, we meet a guide in a 40-year-old Land Rover which leads us, in our rental car, across a river and a sandbar and then a further 5km along a track, passing through two 2m high fence lines with locked gates, to reach the 'farmhouse'. From here we can take just an overnight bag and, after signing their disclaimer, we jump into the Land Rover for a mini-game drive that takes us to Mkaya's Stone Camp, a further 8km into the jungle. It is getting dark when we arrive and the camp is lit by storm lanterns; there is no electricity. Our candlelit dinner for two is set under the giant 'sausage tree' - we are the camp's only guest - and the only sounds are birds settling down for the night and distant frogs' singing to attract a mate. It is
magical.
After dinner, we wander down a sand path, lit with more storm lanterns, to our thatched hut, hidden in the jungle. The hut has low stone walls and a mosquito net covering the bed but otherwise we are open to the jungle; there is a gate to close at night to stop any passing hyena or jackal from wandering in. We sleep well in the cool night air and are woken at dawn with tea, coffee and muffins; our game drive/walk is at 6:00.
Our guide is able to be very flexible with our game drives and walks as we are only his guests. We drive to find wildlife and then wander out to look at the hippo pools, rhino wallows and grasslands with giraffe and antelope and warthogs, the latter always running away. Hornbills fly over us - the guide calls them flying bananas because of their ridiculously long yellow bills. We see many other birds, too, and even spot Eswatini's rare national bird, the spectacular purple-hooded turaco but it is the beautiful animals that steal the show. You never know what is around the next corner: maybe young bull rhino, cooling
in a pool while behind him nine or ten hippo are snorting noisily; perhaps a herd of southern giraffes taking breakfast in the warm morning light as a hyena walks past them taking a shortcut home; or a group of warthogs, squealing as they wave their tusks before running into the undergrowth.
Eswatini has exceeded our expectations, we've loved every minute of it, but we must leave and drive south; South Africa's Indian Ocean Coast is calling.
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