In the Kingdom of Swaziland

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Geo: -26.5225, 31.4659

It was a strange feeling being back in civilisation after exiting Kruger Park through Crocodile Bridge Gate. There were cars everywhere, people rushing around and shops. We stopped in a very busy town – Komatipoort. Here we bought more food for the next few days. It was about an hour drive to the border with Swaziland. We quickly passed through the border.

Swaziland is a small country that borders with South Africa and Mozambique. I was excited and happy to be in a new country. It was much quieter than South Africa. There was a sign warning pedestrians of lions and elephants and warning motorists of big game - this was exciting. I had my eyes peeled looking for animals, unfortunately I didn't see any animals.

At about half past 4 we arrived at Hlane Royal National Park. 'Hlane' means wilderness and is Swaziland's largest protected area. We were excited to be in a new park. Hlane has doesn't have the big 5, it is missing buffalo but we were still looking forward to finding the animals. We checked in and set-up our tent. We were supposed to stay here for two nights. Due to our first impression, we only paid for one night and were going to decided tomorrow morning if we were staying the second night. We only saw a few impala on the way to the campsite and too many fences! The other down side is that they have had a lot of rain recently and we were not able to self drive in the park. We had to pay to go on a game drive. Paul and I do prefer to drive ourselves. We booked to go on a game drive tomorrow morning.

We decided not to go for a game drive this afternoon; instead we enjoyed a few cold drinks at the lodge. There was a waterhole here and we enjoyed a few sightings as the sun set. We saw hippos, a very large crocodile, an ostrich that walked through the camp, a warthog, a white rhino that came down to drink and a herd of impalas.

At about half past six we made the fire and started to prepare food to cook. Dark clouds appeared and very soon after it began to rain. We retreated to the tent and ate snack foods for dinner. The heavy rain continued all night, along with thunder and lightning, which was pretty scary in a tent, it was not a pleasant night's sleep.

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Photos

01 Travelling - African Style
This is very common- fill up a car with as many people as possible and drive fast on the main roads.

02 Salon
Where the locals go to get their hair done.

03 Barber
The local barber shop.

04 Markets
Roadside markets.

05 Liquor Store
There is pretty much one on every corner...

06 Exciting Sign
This sign excited me and also disappointed me- as we did not see any animals.

07 Sign
The sign that pointed us to the park.

08 Me
I am sitting between two large skulls with the waterhole behind me.

09 Waterhole
In the water there are at least three hippos.

10 Large Crocodile
A large crocodile on the side of the waterhole.

11 Hippos
Three hippo heads poking out of the water.

12 Ostrich
The resident ostrich that wandered about camp.

13 Skin
A large crocodile skin.

14 Warthog
A warthog that ran through the camping area.

15 Paul
Paul enjoying a cider as a rhino walks past the waterhole.

16 Me
I am enjoying a cold cider as the rhino drinks water.

17 White Rhino
The white rhino looking at us.

18 Impalas
On the other side of the waterhole a couple of impalas appeared.