24 Hours in eSwatini

eSwatini? You may know it as Swaziland, a tiny little African country set in the north eastern side of South Africa. Swaziland was still its name when we visited (so it’ll be still used in this blog), but in 2018 the King decided that a new name was needed and so eSwatini was born.

Just under 200km from north to south and 140km east to west, we finally found a country smaller than the Netherlands! It has a feel of an African Andora, a country that feels like it sits on the side of a mountain and is in a constant slope!

Swaziland was a stop on our much longer South Africa tour (see blog here) and we were fortunate to spend time seeing this little country, although 24 hours is never enough.

Getting Here & Around

A flight into Johannesburg and a few hours drive is the most effective means of getting here.

Driving should be your means of transport whilst in country, just as South Africa the main highways are pretty decent and even smaller roads are quite navigable with a standard car.

Be aware that the borders into and out of the country have opening times, and if you arrive after closing time you’ll typically have a night in your car waiting for the morning opening (see times here) . We arrived through the Oshoek Border, that was easy enough and a friendly welcome to the country.

Where to Stay

For 24 hours we only got to experience one place to stay, but it was pretty nice and we’d recommend the Hawane Resort. A little to the north of the country and presented as a traditional eSwatini village style.

It could be forgiven for being blatantly touristic, but hey, that’s what we are! With rondel accommodation and dinner in the ‘chief’s hut’ .

What to do

Get yourself up in good time to pack in a busy day of sights and shopping! Just by the resort is the Ngwenya Glass factory, all recycled and fairtrade creations.

You can get a short tour to see the ‘production line’ in action and then get one or two souvenirs to take home.

Then into the tourist hub of the Ezulwini Valley where most of the sights are located. The craft market, for traditional pictures and carvings.

The Milwane Wildlife Sanctuary is eSwatini’s answer to a game park, it is particularly nice because you can drive yourself

and even jump out of the car and walk around if you want to (we were pretty certain there were no carnivores in the vicinity!)

A bit more shopping at Swazi Candles

And then a second highlight of the day at the Mantenga Cultural Village, where you can visit the ‘cultural waterfall’

Followed by a local song and dance.

Fun as our fellow audience was from a local school who made it a lively and raucous event.

Darkness will fall rapidly at the end of the day (around 6pm) and we had to start motoring south to catch the border out of the country whilst it was still open.