Tom and I were a bit nervous regarding the border crossing to Eswatini after our experience at the border to Lesotho a couple of weeks earlier with our still pending visa extension application in South Africa. It turned out that our worries were unfounded; the immigration officers at the border post asked for the receipt of the pending application and stamped us out - not a problem at all. From Eswatini, I expected something similar to Lesotho, maybe because of the similar size of the two kingdoms, but the vibe after the border was actually very different to Lesotho. Eswatini was quite touristy, good tarmac roads and many signposts to show you where the next attraction was. Also the houses along the street were more modern, a lot of them with two storeys. We had already planned a nice route together with Urs and Barbara. Our first stop was at the famous Swazi Candle factory. Next to the factory there was also a restaurant, a crafts market and many other stores to buy souvenirs. At the factory, we could watch the people working there making candles and forming all kind of animals and other things with the wax.
After this first stop, we went to visit a crafts market and then stopped at a cultural village, where we learned how the people in Eswatini had lived in the earlier days. They also made a performance with some traditional dances and songs, it was a beautiful show. Our first night in Eswatini we then spent just next to the cultural village at the “Legends Backpacker”, where Tom had already stayed on his previous trip through Africa; however, this time, he wasn’t sleeping in the dorm but in our Defender :)
The next morning, we headed towards Sibebe Rock, a granite mountain in Eswatini. It is the second largest monolith in the world after the famous Uluru in Australia. Of course, we wanted to visit this place, and it was a very cool trip. On top of the enormous rock, there is a lodge. You can drive up there; the street was bumpy but not a problem for the Landcruiser of Barbara and Urs and our Defender. When we arrived at the lodge, we were amazed; it was very nice! It had a huge pool, a restaurant, a zip line, a nice bar and of course a very nice view; apparently, a new investor was putting some money into it, so everything was still quite new. We parked our cars and hiked a short trail about 30 minutes to the highest point of Sibebe Rock and took some pictures; when we returned to the car, it was already noon, and we decided to stop at the Ramblas restaurant in Mbabane, Eswatini’s capital, with a population of only 95’000. The restaurant was described to be the best in town; so we wanted to try it. It was nice, but I’m not sure if I would drive the extra mile for it, though ;)
Our next planned stop was the glass factory, another tourist attraction and cool place where we could see the workers making some beautiful glass art. The day went by quickly, and we did not have time to visit the oldest mine in the world, which is close to the factory. We, therefore, drove to Hawane Lodge to spend the night. It was a beautiful place with a very friendly owner who was originally from Uganda. He was very interested in our travels through Africa, so he joined us at the campsite and we had a lovely night around the fire.
The following day, we drove back to the mine. Especially Tom was very interested in visiting this place. We had a very friendly guide who showed us around; a part of the mine is still operating and, therefore, strictly secured, but the rest is open to the public.
From there, we drove to the Phophonye Waterfall, where we went on a short hike down to the waterfall and enjoyed lunch in the Phophonyane Falls Ecolodge’s beautiful garden. We then continued to Mbulezi National Park, where we spent one night. The road was quite wet from the rain, and we didn’t see many animals on our way to the camp. The campsite was very basic. The following day, we decided to drive straight to Hlane National Park, where we were more lucky and got to see many rhinos. We enjoyed watching them and then continued to our last stop in Eswatini - Mabuda Farm, a campsite that had been recommended to us by other travelers
At Mabuda Farm, we planned to spend a few nights and relax, after the quite busy program of the past few days. It can get exhausting and overwhelming to visit so many new places. The campsite was indeed lovely, unfortunately, we were not so lucky with the weather. Everything was wet because it had been raining quite a bit. On the bright side, they had a great coffee shop where they sold their self-grown coffee; of course, Tom and I enjoyed this place a lot. Still, after two nights, Barbara, Urs, Tom, and I decided to continue because we all had some things to do. Barbara and Urs had to drive to Richard’s Bay to receive their new Carnet de Passage, which had been sent there from Switzerland. Tom and I also wanted to get across the border to South Africa because I had some catching up to do with blog writing and the Internet in Eswatini was rather slow. Furthermore, Christian, a friend of Tom from Switzerland, called us to let us know that he was in Cape Town with another friend of his, Fabio. We told them, that we were already further east, quite a stretch away from them. The two spontaniously decided to fly to Durban, Fabio’s parents knew the owners of a private game reserve called Sensiri Plains, very close to where we were staying. They didn’t have any bookings for the next couple of days, so they invited us to spend some days there! That’s how quickly we changed our plans and instead of driving to the Hluhluwe National Park to go on some self-driving safaris, we drove to Sensiri Plains to meet Christian and Fabio and enjoy some days together.
The lodge was beautiful, we had amazing game drives every morning and also in the late afternoons together with Tim, the manager of the lodge, who is an amazing safari guide. Suzette, his wife, in the meantime spoiled us with amazing food; we were back in feasting mode ;) The rest of the time we enjoyed the beautiful lodge we had all to ourselves. The weather was hot and we mostly just sat in the pool with a glass of Suzette’s tasty Sangria.One afternoon, Tim took us to the shooting range, where he shoots his guns. He let us each have a go, definitely a first for me to shoot a pistol, I also missed the targets terribly bad, not a natural talent here ;) Tom on the other hand, did a great job!
It also turned, that Tim and Suzette were camping enthusiasts. They had already planned a short holiday in Kosi Bay for a few days after we left the Lodge. Tom and I had also planned to go there with Barbara and Urs. So after our short retreat at Sensiri Plains Lodge and catching up with the visitory from home, we first drove to Sodwana, to meet up with Barbara and Urs. The landscape and beach in Sodwana is absolutely beautiful; we explored it the next morning on foot and had the whole beach to ourselves.
Then, we continued to Kosi Bay a few kilometers further north, where we met Tim and Suzette again at the Casitas campsite, where we spent two amazing days altogether. We went on a boat trip on the three lakes and of course, the legendary braais couldn’t be missed every night together with some bottles of wine. It was a perfect ending to our time in South Africa. After four months in this beautiful country, it was time for us to leave it behind and explore another new place - Mozambique.
