Submitted by SafariADV on Fri, 2018-11-09
This morning we woke up rested in our chalet near Mbabane, in Swaziland, we had breakfast and then we load Dr. Livingstone and we leave; we were really good here at the Bhuleni Chalet, when we pass by here we will definitely be back.
We leave the dirt road and find ourselves in front of the shopping center, we need a wi-fi to check the email so we park and go to Mugg&Bean; we take a cappuccino that has nothing to envy to cappuccinos made in Italy.
The other shops are still all closed, they will open at 9:00am, but we do not need anything, so after the cappuccino, we return to our car and we leave.
This morning when we left there was a bit of haze and a few low clouds, but they are thinned out shortly thereafter; we continue following the directions of Maps.me for the Hlane Royal National Park.
Along the way we see that they are doing important works to widen the road, now in some places it is only a lane, when it will be finished it will be two or even three lanes; with all the traffic that transits from here to and from South Africa and Mozambique a wider road is needed.
The road is not particularly scenic, especially when passing by Manzini, this is one of the largest cities in Swaziland; fortunately, as we move towards the park, there are fewer buildings and more nature.
In all, including various slowdowns for the works and the police checks, it took us an hour and a half to get to the gate of the Hlane Royal National Park, not much luckily.
At the gate we pay a fee to stay in the park, a sort of tourist tax, while we do not pay admission to the park because we have the Wild Card of the South African parks that is valid here too.
The entrance to the Ndlovu Camp, the main park camp, is a few hundred meters from the park entrance; in a moment we are there, we open the gate, we enter and close it behind us, we go to the reception to register and to get all the necessary information.
We are happy to be here and discover this park, we are ready for this new adventure.
