February 2006... Week 1

Week 1

Swaziland

When your a kid certain names stick in your head and conjure up exotic images, for both Sue and I Swaziland was such a place. We knew very little about the place except it was ruled by an absolute monarchy and was very green and mountainous, an African Switzerland was one description we had read.

The journey started well but an hour after leaving Joburg we hit  a heavy storm with full blown thunder and lightning which lasted for the next hour. An hour later we hit yet another storm which stayed with us to the border, by now we were steadily climbing  so at times you felt you could almost touch the clouds. We got through the border in just over an hour and headed for Mbabane the capital, then we saw a road sign which read "High Crime Area Do Not Stop" - such was our introduction to Swaziland!

We were heading for a game park called Mlilwane, we hadn't  booked so we were hoping we could just pitch up. It was 7pm when we reached the gate and it was dark, we passed what we thought was a Maui campervan car park with at least 30 identical Maui vehicles on it and headed for the reception were we asked for the camp site. The guy there said we passed it on the way in and offered to come back to show us the way. To our dismay he took us straight back to the campervan car park, it seems the 5th Panzer Division was in town and touring Swaziland en masse, in fact we were the only ones actually under canvass. 

As there was such a high number of tourists the camp had laid on a traditional Swazi dance evening so everyone was at the restaurant enjoying the show. After putting up the roof tent we went over to join them hoping mainly to get something to eat. Considering the performers where made up from the camp staff and therefore not professionals the show itself was quite entertaining. The highlight being when the dancers picked up an oil drum with their teeth and then got a German tourist to try it, unfortunately the batteries on our snappy camera were so low we missed the bit were his false teeth flew out!

The next morning began cloudy but at least the campervans had headed off to pastures new and we were left in blissful isolation on the camp site.

At Mlilwane you can either camp or stay in traditional Swazi Beehive huts made out of reeds. These are peculiar to Swaziland and are a very attractive dome shape but are also very dark inside as they have no windows and the doorway is only about three foot high so you have to crouch to get inside.

Mlilwane is a small but very nice park, not because it has lots of game but because you are able to do self guided walks and what game there is, is very relaxed so you can have some close encounters with animals who normally shy away when your on foot. Some, like the warthog and antelope even wander in and out of the camp at their leisure so at times it felt like your in a Disney cartoon.

We decided to walk to the Bushman Cave where there was supposed to be some ancient rock paintings. It's a good three hour walk from the camp and for the first hour we were in lush bush criss crossing streams and water hazards resulting from the heavy rains. We came out onto the open plains and by now the day had become very hot. For two hours we hadn't seen a soul, just us and the game, then we came across a young couple from Israel who had turned back before reaching the cave as she was feeling unwell and they had nearly used up all their water - not a good omen we thought!

We continued to climb, on a couple of occasions having to negotiate our way over stiles, not easy given they were about 10 foot high, one side was near vertical and we were carrying  rucksacks, cameras, water etc.

Finally we reached the cave only to find we had one more ladder to climb and a rickety looking one at that. Sue wasn't too keen but by now I was determined to see the rock paintings come what may!  The cave itself was quite atmospheric, you can camp there overnight if you wish, but sadly the rock painting have all but faded however  the journey there and back made it all worthwhile.

Our next stop was to be Mkhaya, a private game sanctuary in the centre of Swaziland renowned for its work in Rhino conservation.

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