DESTINATIONS ESWATINI AFRICA
ABOVE: Rhinos in Mkhaya Game Reserve
LEFT: Rondavel hut at Ndlovu Camp, Hlane Royal National Park
by a tower of giraffes, their spindly necks poking above the trees. One stared beneath fluttery eyelashes, its mouth grinding from side to side as it chewed.
SAMPLE PRODUCT
South African Airways flies daily from Heathrow to Johannesburg on its new A330-300, from £781 return.
flysaa.com
Explore has an eight-day package in Eswatini from £1,585, including flights from London (£995 without) and departing April toOctober.
explore.co.uk
Operators including
Cox & Kings and Tucan Travel also offer trips here.
◗ CULTURE CURIOUS Beyond safari, suggest clients tour the factory at Ngwenya Glass and browse waxy, wildlife-shaped souvenirs at Swazi Candles. In Lobamba, the National Museum and King Sobhuza II Memorial Park cast light on the country’s fascinating and, at times, controversial history and leadership. Eswatini is an absolute monarchy, and people line the streets of the capital Mbabane for royal celebrations. Each autumn, unmarried girls perform a ‘reed dance’ in homage to the queen mother, and the king often selects a wife following the ceremony. Several festivals, including All Out Africa and Bushfire, draw crowds to
Where next?
Johannesburg Most visitors fly to Joburg from the UK before driving the three and a half hours to Eswatini, so it’s an easy add- on. The cosmopolitan city is a cultural hub thanks to the Apartheid Museum, Cradle of Humankind – a World Heritage Site scattered with caves and primitive fossils –
Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Square.
Kruger National Park South Africa’s vast safari park is less than an hour’s drive from the northern tip of Eswatini, making it a logical next stop for clients hungry for more safari. The park’s two million hectares are home to the big five, plus wild
dogs and chunky-trunked baobab trees.
Mozambique It’s a three-hour drive to the capital Maputo, a gateway to this enchanting country. Recommend Niassa Reserve, a vast wilderness with lions and elephants, or Quirimbas archipelago by dhow.
hear live music and watch leg-kicking ‘sibhaca’ dance routines. At the country’s official ‘50/50’
celebrations this April – held on King Mswati III’s 50th birthday, and looking ahead to the 50th anniversary of independence in September – the monarch announced that Swaziland would be changing its name to The Kingdom of Eswatini. Meaning ‘place of the Swazi people’, Eswatini was the country’s name before it was under a British protectorate, from 1902 to 1968. For travel information and more details on the transition, the official website,
thekingdomofeswatini.com, is a useful resource.
◗ UNUSUAL STAYS Accommodation comes in all shapes and sizes. At Phophonyane Falls Ecolodge, guests can sleep in dome- shaped beehive huts perched above a forested valley and waterfall. Summerfield Botanical Gardens and
Resort has luxury lodges surrounded by bright blooms. Recommend a horseback safari at
Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, riding through grassy plains to see zebras, warthogs and antelopes. Hlane Royal National Park is another great-value option, with rustic accommodation in rondavels (circular huts with thatched roofs) from around £20 per night. I joined a sunset safari, spotting more white rhinos, giraffes and hippos. A playful pride of lions tumbled and tussled in the grass a few metres away. Elephants proved oddly elusive, until a pair veered in front of our jeep, providing a final highlight as the sky deepened to an inky navy blue. After a buffet dinner on a terrace
overlooking a waterhole, I headed back to my hut. Taupe eland antelopes grazed just outside the door. And, in the near distance, I could hear the first notes of that bush orchestra, tuning up for its nightly performance.
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travelweekly.co.uk 25 October 2018
PICTURES: SWAZILAND TOURISM AUTHORITY; SHUTTERSTOCK
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