Equipped with a head torch and some luggage I peeked outside, anxiously scanned the vegetation for any hungry eyes and proceeded to load the car. We headed off along the dirt track, lights on full beam. The odd antelope hopped off the track ahead of us as we trundled along, but we really weren’t expecting to come face-to-face with three black rhino blocking our path. Darkness turned to light as dawn came and went, we sat patiently trying various tricks to get this group of rhino to move from the track. It was over half an hour before they headed off the track into the bush – we missed our sunrise tour.

Black Rhino Hlane Royal National Park Swaziland / Photo by Stephen Chapman

We pulled into an empty central area at 5.45am with long faces, knowing that we were resigned to a self drive tour around the park, but also jubilant that we’d just spent half an hour with three black rhino.

We managed a decent drive around but didn’t see anything to match our morning viewing. At about 8.30am we crossed paths with the trucks that we should have had a seat on and learnt that they’d had a pretty good morning spotting lion and elephant. To add insult to injury we got back to the main lodge and saw two rhino sunning themselves alongside the waterhole in full view of anyone wanting to see them. We got our money back for the sunrise tour and headed out of the park, and began to see the funny side of our morning activities.

Looking out at the waterhole / Photo by Stephen Chapman

On our way out of Swaziland we stopped at Ngwenya Glass, a fantastic glassworks using recycled glass to produce fantastic products. We purchased a few wine glasses and tumblers to take home. The drive back towards Johannesburg went quite quickly. We stopped for lunch at a mall we discovered with the help our GPS and then hit the outskirts of Johannesburg.  I was staying at an the A1 Airport lodge whilst my fiance was leaving that night on a flight back to the UK. We got organised at the hotel and then said a sad goodbye at the airport. I would be back there the next morning to collect Jan Vrsinsky from 360 Cities.

Dance at Mantenga Swazi Cultural Village / Photo by Stephen Chapman

Following the performance we toured the village, learning about how men and women have separate areas and the wives have three kitchens, one of which is used solely for the preparation of beer!  We also watched the grandmother weaving a grass mat and making an innovative use of old batteries.

Grandmother weaves grass mat in Mantenga Swazi Cultural Village / Photo by Stephen Chapman

From here we visited the Swazi candles workshop and Gone Rural, two great Swaziland products. The journey took us past Swazican, a canning factory that’s home to many of the Tesco tinned fruit products sold in the UK.

A drive out through Manzini took us into Game country. Hlane Royal National Park is one of three in Swaziland. We saw plenty of Gazelle and Impala on our way in to the camp.

Our accommodation for the night was in Bhubesi Camp about 20kms in along the dirt tracks which we booked through Swazi.Travel. These self catering lodges are located on the edge of a river and offer great opportunities for spotting/listening to the surrounding wildlife. We certainly heard the roar of a lion or two after darkness had fallen. Much of the evening was spent trying to light a fire outside in the fire pit using some damp wood, we had little success.