Weekend getaway to Swaziland
Trip Start
Jul 03, 2010
1
4
Trip End
Aug 01, 2010
Malkerns, Swaziland
Friday, July 9, 2010
We had lunch at Mundo's, which is highly recommendable. Great pasta and pizza with outdoor seating in a little park with a playground.
Then: the 4 hour drive to Malkerns Valley. The drive was scenic - great views, uhs and ahs. Having just been to Krüger, we were trained in animal spotting, ans saw both giraffes, ostriches and impalas when driving through the national park of Hlane. Unfortunately for the park and the animals, the motorway goes through the park, which does give way for some great signs.
Crossing the boarder was easy - maybe because we were the only ones passing through - but don't forget to pick up a copy of their free weekly newspaper with info on accommodation, restaurants and events in Swaziland. We found it lying around most places, and it holds a semi-decent map in the center pages, with some of the well known destinations plotted in. It's not perfect but it'll do for the main roads.
We stocked on gin and tonics, wine opener, wine, cups and other necessities at Manzini at a huge Shoprite. Impressive walls of bug repellent and other toxins. Beautiful cans of fish, fills the isles with colored patterns. Tried to find a leave in conditioner, and realized how an African in Denmark must feel in a similar situation: looking over all the products and not seeing one single product suitable for her hair. Everything here was of course for afros and not long wavy hair.
Just after sunset we arrived at our accommodation, Willows Lodge. The rooms were nice and different styled, so ask to see the different rooms, if you can. Ours had a small indoor jacuzzi lowered in to the floor and an out door shower for example, while our friends had a balcony with scenic views over the valley and mountains. The place itself was a bit dead for a winter weekend compared to the lively Mandela's just up the road, where we had a great meal Friday night. Having stuffed ourselves with wonderful food, we rolled home and collapsed in our enormous beds.
Breakfast was had in the restaurants little terrace - morning sun, lemon juice and fresh mountain air overlooking the fields... great way to start the day.
We'd looked over Lonely Planets recommendations and decided to go hiking inMalolotja Natural Reserve. We drove to one of the trails, and decided to try and find some waterfalls that we'd heard was quite a sight. Looking over the landscape, we could recognize the bubbly hills from a postcard at the Tourist Information at Mandela's, but instead of benig covered in plush green, the hills were pale from months of winter. Still a great sight, but I can image that summer adds that extra touch of color that can take your breath away - the heath will of course, do the same. We could feel the sun burning in July, I can imagine it would be even more strenuous with a temperature over 30. Walking over hill top after hill top I was once more glad I brought along my hiking boots. It's highly recommendable for hiking in that terrain since the slopes can be quite steep.
Walking back to our car we saw monkeys running a few miles in front of us. Impalas greeted us when we entered the park, but a part from that, the park seemed a bit deserted - again I credit the winter for the that.
Tired, we decided to let the Lonely Planet Southern Africa guide us to a place of supposedly great African Cuisine. Unfortunately it turned out to be a pub with food from all over the world - sushi, steak, stew you name it - except from Africa. Too tired to go anywhere else, we ate with Rugby in the background, and drove home as quickly as possible.
Next up was beers, football and sleep at our friends chalet: we all had a beer, the girls collapsed in the bed while the boys watched Uruguay get beaten by Germany 2-3.
Sunday ended up being as adventures as Saturday. We managed to visit a national parks, a few back yards while getting lost using the GPS, get found by the GPS, get stuck behind cattle and have a cold coke in the sunshine.
First up was Mlilwayne Wildlife Sanctuary. With the memories of Krüger still fresh in our minds, the gates of Mlilwayne seemed like a joke - instead of grandiose gates there was a small welcoming sign. Much more family run and down to earth, much-much smaller in scale. Their attitude towards the animals was also completely different. While signs everywhere in Krüger reminded you that you were not allowed to touch or feed the animals, no one seemed to care in Mlilwayne. It was hard to keep the notion of being among wildlife intact, when you could see Russians petting Kudu's and ground hogs walking around the rest area in one of the parks camps. Mlilwayne did have a well situated restaurant, where you could eat you impala steak while looking at a family of hippo's, two crocodiles and loads of birds up close. Impressive.
We said goodbye to Swaziland while the sun set behind the mountains, and the four of us tried to remember awful songs from the nineties. Sushi and beers in Maputo accompanied the world cup finals, where the girls once more collapsed while the boys watched Spain take the gold.
