Swaziland is the smallest country in the Southern Hemisphere - but small does not mean "little to do and see". The eastern part of the country is little developed and populated while most of the people live in and around Mbane and Manzini. Old is a key description of the landscape here. Remnants of the oldest living organism on the planet have been found in the country - blue green algae dating back 3.5 billion years ago, a mere billion years … [Read more...]
Hlwane National Park Swaziland
We rode into the National Park today in our little Honda Jazz. Many of the roads are more suited for soft 4wd and the park has erected large dirt burms every 20 meters or so on these roads to stop passenger vehicles from driving. That didn't stop us however! We popped over each burm and drove through mud puddles from recent rains - trying to avoid bottoming out the vehicle and or getting stuck. Getting stuck is a bad thing out here - you are in … [Read more...]
Swaziland
The Kingdom of Swaziland is small and you can easily see the major attractions within 4-5 days or longer if you prefer spreading the driving out over a longer period of time. The oldest mine in the world is here and dates back 43,000 years!! Its an iron ore mine and ancient people's use to get hematite and other iron ore for making tools, and coloring for painting in caves. We drove in just after the the visitor center had closed for the day but … [Read more...]
Nisela Safari Lodge Swaziland!
We arrived at the Nisela Safari Lodge after crossing one of the smaller southern border post crossings. We immediately found ourselves on dirt roads before reaching the main tarred highway leading north. Swaziland is very small and driving distances are not what we had become accustomed to in the much larger country of South Africa. The Nisela Safari Lodge was the perfect stop for us - reaching it at dusk. At first it appeared somewhat … [Read more...]
Bangkok Day Tripping
We are always going into Bangkok for something. This time for yellow fever vaccinations - I had mine last year for Cote d'Ivoire (good for 5 years) - this time around for Syy for our January trip to Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique. Its not easy getting Yellow Fever vaccs in Bangkok - only available on the weekdays - hospitals don't offer it so we ended up going to the Red Cross Clinic at the Snake Farm. This time of year Bangkok is … [Read more...]