South Africa to eSwatini| South Africa, Day 12

Wednesday, September 26, 2018
We began with coffee on our deck before hitting the road for yet another full day of driving (you'll notice this theme on our vacations lol).

We stopped at a Mugg & Bean for breakfast where I had the Caramelized Banana Overnight Oats and Francisco had an Egg, Sun-dried Tomato, Spinach, & Feta Scramble Box. They were out of spinach, so he had lettuce instead, which really isn't the same thing lol. Also, once you got past the caramelized layer on top of my breakfast (which will take some effort considering how thick and hard the caramel was), you're left with a lot of tasteless oats.

We had our handy Letter of Authority to be able to cross into Swaziland AKA eSwatini. In April 2018, "during Golden Jubilee celebrations, King Mswati III announced that from this point henceforth, the land formerly known as Swaziland is now to be known as the Kingdom of eSwatini." This name change was to help move the country past it's colonial past since it had only gained its independence from the British administration in 1968. I also read that Swaziland was frequently confused with Switzerland, so this should better distinguish the two very different countries. 

After our first rocky border crossing a few days ago into Lesotho, we were determined to do this one right, so we pulled over and kind of followed along with some of the other tourists, and we had no issues.

It was actually a fairly pleasant country to drive through, much better than Lesotho and even better than some parts of South Africa. Our first stop was at Swazi Candles, which features handcrafted, decorative animal and geometric shaped candles.

We picked up a couple of candle souvenirs.

This was actually a nice little tourist stop with several souvenir shops in the vicinity. We were going to go to the Milwane Wildlife Sanctuary, but we decided to skip it and go to the Mantenga Cultural Village & Nature Reserve.

Passed this Nyala on the drive in

The entrance fee covers a guided tour of the Swazi Cultural Village and a visit to Mantenga Falls, Swaziland’s largest waterfall by volume. Our guide suggested we go see the Falls first, so we drove up there.

It was a relatively short visit to the falls, and then we returned for our village tour. Set against the backdrop of the Nyonyane mountain, this replica mid-19th Century Swazi village, constructed using authentic materials and techniques, is one of the country’s most popular attractions.

Following our guide into the cultural village

Behind the village, a dance troop performs traditional sibhaca routines twice daily, and this was what we were most excited to see.

It’s a lively show, comprising vigorous high-kicking, pulsating drumming and some rousing singing.

We saw the 3:15 dance show, and we both enjoyed it. 

Francisco even went on "stage" to personally learn some of the moves.

Cheeky monkey in the parking lot

We drove over to the Emafini Country Lodge, which turned out to be a nice place - albeit older - but it had good Wi-Fi. We could hear some guest noise through our door, but it wasn't terribly noisy, so it wasn't a horrible pain.

Our window view wasn't bad either

 Dinner started at 6:00 in the main area, so we decided to check out the pool first.

The evening cooled down quickly, so just Francisco ended up jumping in the chilly pool.

We went to the dining room where they offered a buffet (but those can be of limited value to vegetarians).

Instead, we ordered off the menu. I had Spaghetti aglio e olio, and Francisco had a Cheese and Tomato Omelette. I don't normally even like omelettes, but for some reason, I found the pasta dish combined with the omelette to be tasty, and we have definitely replicated a version of this dish since we've been home. We ended the meal with Hot Malva Pudding.

Use this link to save $40 toward your first Airbnb trip: www.airbnb.com/c/flopez157.
Click here to earn 40,000 bonus miles by opening a United credit card and meeting the minimum spend requirements.