Blogs from Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Swaziland, Africa - page 3

Africa » Swaziland » Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary May 17th 2007

Sondzela backpackers, Mlilwane nature reserve

The kingdom of Swaziland is a little jewel in the crown of southern Africa. This small country has a long tradition of kings ruling the country from the Ezulwini valley, and gained independence from Britain in 1968. The original constitution was largely modeled on the English system, however it has subsequently been abolished, and the king now rules Swaziland as an absolute monarch. The famous reed dance is an annual ceremony where the king chooses a new young bride from the naked girls who dance before him. Swaziland is surrounded by South Africa, and the border with Mozambique to the east. A visit to the kingdom provides a relaxed and modern stopover for visitors to southern Africa, where travellers enjoy a warm welcome from the friendly locals. The last journal left off in Maputo, dear reader, ... read more

Halfway through!

Africa » Swaziland » Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary March 24th 2007

Amy88

Greetings! So i've got alot to get through in this entry! It'll have to be brief. We've now finished the project phase, but since my last entry, we've been working on two different game reserves, Mbuluzi and Hlane. We were first at Mbuluzi, doing a game ranger course (for which I have a rather snazzy certificate). Then we were at Hlane, which is the royal national park. Here we were trail blazing, which involved cutting a walking trail through the reserve next to a hippo and croc infested lake (SAFETY...!!). Hlane was cool the manager is a nutter, catcing snakes, taking us swimming in a river (prior to which he poked around it with stick to check for crocs...) hehe. I also found me some diamonds in this river! shhh. After Hlane we returned to Mbuluzi ... read more

Does Anyone Know The Way To Zickary Sedley?

Africa » Swaziland » Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary December 3rd 2006

Vickery Seedlings!

J M

Yebo!! Greetings from Swaziland. We have now headed south down the coast into the Kingdom of Swaziland. The first thing that struck me was the number of cattle here - it literally did almost strike me as our mini bus dodged a kamikaze bovine as it stepped out in front of us on the highway. Some interesting facts about Swaziland: It is a Kingdom and hence ruled by a King. They call this absolute power but it sounds to me like a bit of a dictatorship - but then neither of us here ever studied politics or history! This King really gets to do what he wants, he chooses his parliament and it is illegal to have an opposition party. As a gesture of democracy to his public he lets them elect the assembly every 5 ... read more

Tickets please

Africa » Swaziland » Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary July 10th 2006

Local Shebeen

snozlington

From Swazi BP it was a short mini bus trip to the Matsapha market turn off, followed by a 1 or 2 km walk to the House on Fire tourist centre where we scored a lift in the back of a pick up with an expat who was going where we were going, Sondzela BP. It was almost too easy. Set within the grounds of the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Sondzela was spectacular and beautiful. There were no staff around to greet us however so we found a spot to pitch our tent whilst the curious but very shy warthogs grazed around us and the resident ostrich drank from the swimming pool. We had a day and a half to explore and waisted no time looking for a staff member to point us in the right direction ... read more

Swaziland by Royal Appointment and Blyde River Canyon

Africa » Swaziland » Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary July 5th 2006

Swaziland Border

John Miranda

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 ... read more

Sondzela

Africa » Swaziland » Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary May 2nd 2003

Hippo Yawn

DMac

From St Lucia we took the Baz bus in preference to changing bus 5 times on the way to Sondzela backpackers in Mliwane Game Park, Swaziland. This was an amazing place to stay - right in the Park with a pool and lovely facilities. On the first day there we took a walk around the park and saw many Wart Hogs, Wildebeest, and bucks. We kept our eye out for Hippos once we got to the lake since we hadn't really seen any close up in St Lucia to our disappointment. We did see a group of 9 or 10 in the lake here, and sat about 15m from where they were in the water for an hour or two. It was great to see them so close and the anticipation of waiting to see if ... read more

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