Cape town, for a record fourth time!

Cape Town, from top of Table Mountain

And here I am, again at Cape Town! I don’t visit the same places too often. The only other city I have visited a lot is Paris, but of the 6 times, 3 times I had gone for work and stayed back. So Cape Town leads the pack 😁. As I said in the last blog too, Cape Town never ceases to amaze me. This time around, I saw another very different side of the city as I went there with my South African colleagues. And it felt so very new and exotic again...

We spent a weekend in Cape Town where we did not plan anything beforehand at all. And the one thing we had planned got cancelled 😂. Our itinerary was as follows:

• Friday evening: Fly from Joburg to CT, dinner at Beefcakes and then Long Street 
• Saturday: Laze around Camps Bay, lunch at Blues, trek up Lion's Head and dinner at Cape Addis 
• Sunday: Drive to Stellenbosch and lunch at Jordan

Friday evening:

We flew to CT from Joburg on a Friday evening after work. At the start of the trip, two of us had a bit of an issue when our flight did not let us board the flight without our passports! We had assumed that for domestic flights, we did not need to carry passports but the check-in attendent did not agree! We showed them copies of our passports, UK driving licenses and so on. But they just refused to let us on (even though one of our colleagues got onto South African airlines flight at the same time without a passport!!). Also it was a bit ironic that our British airways flight refused to accept the UK license as ID proof 😂!

But this was South Africa 😜, so we pushed a bit and finally they agreed on the condition that flying back, we would have to get our passport copies attested by the police before we board the flight. I wondered why the police would attest our passports if we don’t have the originals with us but anyways, it was not the time to think and we said yes to their conditions. We had to go through the same questioning at the departure gate but somehow they let us off more quickly and we were off on the plane to Cape Town.

Colours of the sky, the moon and
the mountains

The views from the flight were spectacular, with loads of empty green landscapes and mountains down there. And while landing, we saw the full moon at eye level with the mountains in the background, a very short but absolutely breathtaking view. Once at the airport, we spent some time finding the police to attest our passports which they refused to. But one of them agreed to attest our driving licenses. Anyways, after a bit of running around, they did that and we hoped that was enough for our flight on Sunday.

It turned out that this was the weekend of an international cycling event in CT - the Cape Town Cycle Tour - which meant that everything there was very busy. After checking in to the Westinn hotel, we went for dinner to Beefcakes. It is a special kind of dinner place famous for its awesome burgers but also for its drag shows. We were all kind of sceptical about going there but one of our team members convinced us all. And it was so much fun! Given all the visa running around, we only caught the fag end of the show but it was very entertaining. There were a couple of drag queens who danced on the stage and their performances were a lot of fun. And I think after that show, "single ladies" has become a favourite song of mine 😊.

Street art on Long Street

After dinner, we went to Long Street - the party area of CT. It was a nice walking area with lots of restaurants and an active night life. We walked around a bit, the whole area felt full of students and tourists. People were out and walking the streets which isn’t that common in SA:). And lot of the buildings felt quite old. They all had outside terraces to sit and enjoy the sights of the street.

We first went to Waiting Room which was quite loud and crowded. It had an outside terrace looking towards the main street. And then a rooftop area, from where you can see the mountains in the background, the stars above and the lights on Signal Hill. The place felt quite local and rustic. We did not stay there long though. We walked a bit and then went to Ubuntu, where we sat on the outside terrace for some time. As we had taken a flight after a full day of work, we soon felt tired and went back to our hotel quite soon.

Saturday:

For the next day, we had booked paragliding for the morning. But there was so much wind that it got cancelled. So we all had a lazy start to the day. We had a longish breakfast at the breakfast lounge in Westinn which has beautiful views of the city, with the mountains behind the city high-rises. After trying to unsuccessfully get into the spa as it was fully booked, we all went to Camps Bay for the afternoon. It was about 20 minutes drive and for the first time I noticed that there were lot of colonial style British buildings in town.

