Travelling to Swaziland

 

 

If you enter the country at southeast, like we did, you get to know a country, full of sugarcanes and a few kilometres later, there are the first refineries. One of the main branches of Swaziland is sugar production and most of it is exported to Europe.

 

Our path leads us to safari park Hlane on northeast of the country. It is known by many lions and rhinos. Because we rented a car, we decided to do a “self-drive” safari and drove through the extremely dry national park. We had luck and saw rhinos, some antelopes, named impalas and extremely ugly birds, which are called marabous, which reminded us on the flying dinosaurs, the diameter of their wings is up to four metres. But at the end, the number of animals in the park was really small. The next day we decided to take a walking safari, which was organised. We wanted to add a little bit of adrenalin to our trip and see the animals from eye to eye, without the windscreen in between. 

 

 

We met with our ranger in the morning, who surprisingly didn’t have a gun, but a stick. He told us right away: “It’s a game, you can win or you can lose.” He also told us that he hopes that we don’t see that many animals. The less, the better. Wait, what did he say? We thought immediately. He told us that lions don’t live in this side of park and that they are kept in a special fence as lions need special care and can’t be seen by just anybody and they also want to make sure the park is safe for walking. The start wasn’t promising, but we were optimists and thought that we will see something. And we saw something. A millipede. In the whole two hours in the park, we only saw a millipede. But it was interesting. The guide told us a lot about the Swazi culture, about tracking animals but we wanted to see a rhino or an elephant. 

 

 

We went back to the camp disappointed, sat in front of the fence and watched the pond. And suddenly something moved. It wasn’t the stone in the middle of the pond but the back of the hippo. We immediately grabbed the binoculars. When we saw a little bit better, we found out there were four rhinos in the pond. We soon saw a turtle and a crocodile sunbathing. Crazy! By the evening, we saw many more animals, coming to drink the water. There was also a rhino with her baby rhino. When it got dark, the lions started roaring. Well, at least we heard them if we couldn’t see them. Right before we went to bed, we were lucky again. Near the firebox where we cooked our dinner, we found a scorpion. Did you know that scorpions shine under the UV light? We prepared for the meeting with a scorpion and bought a UV-light. It really is crazy to see this dangerous but interesting animal shine in white. Of course, the scorpions were more afraid of us than we feared them so they quickly hid and we put our shoes in the tent for safety. It’s better to smell a little bit that finds a scorpion in our shoes in the morning.

 

 

Our travels took us to Ezulwini where you can find another safari park – Mlilwane, which is famous for desert warthogs and antelopes, zebras and so on. Food is even more interesting in this valley. We visited restaurant eDlandleni where an older woman is trying to maintain the Swazi culture. Perfect for us. We like to try new things, local food and if it’s at someone’s house, it’s even better. We visited the restaurant on Sunday. We got lost about five times, trying to get there and accidentally arrived to Mantenga cultural village where we got to know the Swazi art – carvings, paintings, statues and we also bought souvenirs to take home. And then we somehow found the restaurant. But nobody was there. Everything was empty and locked. We drove around and reached a prestigious hotel. We convinced the receptionist to call to the restaurant. The answer was that it’s Sunday and it’s closed. Too bad. When we wanted to drive off, a girl from the restaurant ran to us and asked if we’re hungry. We’re starving, we said. And we were sitting in a nice restaurant, which was opened just for us. An older lady came to us and asked what do we want to eat. She said that she has some desert warthog meat and beef. She can also make us some pap (African polenta), sweet potato and some vegetables. We answered that everything sounds delicious. And it was. We have never eaten a meat so juicy and soft and so crunchy sweet potato. Yum. 

 

 

We drove a little further to the south-west of the country where you can find cannabis plantations. Of course, they’re a little more hidden, as growing cannabis is forbidden in Swaziland. But a lot of the people from this part of the country make their money by growing illegal marijuana.

 

Our next goal was the Malolotja national park, which is the most beautiful place in the country. Hlane park was very dry and the Malolotja national park was complete opposite. Everything was green, there were flowers, zebras and antelopes, rock hyrax were hiding among the rocks. A true paradise on earth. We just sat there and enjoyed in nature and colours.

 

Time in Swaziland went by too fast and we were sad to leave it. We already have plans on what to visit the next time.

 

If anyone wants to read more about our trip, we invite you to visit our blog www.lahkihnog-naokrog.si.