Swaziland – Mlilwane

From Kruger we headed south to Swaziland and on to our next stop at Mlilwane Nature Reserve. Booking.com has served us very well so far and generally we have just been booking a place to stay a couple of days in advance. We are definitely getting less picky as we go and where we have looked at so many different accommodations we often arrive to a new place without really knowing what we’ve booked. Mlilwane was one of these places.

After our trip to Graskop where my poor choices had somewhat lengthened our journey I had vowed to let google maps make all the decisions. As we arrived at the border of South Africa and on into Swaziland everything was going well. It was another long journey but a stop at Wimpy had revived our flagging spirits (conjured up a memory of childhood when Anna had taken me to the one in Cirencester for my first milkshake – must have been 40 years ago, why did Wimpy disappear from England?) and we were looking forward to arriving.

With about twenty minutes to go we arrived at a junction. Google maps said turn left, I backed her up but Rob was questioning our joint decision. He avoided the left hand turn and continued straight. Myself and Mrs Google berated him and eventually, with no other options presenting themselves Rob gave in to our united pressure, turned around and took the avoided left hand turn.

Google maps had not made a good decision! The road wasn’t actually the very worst we’d been along but on our previous dreadful road experiences we had been in our trusty Rav 4. Our poor little Volkswagen polo wasn’t made of the same tough stuff and struggled to negotiate the lumps and bumps of this awkward terrain. Our relaxed demeanours caused by our Wimpy sugar high had all but disappeared as we blamed each other and held on tight. Lots of children and a few bored adults came from their houses to watch how the two crazy tourists might negotiate the little car through the peaks and troughs of the dirt road. It was definitely the slowest and hardest 5.7km if our journey so far. Our relief when we came to it’s end was palpable. Even when Rob had to bump up the kerb of a shiny new road before being turned around and sent back to another (thankfully much smoother) dirt road our good mood prevailed and was heightened when within ten minutes we had reached our latest stopover.

Mlilwane was beautiful, our little self catering bungalow, nestled on the hillside, overlooked open grasslands where deer, wildebeest and warthog grazed.

Monkeys played near our verandah and there were birds and beautiful wildflowers everywhere. We had really had no expectations and had arrived in this little paradise. Our only disappointment was that we had only booked one night.

Very aware of our limited time to enjoy our amazing surroundings we set off on a walk as soon as possible after arrival. On advice we followed the 7km hippo trail. It meandered along the river, climbed up through hills and sauntered along side open grasslands. Unfortunately, we only had a couple of hours of daylight so did little meandering or sauntering but lots of quick marching and clambering with the occasional pause for pictures. Neither of us were keen to be out after dark when the hippos, crocs and other wildlife enjoy a stroll and a graze.🤣

We finished our day with an open air dinner besides the noisiest lake ever – the cacophony of sound being evidence of the abundance of life it supported.

The following morning we set off at about 9.30 for a bike ride. As we booked our two hours of cycling the lady questioned if we were sure we wanted two hours, Rob assured her that we did bit. About half an hour later, as temperatures hit about 34 degrees, we understood her hesitance.The scenery and wildlife were amazing but I have never come so close to fainting (apart from when I actually did after a small op, I was on the loo and fainted to the floor – I still don’t understand why Rob felt the need to call for help before covering my dignity).

We managed the two hours with frequent stops for drink and shade before returning back to our camp. This is definitely another place I would love to return – maybe when the new road is completed.