Camps Bay beach

Camps Bay is a very stunning beach area. It had a beach with some rocks and crystal blue water. And the background was grand holiday houses perched on the hills. It was a sunny day and made the afternoon very enjoyable. Everywhere around were people chilling and hanging out lazily. We spent some time on the beach and a bit in the water. It was not too cold that day, so the water felt ok but it wasn’t really warm for swimming. As the sun got too hot, we moved to the promenade for lunch at Blues. The seafood there was yum and felt even better given the spectacular views of the beach from their terrace.

Table Mountain top

After lunch, one of the guys went up Table Mountain using the cable car. He was quite lucky that it was clear that day as all my previous trips had met with clouds on the top. The view from the peak was spectacular - across the city, as well of the straight mountain top.

The treacherous climb

And then at around 4 or so, we started trekking up Lion's Head. It was a bit late but there were loads of people starting the trek, so we were not concerned. Also, we had expected it to be a walk in the park but as we started walking up, we realised it was quite a treacherous climb up! You first walk around one side of the hill, then the other, and after that, you literally have to go up to the peak!

The climb up

There were parts of the trek where you had to hold onto railings on the rocks or step onto small steps made into the rocks and pull yourself up or walk on very narrow rock ledges while avoiding a fall! But given so many people going up, it felt safer than I think it actually was.

Camps Bay from the top

The views once we made it to the top were stunning - of the city in the bowl, with clouds tiptoeing over table mountain and the sky turning pink as it was time for sunset. On the other edge, you could see the waves lashing on the beach of Camps Bay. And Robben Island far away where Nelson Mandela was kept in prison for 27 years! We also sat on a rock on the edge, literally feeling that we were at the edge of the world:). We stared at the sunset and the beautiful colours of the sky for some time.

Sunset from Lion's Head

View of the Town

We would have liked to spend more time on the top but it had got quite late by the time we were there, so we started walking down very soon. Though people were still climbing up, running all the way, with torches on their head!! Talk about being brave and adventurous! We reached down the trail safe and sound, using our phone flashlight for the last half an hour or so.

After patting ourselves on the back, We went back to Long Street again for Ethiopian dinner at Cape Addis. The food was yum and quite close to Indian food I would say. After that, we again walked around a bit in the area. It was a beautiful night with a full moon and beautiful colours in the horizon. We went to Orphanage Club and hungout there for some time. I left soon enough but some of the people continued partying late and ran into Russel Peters!! He was in CT for the cycle race and DJing at the club they went to. What a miss for me 😏.

Sunday:

Entrance to Jordan

The next day, the cycle race got cancelled in the morning, again because of the wind! So lot of people suddenly had the day free to do something new. We tried calling a couple of places in Stellenbosch for lunch but all of them were already booked. We thought we would try anyways, so we turned up at Jordan winery, and all our begging and pleading did not get us a table at its restaurant 😟. But they gave us a seat at their bakery where they only had cheese and meat platters to offer. We thought why not have those as starters and then go to another place for lunch.

View from Jordan winery

But it was so tasty that we ditched our lunch plans after that and continued eating the cheese and chocolates for lunch. I realised that a good variety of cheese can be a good meal too. The wineyard is quite picturesque too, with a green grass garden and a blue pond in front, and then vineyards till afar. And the sun was out in all its glory that day, I was really not missing London at that time 😜. We all felt like sleeping in the garden too for some time, but we kept eating for so long that we never got the time to do that.

After the sunny and unhealthy lunch, we were off to the airport, to take off for Joburg. While getting back, no one asked to see our passports, so that was one weight off our backs!! It was tough to leave to go back to Joburg, and I am sure I will be back in Cape again for a new and different adventure soon...

Accomodation

We stayed at the Westinn hotel which was quite central and well located. It had a beautiful breakfast lounge on a high floor, with a view of the city and some of the mountains around. I would suggest though that anyone visiting CT should stay slightly outside town, next to the sea. Maybe some holiday homes on airbnb may be better and more fun options.

Food

All the places we ate at were amazing. Beefcakes' burgers were amazing. And the entertainment fantabulous! Blues had tasty seafood, right across Camps Bay. Cape Addis on Long street offered tasty Ethiopian. And the views and cheeses of Jordan were very enjoyable. In fact, you can even stay at Jordan, as at many of the other vineyards in the area.

