Blogs from Swaziland, Africa - page 4

Breakfast this morning from the small buffet was a most delicious juicy fat pork sausage, coarse grind. I also chose the large sweet tomatoes. Fruit was cantaloupe and honeydew melon, rather than the luscious mango and papaya and avocado at Timbavati. Having discovered at the morning coffee break in Kruger Park that the hot chocolate was actually powdered chocolate with not too much sugar and without milk, I have been enjoying it as a rich start to the day. After breakfast at the leisurely time of 8:30, we set off on a nature walk with our guide from yesterday, Sicuelo (the “cu” indicates a click sound) and Sonnboy, who is a graduate trainee. They slowly led us along a path and told us about birds and plants. For some unknown reason, Sicuelo told us about customs ... read more

I visited Swaziland at the end of a 3 month tour of Southern Africa, during which I went on a number of different road trips to keep my trip cheap and to be able to see as much as possible. By the time we arrived in Swaziland we (I was travelling with my mate Rich) had already driven about 30,000km around South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia, sleeping in the car or camping every night. Our first stop was to a cultural village showing how the people used to live in the 1850’s, in wooden huts with fenced off areas for cows and goats. We also got to see a couple of traditional Swazi dances, although being a show for tourists it was a bit of a shock after our more authentic experiences in Namibia, but ... read more

It was time to go to Swaziland. Here, by and local village excursion, we got introduced by the traditional (tribal) life. Much people in Swaziland lived for decades due the tribal life and in some tribes, they still do. However, Hlane N.P. is the old hunting grounds of the king, so it’s a good place to make some game drives, or a bushwalk in the “Rhino area”. With luck you can spot here all of the big 5. It is not that good organised as in South-Africa. It’s here more “Hakuna Matata”, “just no worry”. “Time will pass; we’re doing it all relax”, or summarized everything will occur here at their local tempo. For us Dutchies, loving the stress and the speed, that was sometimes a little bit hard; we are used that 10 ‘o clock ... read more

Geo: -26.3093, 31.1477We left at 7am for the 45 minute drive to the Kingdom of Swaziland. Picked up a young Dutch couple and our guide Nick (another Marloth Park lodge owner/operator) gave us a good running commentary along the trip.At the border (passports needed) we saw a traditional village and got an explanation of village life. Then many of the chief's 25 children gave an exhibition of singing and dancing that was quite stirring. A stop at a local crafts village (weaving, mainly), across the Maguga Dam then another tourist stop based on a glassworks. A candle factory and lunch at Malkerns.The Kingdom's main agriculture is timber, with extensive eucalypt and pine plantations. Added to the other tropical fruits grown in this non-tropical area(?), Swaziland also has large pineapple farms.We've been told a couple of times ... read more

Arriving at Hlane Reserve we were met by some very pleasant people on the gate who welcomed us back when we said we had stayed here before.Our check in at reception was quite straightforward if somewhat leisurely, no one really rushes but it is difficult for us to get used to that pace of life. We were also pleased to see the campsite is still in very good condition with plenty of trees for shade, braais for cooking and picnic tables as well as stone built wash up and preparation areas with water dotted around the site. The showers are basic but clean and still have the oil lamps for lighting and a lovely old boiler out the back for hot water, feed it logs and you have a hot shower! The waterhole was the same, ... read more