on. Before getting too far we stopped off at a fruit and veg market to fill
in the gaps in the food stores. The goods on sale were top notch and well
priced too. Just a shame we had not found the place a couple of days earlier
when we had gone to the supermarket to stock up, things were not so good and
not so cheap! Never mind, we know where the market is now for next time.
Further along we stopped off in Matsapha (S26 29.443 E31 18.326) to gets
some bread and beer then we fed Mufasa in Manzini (S26 29.835 E31 22.467) at
a Galp service station, boy fuel is cheaper here than SA.
Eventually we crossed to the north east of the country and to the Hlane NP
(S26 15.580 E31 52.603) and the Ndlovo Camp. The weather for the previous
few days had been nice, some sun, a cool breeze, into the mid 20's. By the
time we had come to rest at Hlane it was roasting in the top 30's, no
breeze! The campsite was empty so we picked a good spot and had some lunch.
Of course as expected with a whole campsite to choose from, the next people
to arrive parked right next to us, a noisy bunch too! In the end it turned
out to be a stroke of luck as we found and moved to another better spot with
nobody else nearby. No electricity in the camp at all, but the ablutions
were very nice and lit by paraffin lanterns at night. The park is not huge,
but they boast Elephant, Hippo, White Rhino, and Lions. Lets start with the
Lions. They are kept in their own special enclosure which you pay extra to
enter. Understandable to want to try and protect them from poachers etc, but
we did not bother to go and see them as it felt a bit like a zoo, and anyway
we could hear them roaring at night. Talking of zoos, there is a large
waterhole next to the camp. For protection from the wild animals there is a
two strand barbed wire electric fence. Impala , yep would stop them. Rhino,
err possibly? Elephants, good luck! We saw plenty of Rhino at the waterhole,
a group of 8 together at one point. We also had close encounter with two
young males, and two mum's with babies. Now of course the Rhino seem quite
used to humans in close proximity here, and unless provoked they come quite
close to the wire for a look. The problem is really with the 'intelligent'
species, i.e. humans. Some people will do anything to get 'the photo'. They
lie down under the fence, lean over it, all with a huge lump of Rhino just
feet away. I just sat and watched on. They did come quite close to me at one
point although they probably didn't see me as I was sitting very still they
might have got a whiff of me. Suddenly they got startled and sped off in a
cloud of dust. Why? A young girl came plodding up to the fence and plonked
down on the bench next to me. Hmmm. To top things off a member of staff came
out to 'educate' people of what not to do when the Rhinos were there and
that close, i.e. back away from the fence or just keep still. I was the only
one left sitting there, everyone else had wandered off including the young
girl, and got a personal message! I did explain that I was probably the only
thing at the waterhole that hadn't moved for an hour, I think he understood.
Anyway, since the heat of the previous day when we had arrived, it had
cooled somewhat back into the mid 20's, heavy cloud. The heavens threatened
to open that night with the sky lighting up with lightning, but we only had
a few spots. The Swazi dancers weren't taking any chances though and called
short their performance as they didn't fancy getting wet, and suspected that
the audience would scarper anyway.
The morning we left, only stayed two nights, was cloudy with light drizzle.
We had to manoeuvre Mufasa out from under the tree he was parked next to so
that the tent could dry off without constant dripping from the branches
above. Stopping off briefly just up the road at the Mbuluzi Conservancy (S26
09.359 E31 58.969) to check out camping options, rustic but nice, we aimed
north and west. As we had been without cell coverage in Swazi I had a
cunning plan to get close to the Managa Border Post (S25 56.000 E31 45.661)
with SA so as to get phone reception to check messages and send a blog (last
one not this one). The border was only 6km off route and the plan was
successful. Our next aim for the day was to head back across to the NE of
Swazi to Piggs Peak and then down to either the Maguga Dam or the Malolotja
NP, the previously misted out destinations. Although it was overcast the
weather seemed bright enough. Well it did until we hit the dirt road to
Piggs Peak just after leaving Mandlangempisi. As we climbed the mist got
thicker and thicker. The mountains are logging country, and with all the
trees comes mist by the bucket load. When we eventually crawled out into
Piggs Peak the mist was much worse than it had been just a week earlier. Our
hopes of a visit to Malolotja NP were not great, even staying at Maguga Dam
seemed pointless. When we eventually crawled past the entrance to Malolotja
NP we could not even see the entrance gate from the road. So with no other
option we decided to cut our losses and head for the border and back into
SA. It seemed a shame to end the trip like this, but we could not see things
getting any better for quite a while and camping in misty drizzle when you
don't really need to seemed silly. Walking in the Malolotja NP was quite out
of the question!
So to the Ngwenya Border Post (S26 12.758 E30 59.436) it was. Still misty
all the way. We topped up Mufasa at the Galp before the border, still cheap.
The border was quite busy but things moved quickly. Back into SA it was, and
still in the mist. Our best choice for the night was Badplaas (S25 57.412
E30 33.784) and the resort there where we could camp for the night. We only
shook off the mist once we had descended quite some way but we could still
see the blanket over the mountains to the east. The resort is huge with a
thermal spa etc., and quite busy. The campsite, average, and ablutions poor.
The view however was stunning despite only being able to see a third of it
with the heavy cloud.
The next morning after drying and packing a very misty wet tent we hit the
road back to Joburg. Stopping off in Carolina at the Wimpy, this time to
feed our bellies and not Mufasa's, we continued and decided to avoid the
power stations. So we went a different way up towards Witbank and ended up
with coal mines and more power stations, oh and plenty of huge coal trucks.
Finally we saw the sun on the highway back to the big city. Well sometimes
you just want to get away from it all and other times you sigh a relief when
you get back to it!
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