Wildlife safaris in Kruger, again

I have become quite fond of wildlife safaris since my trip to Serengiti in 2009. And having been on a safari once has made it difficult for me to see animals anymore in captivity in zoos. They deserve to be in the wild - where they can roam around as kings and can be themselves (yes, every animal however small, walks around in its natural environment as if it owns the place). After experiencing such scenes, its tough to go back to the constrained cages of zoos and be able to enjoy them.

In South Africa, there are many game parks - some big and some small, some private and some government owned. The private ones are very very expensive, so I didn't go to any of them (they generally cost around $400 per night or more). I went to Kruger once with my parents last year. But I was itching to go there again. Kruger is about 4-9 hours drive from Joburg depending on which part of the park you drive to. The north is supposed to be more remote and better for viewings given less crowds and the south is more convenient and touristy. Anyways given the long drive, both my visits to Kruger were to the south, though different parts of the park.

This time I went to the Crocodile Bridge area while staying in Marloth Park outside Kruger. We drove on Friday night from Joburg, taking the same route as always on N4. The overall drive was good except one part where we did not follow google maps to the Schoemans Kloof valley and took the main highway to Marloth Park. It turned out to be a one way road and we got stuck behind long trolleys for very long. And the trucks on the way were driving much worse than usual too. So the 4 hour journey turned out to be much longer than expected, almost 6 hours!

I don’t know why but there was a lot of police on the way also that day, much more than we had ever seen before. And it felt that there were very few good garages on the way to stop for a bite. So we kept looking but when we did not find any, we stopped in Nelspruit city for dinner, in the mall at Emnotweni Casino Hotel (part of the Sun group). All malls across the world have become the same now. So we saw the usual retail shops in the mall and went to Nando’s for dinner.

We had booked an airbnb in Marloth Park, which is a walled estate with huge holiday houses for the rich, sharing its boundary with the park. We reached quite late and crashed soon enough. But even in the short drive inside to our house, we spotted a herd of impalas, two kudus and an owl, already getting us excited for the next day! It felt nice to live in a house rather than a typical hotel. It was also a different experience living in the wild, with sounds of animals outside giving company. But the upside was the fresh air, the clear starry skies and the amazing feeling of waking up amid the wildness outside.

The gates for entering the park for morning safari open at 5:30 am. And even though we had reached late the last night, we got up early in the morning ready for the safaris at 6 am. We started driving towards the Crocodile Bridge gate, but before we got to the gate, we already started spotting wildlife within Marloth Park and got very delayed! Since Marloth Park is right next to the park, a lot of animals just cross across and can be spotted roaming around inside the estate.

Giraffe herds in Marloth Park

We saw kudus and giraffes running across the road avoiding cars. There was one huge group of 7-8 giraffes with 4 babies crossing the road - I have never seen such a big group together. And then there was a mongoose. These spottings delayed us so much that we got to the gate only by 7:30 am which may already have been too late! The drive towards the gate was fascinating by itself, especially in the morning just when the sun was rising. There were mountains far off playing games with the sunrays, and banana and sugarcane plantations stretching till those mountains. It was almost magical, being so close to nature so beautiful. By that time we were all very excited for the day lying ahead inside Kruger.

Once inside, we almost spent 12 hours on safari. The typical day for most people involves 2-3 hours safari in the morning and another 2-3 hours in the evening. It's especially easier to do that if you stay within the park. But since we were staying outside, we decided to stay in and drive the whole day 😇. Though honestly, we had tried that earlier also and did so again, but it doesn’t help much. The major spottings always happen in early morning or during sunset time as that is when animals leave their resting places to find food. Plus its too hot in the middle of the day anyways. But it was worth a try still.

