Swaziland Continued

Before heading off to Mkhaya we needed to go back into Mbabane to try and sort out our VAT re-claim. This was VAT that we had paid in South Africa on the more expensive items for the Landy and the camping gear. It came to a significant amount so we were keen to try and get this back if we could.

We had tried unsuccessfully to claim this back at the border but the process is really geared up to tourists who fly out, not to people like ourselves leaving by land borders. The situation was further complicated by the fact we would not be back in the UK for sometime so any cheque could expire before we were able to process it. Also as far as we knew the repayment would be in Rand so we would need to sort out the currency conversion with our bank personally.

In theory you present your invoices to customs and show them the goods to prove they are genuinely leaving the country. If all goes well they stamp the invoices, claim form/s and send them off to Joburg where you hope a refund cheque will eventually be sent to your home address. It sounds straightforward but like anything here it depends on who you deal with as to whether or not you actually get anything.

At the border we went through the whole rigmarole with the invoices and the customs officer came to inspect the goods. After a somewhat surreal debate about what constituted capital expenditure versus operating costs he stamped our form, so far so good. We'd heard you could ask for the money to be paid directly into your bank so back at the counter we thought we would push our luck and asked for this. Unfortunately this brought the system to a grinding halt and they told us to visit their office in Mbabane instead.

At the office we found two very disinterested ladies sitting at their desks, we explained our situation and one asked to see our main invoice from Cape Town. On seeing it she threw it back and said it wasn't correct, it turned out it didn't have the words Tax Invoice across the top, just invoice so even though it showed the VAT amount and had a supplier number and address it was rejected for missing the word Tax - bugger we should have taken our chances at the border! We would have to get a new invoice from Cape Town and try again when we crossed the next border... more on this later.

Mkhaya lies in the heart of Swaziland and is owned and managed by the Reilly family, descendents of one of the early white pioneers who came to Swaziland in the 1800's.

It has big game, elephant, hippo etc (but no lion), however its the opportunity to see Rhino (both the Black and White) that brings people in. Mkhaya won't say how many Rhino they have as they don't want to encourage poaching, we saw quite a few White Rhino while we were there although no Black Rhino as these are much more elusive (and dangerous).

Being a private reserve camping is not an option, instead you  pay quite a bit to stay in very nice Rondavels which unusually are open on all sides with just a mosquito net as protection against the elements.

We were told roughly where to turn off the main road for the camp and that someone would meet us there to show us the way but no specific time was mentioned. On the way we took a detour to visit the Swazi candle showrooms so it was almost 4.30pm when we reached the turning. To our surprise we were greeted by a load of locals and 4 tourists sitting in an open top game viewing vehicle.

It turned out they had been waiting since 4pm for us to arrive so we were met with some stern looks. It transpired the other guests only had saloon cars and couldn't cross the river so they were having to leave their cars in the local village and take all their stuff in the game vehicle - we on the other hand being in a big butch Landy could smugly follow the park vehicle to the reserve.

We set off cross country and crossed what was mostly a dry river bed and then down sandy tracks till we eventually came to a locked gate and a run down house with outbuilding etc, surely this was not the lodge?

At this point the local guides informed us that this was as far as we were allowed to drive and we must now leave Rupert and take what we needed in another game viewing vehicle. This came as a complete surprise as we had been led to believe we could drive all the way to the camp.

Rupert is effectively our home for a year and our stuff is not nicely packed in one convenient bag but like any home strewn all over the place, in particular Sue's clothes are in a couple of big wolf boxes and having left our soft bags at Carols we didn't have anything suitable to decant them into. Therefore, we were not at all happy with this sudden development and explained that it would take sometime to gather all our gear together and could we not drive to the camp as the vehicle could easily make it?  

After a debate and much looking in the vehicle they went back to the house to check if we could take Rupert. By this time we felt really bad for the other guests who were waiting patently while the debate went on. They were weekenders and had their stuff neatly packed into overnight bags not like us whose sole possessions in the world are systematically stored in one vehicle.

Eventually a white guy came out the house and introduced himself as Mick, after listening to our plight he explained the rules prohibited anyone driving their own vehicle into the reserve and he couldn't relax this but he could loan us an overnight bag to put Sue's clothes in if we needed it!

There was no explanation as to why we hadn't been warned about this when we booked and if it had been earlier in the day we would have told him to stick the booking where the Rhino horn won't shine but by now it was almost 6pm so we had little choice but to scrabble about in the vehicle grumbling all the time like Mutley out of Dick Dastardly.

Another rule we suddenly found out was you couldn't bring food or drink into the reserve, the justification being there were wild animals about and it could attract them to your Rondavel, but of course we could get anything we needed at the open sided bar - for a hefty mark up of course!

The other guests had taken off for their game drive to the lodge and we eventually followed, with a sundry assortment of carrier bags, Mick's soft bag and a big cool bag rattling with bottles of beer, gin and Hunters Dry in tow - at least this was one rule we would relax for them!

Our driver guide was called Toolane, a jovial character whose stock phrases every time we saw a Rhino were "here is a white rhino and her baby" & "the black Rhino is a  browser and the white Rhino is a grazer". He really rolled his r's which was quite comical until you heard each phrase for the 100th time.

Mkhaya camp is beautifully set out amongst tall trees and thick bush and it has to be said our Rondavel was lovely, open on all sides with a big double bed in the centre of the room and with wild Nyala antelope wandering about in the tall grass outside.

It was really nice after the rigours of self camping to be pampered for a while and after the bad start we started to really enjoy our short stay here. After a lovely dinner taken Al Fresco under the trees and a good nights sleep we were awoken the next morning at 5.30am with a cup of tea brought to the Rondavel and then went out for a game drive, not a huge amount of game but we did see Elephant, Hippo and Rhino together which sadly is hard to do these days. The Rhino encounters were especially good and we came across at least six mothers each with a single calf during the drive.

Mkhaya has two set departure times when they take people back to their cars. The first is at 10am and the other at 4pm, we discovered the other people were leaving after breakfast whereas we had paid to stay on until 4pm so after breakfast we went back out for a game walk with Toolane. The camp is managed by a lovely South African girl called Taflin who was able to give us some good information on Mozambique and the Kruger national park - our next destination after Swaziland. 

The highlight of our stay however occurred whilst we were  having lunch. We were chatting to Taflin about various trip options when one of the waitresses noticed a bird in one of the trees above our heads. It was a Narina Trogon, a very difficult bird to see in Africa and something which serious birders can spend years searching for. We had only seen it in books and thought it improbable we would ever get to see one in the flesh yet here was a pair!  Getting a decent photo is not easy as the bird tends to sit with its back to the observer and even though it is brightly coloured it blends in well with its surroundings, but we were just happy to get what we could. Its seemed the male is seen reasonably often at Mkhaya but this was the first time they had also seen the female so it was worth going there just for this.

After all the excitement there was just time to have a shower, pack and leave for 'Mick's place' where we had left Rupert. It turned out 'Mick' is one of the powerful Reilly clan so it was probably just as well we hadn't told him where to stick the Rhino horn! 

By 4.30pm we are re-united with Rupert and en route to Hlane the Royal Game Park in the North of Swaziland.

next                                                            back