Swaziland Day 3

Finally last night we both slept the whole night through which was good because it rained heavens hard all night and after Ellie and I had been watching scary things in the kindle and then having sticks fall on the roof neither of us would have wanted to get up.
We got up at 6:30am, had a shower and some rusks with our coffee and by 9am we were pretty much ready to roll. Today we were going to the other nature reserve entrance 8.5 miles away. There they had a cafe and WiFi and we were going to ask where the nearest supermarket was.
We left just after 9:15am and it was dirt roads with some big rocks all the way. The last 2km were unbelievable. There was a sign saying steep hills and tight curves for 1.5km and it really was steep. I would say it was atleast a 30% gradient. I’ve never driven up anything like it and the switchbacks were proper 180° and so steep. At every corner I had to put it in first gear and we were in 4 wheel drive all the way up just to keep traction.
Once at the top we were rewarded with magnificent views of the whole of Eswatini. Considering it is so flat it looked very hilly.
We pulled up at the reception area of the second entrance and we greeted by a lovely young lady who told us the cafe was open, we could have whatever we wanted. It was mad. We are the only people in the whole park.
We had a couple of cold drinks and found out where town was and if it was safe. The reception seemed a little taken back when we asked if it was safe. Swazi people are just generally carefree happy people, the crime rate is unbelievably low and the place is pretty unpopulated.
We headed out the gates, turned right and then started our 17km journey to town and 5km before we got to town we came to a military checkpoint we had been warned about. We stopped and a very young girl in combat gear asked to search the car so I politely obliged and asked her what she was searching for but she didn’t understand me properly. Then in plain English she said “ can you give me a lift?”
I thought I had mis heard
“ you want a lift?” I asked
“ yes”
“ well I can give you a lift. We’re just popping to the supermarket to get some shopping but if your going that way I can take you”
“ Lumbombo?” She asked
“ I have no idea what the town is called, I’m just going to get some food” I replied
“Good” she said and then pointed to another girl dressed in civvies sitting on a chair at the checkpoint and said this man will take you.
This random girl then got in the back of the car without saying anything and the military girl said thank you and waved me in my way so I jumped back in started the car and Ellie was already pissing herself laughing. I turned around and said “ J hope your going where we’re going” to our new passenger and set off towards town.
The girl in the back kept in saying thank you and obviously we said it’s fine, it’s no bother. And then Ellie “asked are you going to town?”
“ no” she replied “ I’m going home”
“ ok, is that near town?” Ellie asked again
“ no, I live in the royal hilane residencies” she replied
“ how far is that? “
“ about 16 kilometres” she replied
“ can we do that? “ Ellie asked me “ is that far?”
“ That’s not far “ I answered “ we can take you “
“ But I can’t pay you, I have no money” she said
“ Don’t worry it’s fine”
After a good 20 minutes of driving we had already done 20 miles and 25 km and we came to the airport and started picking up signs for the royal hilane residences. It turned out the girl we had in the back had just finished her shift at the checkpoint as she too was a soldier and she lived in the royal estate of the king. She was a lovely girl and gave us a proper tour if Swaziland for the 48 miles she was in our car and even showed us one of the kings palaces right next to where she lived. The funny thing is, she lived in a concrete shack with a tin roof surrounded by animals and her house overlooked a magnificent grand house with high walls and a fancy garden.
We pulled up in the girls driveway an hour after we had picked her up. God knows how she would have got home if we hadn’t taken her. She was so grateful that she insisted on paying us even though we said we didn’t want anything and she ran into the house and first came back with a coconut. “ Please take this“ she said insistently and not wanting to offend we took the coconut, “ hang on, u have a present for you “ she said and ran back inside and then came back with a huge silk scarf and a giant wall calendar with a picture of the king and his 16 wives on, then she started looking around for a chicken. Have you seen whatever his name was she asked her neighbour and that’s where I stepped in and said I don’t want a chicken but I would like a photo for my diary and we had a hug and a photo and then we left.
It took us an hour to get back to the town where we did our shopping and then we headed back to the nature reserve.
Once again we stopped at the reception and cafe and this time we had lunch as it was now 2pm.
We finally got back to camp at just before 4pm, we’d had a real random day.
We spent the rest of the day back at camp exploring as it is massive and we found 2 tortoise and a bushbuck before settling in to the tent at 7:30.Read more