Kruger panorama

We had a long day, driving from Crocodile Bridge gate to Lower Sabie Restcamp to Tshowane to Skukuza and then back out from Malelane gate. We drove through main roads and the off-roads. The whole area was a lot greener than my last visit in October last year, when it was all dry and brown. Now it was all green everywhere, the trees as well as the grass cover. We drove on mud roads and it was a lot better than my last visit - there was less dust in the air. And same as last time, there was no data signal inside the park, so its always good to carry a map with you. We were able to catch wifi along the edge of the park, but would lose signal as soon as we started driving inside.

Warthogs

We of course spotted the usual animals during the day - huge herds of impalas lazily crossing the road. There was one herd which kept crossing for 30 minutes, it must have had at least 200 in the herd! We spotted many warthogs families running around madly, with the little ones obediently following their parents. Many many giraffes eating tree leaves with a grace not seen in any other animal. And lot of individual elephants eating at the side of the roads.

Wild buffalo herd

We also spotted a huge buffalo herd across the road next to the river. I saw a lot more wildebeest and zebras than my last trip where we had barely seen a couple. We saw some hippos in the water, but none outside given how late we had started the safari 😔.

Vulture atop a treetop

In every trip to the bush, you end up seeing something different from all your previous ones. In the first half of the day, it was vultures - I saw lots of them sitting alone and observing miles around from right on the top of trees.


We had a lunch stop at Lower Sabie Restcamp when we got tired and the weather became too hot. It felt nice to sit under cool shade and eat something cool. We had lunch at Mugg and Beans, which was an open air restaurant just next to the river. And I could see some buffaloes, an elephant, a hippo and 3 baby giraffes very far off. It was a nice feeling to have my ice-cream with wild animals walking around 😁.

The camp felt like a nice place to stay, they had mud huts right next to the river where you can stay and observe the wild animals coming for a drink, right from the comfort of your room. These camps now also have maps where visitors can put markers to show where they recently spotted the big 5 or the other rare animals. I don’t know if they had them when I went there last time. But we found it so helpful this time. We checked out where cheetahs, lions and rhinos had been spotted and left soon on their trail.

Elephant crossing

The next stretch of our safari was relatively boring and we did not see anything out of the ordinary. We saw a herd of elephants who has recently wallowed in the mud and looked brown rather than grey. Guess they were also feeling too hot and preferred to be dirty with mud to beat that. And then we spotted many larger than usual groups of giraffes (even up to 8) with so many babies in their group.

Impalas huddled under the bushes

We saw 4 male kudus walking around together and they looked impressive from afar with their huge horns and confident gait. We went to one lookout point and two waterbodies. But all we saw were a few hippos and a crocodile in one of the waterbodies. And the usual impalas were sitting in large herds under small bushes in groups of 1-10 to avoid the heat.

Rowdy velvet monkeys

A bit bored, we made a quick stop at the Tshowane picnic area for a quick snack and break from the sun. And there for the first time I saw velvet monkeys. They should instead by called "rogue monkeys". There was a group of at least 10-12 of them and I must say they are the most active and rowdy monkeys I have ever seen! The entire time we were there, they were running around, jumping on the roof, fighting and so on. I don’t think they stopped for even a second the entire time. We had to be quite careful to avoid them stealing our food.

Lionesses

Our next stop was Skukuza Restcamp, again without spotting anything but after that (which was the typical evening safari time), our sightings again improved.It helped that we checked the sightings map at Skukuza. Our next sighting was the highpoint of this day - two lionesses sitting under a tree. We were there for about 20 minutes and witnessed some cool scenes. First, the lionesses just kept sleeping. Then they both got up, walked a couple of feet and slept again under a different tree, with ones head on the other’s body.

Then one impala started walking towards them, slowly, unaware. One of the lionesses woke up and started staring at it, intently and silently. The impala kept walking towards them and we were expecting a kill… But then a warthog sped out of nowhere towards the scene and shooed the impala away! By this time, the other lioness had also woken up.

The warthog and the lioness spotted each other, and there was a few seconds of a standoff between them (very brave of the warthog). It felt like he would stand his ground but then he ran away, as suddenly as he had appeared. The lionesses woken out of their sleep, walked around a bit and finally went back to sleep again, under the shade. It was very interesting to see this weird scene in the jungle. Am guessing it happens all the time, but for me, it was very very interesting. I am sure thats not the reason, but it almost felt like the warthog saved his friend, the impala from the lionesses!

