Kingdom of Swaziland

September 20, 2013

One of the things I've really enjoyed about being in South Africa (and writing this blog!) is expanding my (meager) knowledge of African history and politics. Case in point: while I knew that the Kingdom of Swaziland is a monarchy, I didn't understand how it is different from say, the United Kingdom. And alas, Wikipedia came to the rescue: the difference is that Swaziland is an absolute monarchy, whereas the U.K. is a constitutional monarchy. What this means is that Swaziland is one of only a handful of countries left in the world where the king has unconditional political power. I was asking M what this meant in real terms when we were in Swazi, and he said that if the king wanted to make me marry him, he could. Or, if he wanted to make all tourists hand over all of their assets to him, he could do that too. Awesome. Thanks for the lesson on political power, M...

While we did not meet King Mswati III during our stay, we did see his mug proudly displayed all over the country: his photo was reverently displayed behind every reception desk and above every bar, and sarongs with his portrait on them hung from clotheslines and were wrapped around local ladies galore.

We spent an extra-long weekend exploring the Kingdom that is Swaziland...

The Ezulwini Valley is known for its local craft shops; given that it poured rain all day on our first day in Swazi, I declared it a shopping day.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Swaziland was to visit Mkhaya Game Reserve; while it isn't home to all of the big 5 (there are no lions), it is known for its natural beauty, and for the number of rhinos that thrive here. 

Antelopes! Clockwise from top left: common waterbuck (male); white blue wildebeest (the white fur is due to a recessive gene: we were told this is very rare, and judging by the fact that we've never seen or heard of this before, I'm tempted to believe it's true); nyalas (female).

Male Nyala: perhaps he's looking for the lady nyalas at the watering hole in the previous photo?

I think these two were posing for me: this turned out to be one of my favourite buffalo shots to date!

White rhino spotting on our first game drive through the gorgeous landscapes of Mkhaya.

While we did not see any black rhinos this trip, we did see loads of white rhino. Mkhaya actually does not publish the number of rhinos living in the park as they are undergoing significant conservation efforts and want to protect the rhinos as much as possible from poachers.

Rhino road block.

Walking safari: We spent some time hiking through the plains, and got up close and personal with a few giraffes and a pair of rhinos. While we've seen both of these from the comfort of a 4x4, it provided a new perspective to be on the ground without a giant vehicle between us.

Rhino daycare at the watering hole: each of these pairs includes a mother and her young.

Hello horn.

It took a couple of days for the sky to clear after the rain; I love the dramatic clouds this created. I took this shot en-route from Mkhaya to Piggs Peak.

We spent our last night in Swazi at an eco reserve on the edge of the Phophonyane Falls in the north-western part of the country. We went for a hike to the falls followed by a swim in a natural pool fed directly from the falls. We loved this place.

The view, the falls, and the blossoming jacaranda trees. 

Before heading back to South Africa, we paid a visit to the teeny-tiny settlement of Bulembu. Before leaving for Swazi a friend at work suggested we include it in our itinerary, and arranged for someone to meet us there and explain the history of the town and the efforts being made to revitalize it through a community tourism project. Ironically, the children's choir from Bulembu had left the day before for a three-week trip to Alberta, Canada!

The road from the Bulembu border crossing through to Barbeton, South Africa provided stunning views of the surrounding mountain ranges for our drive home.