We drove north at 6:30am on a very large day trip! The aim was to get to Piet Retief in Mpumalanga province near to the Swazi border and then drive into Swaziland to view the Malkerns Valley. Although with a British passport you don't need a visa to visit Swaziland, the hire car needed written authorisation from the hire company to enter. Of course we forgot to get this when we collected the car and therefore much of yesterday was spent trying to get the hire company to email or fax it, which eventually they did.
Along the way I took some pictures of the landscape and also some girls carrying breeze blocks on their heads:
We drove to the Swazi border to be met by two control gates, South African immigration followed by Swazi customs and excise:
Entry was quite straight-forward and the vehicle authorisation wasn't needed!!! Very shortly after the border we were stopped by friendly Swazi police who were checking driver's licences. I found this funny, why couldn't our licences just be checked at the control gate which was still in sight behind us?
The Swazi countryside was mountainous and quite beautiful. We drove through the picturesque Malkerns Valley:
We also drove past small settlements and also the Government buildings:
We decided to continue to the capital of Swaziland, Mbabane, which is a small capital:
I had read about a good lunch venue Called Indingilizi Gallery & Restaurant - and we perused some crafts in the nearby shop, which Swaziland is famous for. It began to rain as we left the shop and as the town seemed to be functional and lacking much interest we drove on. We travelled through Manzini which is another busy town of little substance and not really worth stopping in unless you want to buy fruit from the large market.
We drove southeast and saw more beautiful landscapes, stopping at Big Bend for a drink:
We drove down a dusty track as our TomTom informed us that our route would join the main road after a bridge across the Lusutfu river. Actually, this bridge didn't exist:
We therefore turned back and decided not to trust the satnav much thereafter. Swaziland is filled with sugar beet plantations and this section of southern Africa is a major exporter of sugar around the world.
As the sun set we travelled south towards another border with mountains to our right and after another two-stage border crossing we headed back to Mtubatuba in the dark - completing 750km. I very much enjoyed my brief visit to Swaziland. Swazi politics are very different to South African ones. The country lacks the tensions and animosities that prevail in South Africa. There is only one political party, but I am told that the youth in Swaziland are beginning to become unhappy at this.
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