Queen of the jungle, in all its majestic glory

By this time, it was time to leave. The park gates close at fixed times (6 pm nowadays) and if you do not reach the gate by then, apparently they don't let you out! So we started driving towards Malelane gate to get out by 6 pm. And then the sightings started delaying us, one by one. We first ran into a wild dog standing on the road. The cars in front of us scared him and he ran away very quickly, but I still remember the standing ears and the lean body, staring at the cars. It almost felt like a hyena to me, and also was the first time I had seen a wild dog so close.

Lazy rhino grazing

By this time, we had seen 3 of the big 5, but not the rhinoceros or the leopard. And then in the last half an hour before leaving the park, we kept running into rhinos after rhinos. First was a group of 3 rhinos far off behind grass and bushes and we kept waiting there the whole time for them to come out. Disappointed after wasting so much time unsuccessfully, we left and then ran into four rhinos lazily eating grass in the open along with a few elephants, zebras and wildebeests alongside. It was so late and getting dark that we had no time to photograph them and we left soon enough.

Rhino's ass

And then we saw another rhino next to the road showing us his ass. And then another one, even closer! By this time we were so late, we stopped stopping and had to drive above the speed limit of 40 kmph to get to the gate in time! We were still about 7 mins late and the guard let us go out with a warning, phew! But it would have been fun to see what one would do if you have to spend a night in the jungle not being able to get out 😆.

It was a bit of a drive to get back to Marloth Park along the highway as we had exited a different gate. But with a beautiful sunset behind us, it was a fun drive. We had dinner at Jabula restaurant within Marloth Park. The ambience was nice, a restaurant in a wooden bungalow in the middle of the wild. But the food there was quite average. Also there were loads of mosquitos there and for the first time in South Africa, I had to put mosquito repellant to avoid them.

Day 1 drive route:

Vultures drying themselves in the sun

We spent the second day also in safaris inside the park, again entering from the Crocodile Bridge gate. The day was a little less exciting though, because we started the safaris late and left the park by about 2 to drive back to Joburg. We did not have any major spottings this day. The day started with the usual giraffe herds running around on the road in Marloth Park, this time it was a group of 7. When we entered the park, we saw baboons on the river bridge running with their babies. And then vultures again, this time stretching their wings on the treetops after the rain last night and drying themselves in the sun.

Crocodile River

We drove along the river a bit but just missed a lion who had been spotted 5 mins before us. We saw him walking with his tail in the air and then lost him completely 😔. We saw two rhinos lazily move towards a road and then vanish under the bushes. Then a tortoise, walking slowly along the road, trying to run away from us. And a turtle (for the first time in the wild) in a small stream crossing the road, swimming furiously. We also for the first time spotted about 2-3 herds of impalas that day which were all male (the male has the horns, and generally there is one head male and a few baby males in any herd). I found that a bit weird.

Elephants too close for comfort!

We did run into a herd of elephants which was a bit of an adventure. They were crossing the road and there were multiple babies with them. While silently walking across, at one point the matriarch just turned and started moving towards us on the road! It was a tense few seconds where I stopped taking pictures and closed the windows. We were a bit scared to start the car to run away but thankfully she turned and went back to where she was walking. But those few seconds made me realise that everything said and done, in the jungle - anything can happen!

Hurt waterbuck

We stopped at Pretoriuskorp Restcamp for a quick sightings map check and then left soon enough. We saw a lone red hartebeest grazing on a hill. And on one road, we ran into a hurt waterbuck which could barely walk. He was standing in the middle of the road. We waited for it to slowly walk away, but I left thinking that it would definitely fall prey to predators by the end of the day 😔. We also saw a fish eagle perched on the top of a tree, near a water body - I have heard they are amazing hunters and quite rare to spot. Then we drove twice through an area where some other people had spotted a pride of lions with multiple cubs, playing and creating a scene, but we could not spot them 😖. So as I said, a very average day.

