Blogs from Ezulwini Valley, Swaziland, Africa - page 2

Monday (19/7/2010) We woke to a beautiful sunny day and set out to explore Port Elizabeth. Lungile was just a short stroll/jog to the beach, we wandered along the beach front stopping at Tiffany’s for breakfast (it seemed appropriate overlooking the all but flat ocean). We continued along the beach boardwalk past shops and café’s until the boardwalk ran out then we continued along the beach right up to the lighthouse. We spotted some dolphins surfing just off shore and decided it was time to turn back our stroll had turned into a three hour walk meaning it was time for lunch. A quick stop at the supermarket and we soaked up a bit more sunshine. Back at Lungile we showered before trying our luck at the Boardwalk Casino. Not needing to check anything into the ... read more

Well we had quite a trip from Maputo, Mozambique to Manzini, Swaziland in the Ewulini Valley. We rode in one of those mini busses I mentioned previously. The first row of the 5 has the driver and two money collectors. The next three rows have 2 fixed seats and one fold down seat (for 3 a total of 3 people in each of these rows) and the last row is a fixed seat. This last row would be great if it were for 3 people but for whatever reason it is supposed to hold 4 people and we were all crammed back there. Also the seat is quite high off of the ground so that my head was hitting the ceiling constantly as the roads are all potholes and the minibus has no shock absorbers to ... read more

Hola! The Baz Bus took me to a random petrol station and after an hour of searching Jim and Suus and Janis (the campervan) found me! We went back to Sodwana and hund out at the national park where they were camping. It was fab to see them and we had a great night. Unfortunately the weather turned bad so the dive in the morning got cancelled...and we hit the road to Swaziland! The landscape was gorgeous and we went through really remote rural places which was interesting to say the least. Cows in the way, rough roads and not many road signs..however there was some ladies selling great corn on the cob for 3 rand along the road, awesome! After a really long drive and a fairly non dramatic border crossing we were in Swaziland. ... read more

With Mbabane offering nothing in the way of information or things to do, I decamp to the nearby Ezulwini Valley. The valley is home to the Swazi royal family and features a mountain that apparently inspired the "Sheba's Breasts" in Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines". A further nod to Rider Haggard is in the fact that one of the nearby restaurants is called Quatermain's. My days in Ezulwini see a climate shift from cold and cloudy to sunny and absolutely roasting - the latter is apparently more seasonal. Having heard about a hostel with a swimming pool in Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, I head there for a few days (blogged separately). Within 24 hours of returning, it's cold and grey again. The $1000+ I spent on safaris in East Africa sadly didn't qualify me for a black ... read more

It's been 2 weeks since the last entry so i've got quite alot to catch up on. I'm actually in Malawi now, arrived today, but more of that later. Following the sports day i splashed out on a night of luxury at a chalet not far from lidwala. Had been feeling rough and wanted the luxury of a bath. The place was gorgeous, a 2 bedroom wood cabin with kitchen, living room and bathroom set amongst woods and horse paddocks. I cooked my dinner over a braai and it turned out much better than my usual efforts at bbqs back home. Only cost 500E (35 pounds) a night. On the downside, i had to go to the local clinic the next day - nothing too serious - so had another night of not doing much back ... read more