Moods of Kruger

We drove up a couple of mountains and saw beautiful landscapes, of cities nearby, the endless park and so on. We did not spot too many birds this time. The most common was a blue bird which we saw everywhere. And guineafowl always on the road, trying to run away stupidly! But nothing more significant on the bird side either. Overall it had been very very hot this time and had been tough to keep the windows open most of the time. Still we drove with our windows open a lot but apparently you are not supposed to(?!).

Driving through townships 

outside Kruger

We finished our safari and left from the Numbi Gate by around 2 pm and then google maps took us through a few townships before we hit the highway at Nelspruit. The townships though obviously not rich felt very very picturesque, perched on top of mountains with breathtaking views. It was a nice fresh drive back. We again stopped at Emnotweni mall in Nelspruit for lunch and then onwards to Joburg (the mall shops had closed by 3 pm because it was Sunday)!

The drive back was uneventful and this time we went through Schoemans Kloof, smartly. It was all green and picturesque, with the orange plantations everywhere. We stopped at their shop but they did not have fresh fruit juice, as advertised on the billboards.

Sunset driving

The drive back to Joburg had many beautiful vistas and valleys (as usual). There was a bad rainstorm on the way and we couldn’t see anything for some time. Then it all got better by itself and got light suddenly! I wish there is some way to capture all these vistas that I drove through in my time in South Africa, it is so difficult to capture all these brilliant memories.

Anyways, it was a nice weekend in the bush. I know lot of people find Kruger too touristy. But for its a convenient and comfortable way to see animals in their natural surroundings. And I can see myself being back there again, soon...

Day 2 drive route:

Swati country

Swaziland is a small landlocked country surrounded by South Africa on all sides. It is not really known to most travellers as a tourist destination. I got interested in visiting it as one of my colleagues is from there and she offered to take me there to explore her country. This was on a long weekend in December, except we figured out later that I need a visa to go even to Swaziland!

To be honest, my colleague was laughing when I told her that. She thought that her country wouldn’t even have computers to grant me a visa 😂. Anyways it turned out to be true and so I finally was able to make the trip once I got my Swaziland visa in March.

Even getting the visa was interesting. I had applied for a single entry visa, but they refused to give me anything other than a multiple entry visa! And so I had to pay extra later to get it. Anyways, the trip was finally happening, so I was happy about it.

We planned to drive from Joburg to Swaziland on a Saturday morning and come back Sunday night, it was about 4-5 hours each way. Transport was the easy part; finding accommodation turned out to be a problem though. We first tried booking airbnbs but they all turned out to be full already. So we ended up booking the Mantenga lodge in Ezulwini as that was the only one available.

Our drive towards Swaziland was relatively event free. We left early at 5 am and drove most of the way on the same highway route as I had taken earlier to Kruger and Drakensberg. We saw the sunrise on the way which was a pretty sight. Right after the Alzu service station (a highway service station which also has a game park), we turned right on a single lane road towards the Oshoek entry gates to Swaziland.

After that, it was all a one way road through green and wild areas. There is a myth on this part of the road that a woman had lost her life once when she did not get a lift from any of the drivers. And that her ghost is seen sometimes asking for a lift. And if you don’t stop, she appears on your rear seat! We did not come across her but were certainly looking for her as we drove 😐.

And midway, the weather turned foggy. We had to slow our driving there, and to me it felt like all the drives we used to go on in my childhood days. It was green and picturesque all the way, with lakes, forests, fields and valleys giving us company. Given the time of the year, there were also white and pink flowers everywhere on the sides. It was quite a magical drive and a good introduction to what was soon to come.

At the border gate, you have to stop at both the South African (called the Oshoek gate) and Swazi immigration centres (Ngwenye gate). And surprisingly, the Swazi side was cleaner and better maintained than the SA one. There are multiple entries to Swaziland but looks like all the gates open only at 8am, and that is why we could not drive there Friday night. We got through in a breeze through the gates this time thanks to my multiple entry Swazi visa  😜.

Views of Ezulwini valley

And then there we were, in Swaziland. Even though we had just crossed a gate, it felt like a different world together. A world of lush green hills dotted with small houses, and a feeling of paradise, very similar in my mind to the North-Eastern part of India (the states of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and so on). It was a very cloudy and rainy weekend, so even though it spoilt a lot of our other plans, the whole country felt a lot more heavenly than usual. And I fell in love with it the moment we entered through the gates...

I had heard that Swaziland is a very poor country. To be very honest, I did not feel so at least in the areas we drove. Its main cities are Mbabane, Manzini and Ezulwini. We drove through all three as they are all close to each other. Ezulwini is a tourist area where most of the big hotels as well as other touristy options are located. We spent almost all our time in this area and it felt suitably rich. As did most of the other places we crossed. But am sure, the real Swaziland is different.

Our hotel had a late check-in, so we stopped at a couple of places on the way there. First, as petrol is cheaper in Swaziland than SA, we bought petrol for the car for our weekend. Our next stop was the Ngwenye glass factory where they use recycled glass to create new pieces with it. The shop had some exquisite pieces which were worth buying but a tad expensive. We also stopped at some more shops nearby, all of which were selling local handicrafts though at a higher price. And last, we saw the workers making some of the glass items in the factory. It as quite mesmerising watching them take on such a risky and skillful job with so much ease.

View from Mantenga Lodge

Our next stop was our hotel, the Mantenga Lodge which was a sweet little place perched on top of a hill. It has quite a panoramic view of the valley below. It was so foggy all the time, the view may have looked prettier if sunny. The lodge had multiple types of accommodation options, I stayed in a wooden hut right in the middle of wild vegetation. I loved sitting outside my hut, listening to the voice of birds. We had lunch at the hotel balcony and then left for our excursions of the day.

There are loads of things to do in Ezulwini depending on your taste - game parks, horse riding, quad biking, trekking (especially up Execution Hill), white water rafting, water falls visits, cultural visits and so all. Given the weather though, we were limited in our options and spent the evening visiting a nearby crafts market and a local Swazi village.

Local crafts market

The crafts market was located in a scenic location - with a hill view in front. And the stuff they were selling was amazing, good quality with a lot of variety. I bought so many things from there - African print clothes, bead necklaces, garden rock decoration, table mats with animal prints, straw baskets and so on. I loved shopping there and observing all the different handicrafts. The sellers don’t hustle you much either, they just politely request you to come in for a view. Most of the sellers were out though when we went, they were all attending a wedding nearby and their neighbours were tending their shops for them.

Swazi dance

The Swazi village trip started with a typical Swazi dance performance by a group of about 20 men, women and children. The dance was very active and happy, and included stamping your foot on the ground like the Zulu dance. And the crowd is supposed to cheer throughout with a loud "oo" sound (I realised that much later). The dance was interesting, though I did not understand a lot of what they were singing about and the context. After the Swazi dance, the group sang a few Christian gospel songs in Swati - it highlighted for me how deep Christianity is rooted in the area.

After the songs and dances, a guide took us on a tour of how Swazi villages and families used to live earlier. Each village is made up of one family, headed by the father and husband to all who live there. A village is made up of separate huts within an enclosure. The important people in the family - the mother, the head, his wives, the medicine person, the eldest son and the youngest son - have an individual hut. The youngest and eldest sons are the heir of the mother and father’s property, hence important. And the younger sons and daughters share rooms with each other. The cattle also have their own separate area (which is the same as the ancestors’s area).

There were lot of rules for everyone on how to live in this family village. The best part of the meat was always cooked by and for the man and the sons. The women could never eat the head (as they should not have more brains than the men) or the legs of the cows (so that women cannot run away). Men also regularly smoked weedat home (the Swazi weed is still exported and in demand for its good quality!)

Typical Swazi village

The men could have multiple wives. To get married, the girl's family had to be given cows. And a new marriage would start with the woman first visiting the cattle area as that was an important place for the family (also the place where ancestors resided). Each wife had 3 huts - for cooking, sleeping and one for brewing beer 😆. The grandmother always had the biggest hut, and her own brewery too. The daughters of the family could cook only in the grandmother’s kitchen, not their mothers’. The grandmother was very important to the family and her hut was known as the House of peace as she would broker peace between different wives if needed. Grandmothers lived to a long age too, as typically the men would die first (men used to marry at 30, women at 18).

The reed huts in the village all had small doors as a safety measure. And had very good air-conditioning. A lot of these traditions are not followed anymore though. Now everyone has mud and brick houses. And the wives nowadays stay separately in different villages, not so close to each other 😜. The guide who told us these stories had a good sense of humour and made it all very interesting for us. (I did not agree with some of the traditions as they were partial towards men, but it is what it was).

We then had a quick stop at a nearby waterfall which was quite average. Our next step was the Gables shopping mall nearby to take out cash (the mall apparently was a popular spot to hangout when it first opened). Everyone accepts South Africa Rands in Swaziland and even the ATMs dispense Rands, so that was convenient. After getting some cash, we went for dinner at a famous French restaurant, Calabash which though expensive was only about average. Our French colleague gave it a thumbs down, as it was not good French food as per him 😊.

We had planned for a game drive the next morning but had to cancel it given the rains. So we first drove deeper into Swaziland towards Manzini to visit my colleagues’ aunt. The drive was so picturesque, its tough to share what all I saw and felt. It was like driving through paradise. Green hills under the umbrella of fog. Small cute looking houses adding to the view. And a serenity and calmness everywhere. It is this serenity and calmness which was the most memorable part of Swaziland for me.

Quad biking through the countryside

After the trip to Manzini, we came back to the Royal Swazi hotel and went for Quad biking. It was a two hour drive and we drove on dirt tracks, through townships and playgrounds; hills and forests; villages and huge palatious houses; valleys and lakes, past cows and horses and so on, exploring the countryside around. Most of the people around were just chilling and giving us high fives as we crossed them 😊. It was 2 hours of bliss, of the cool breeze on your face and the adrenaline of racing ahead on paths difficult to tread otherwise. Quad biking here is a definite recommend from me for anyone visiting Swaziland.

View from Royal Swazi

And then we topped it all up with spa time at the Royal Swazi hotel. It was one of the better massages I have had and totally worth it. After a quick lunch at the restaurant (again with a beautiful view), we were off on the journey back. And already missing the serenity we were leaving behind 😞.

I found the trip very interesting in more ways that one. Swaziland has maintained a lot of its traditions unlike the neighbouring country of South Africa. It was under the British rule for some time but never properly colonised. The Swazi shield is given a lot of credit for this, for fending off everyone:). If you want to buy a local memorabilia, the Swazi shield is definitely one for keeps.

Swaziland is still an absolute monarchy, and the King’s photos are visible everywhere. The current king, King Mswati III has 16 wives. And if you research him a bit, you can read about a number of royal scandals, especially of two of his wives running away from the country! The previous king had 70 wives and 210 children!! Apparently, their surname is Dlamini and is the most common surname in Swaziland (given the number of children the kings have, am not surprised by it at all)!

The most famous aspect of Swaziland is its popular reed dance, where 1000s of young women dance for the Queen Mother and the King. And the King can pick his next wife from this group. There are also very strict traditional rules on who becomes the next King - he should be the only son of his mother and she has to be the youngest Queen of the King. Also once he becomes King, his mother becomes the Queen Mother and is as important as the king. Very important dynamics and politics, eh?

Swaziland ranks low in many social and health indices. Even though the roads we travelled on were of very good quality, it is still quite afflicted with poverty. And apparently there is lot of corruption everywhere too, like any developing country.

During our trip, we got no data signal the entire weekend. And the radio channels were all playing gospel music. And a random fact - Swaziland supported the South African struggle a lot (as did a lot of the African countries) but there is a feeling now that South Africa doesn’t care anymore and wants to keep people from the other countries out. I also noted, there were no whites or Indians anywhere in Swaziland, quite unlike SA.

On the whole, I loved my stay in Swaziland. It was two days of relaxation and being in a country I would never have thought I would ever get to visit. There is a lot I don’t know about the country. But what I know, I liked 😊.