Swaziland Sightseeing

After the final wildlife experience of of our trip in the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, we planned to spend the last couple of days in Swaziland sightseeing. We also planned to spend some time in more luxurious accommodations after “roughing it” in game lodges and even a backpackers hostel. After a lot of early mornings for game drives, we also planned to sleep a bit later each morning.

Mogi Boutique Hotel

For our couple of nights of luxury at the end of our trip we chose to stay at Mogi Boutique Hotel. It lived up to the “boutique” label by being small and comfortable, with friendly staff and a great breakfast served each morning. It is built into the side of a hill, so the view from the deck outside our room was spectacular.

View from behind Mogi Boutique Hotel, Ezulwini Valley, Swaziland

After we arrived at the hotel, we spent some time exploring the lush gardens, which featured a stylish pool built into the hillside. Unfortunately it was too cold to swim. The view from the rocks next to the pool into the Ezulwini Valley was spectacular.

Mogi Boutique Hotel – Swaziland

King Sobhuza II Memorial Park

A highlight of our Swaziland sightseeing adventure was the memorial park for Swaziland’s beloved King Sobhuza II. Sobhuza reigned for more than sixty years, and led Swaziland to independence from the British. The park includes some nice gardens and the obligatory statue of the great man.

Statue of King Sobhuza II – Swaziland

There was an interesting display about Sobhuza’s life and times, which did a good job of giving a sense of the man beyond his ceremonial and political roles. We particularly enjoyed the car collection. The King enjoyed trading up to the latest model of Cadillac every couple of years.

King Sobhuza II’s Cadillac – Swaziland

Swazi Candles

Swaziland is known for the availability of a wide range of reasonably priced arts and crafts. It’s a great place to pick up some souvenirs of your African travels. We only bought a couple of small items as we were traveling with carry-on luggage only and we already have a lot of African items in our house from the time we spent living in Africa. Nevertheless, we spent some time browsing the Swazi Candles Centre looking at some interesting things.

The Swazi Candles factory and store is the main attraction. It sells an amazing array of candles in all shapes and sizes. The most impressive and uniquely African are in the shape of various animals – you can choose your favorite.

Swazi Candles – Swaziland

As well as Swazi Candles itself, there are open air stalls selling the standard African souvenirs that we had seen all over South Africa. The selection and prices were pretty good.

Swazi Candles – Swaziland

More interestingly, there were some stores selling higher quality and more contemporary arts and crafts. There’s definitely something for everyone here.

Swazi Candles – Swaziland

Swaziland National Museum

This is an obvious must-see for any Swaziland sightseeing program. However, I would recommend that you don’t set your expectations too high. The exhibits are a bit dated and the building is tired. They have some more of King Sobhuza II’s cars there, but they are in need of some repairs.

It’s still definitely worth a visit. You can find some interesting information about the history and people of Swaziland, and the displays have a retro kitsch vibe that is entertaining.

Exterior – Swaziland National Museum

Swaziland National Museum

Swaziland National Museum

Sibebe Rock

The most unexpected part of our Swaziland sightseeing was Sibebe Rock. This is basically a gigantic piece of granite, but is impressive and important enough to be on the label of one of Swaziland’s most popular beers. Our plan was to find a place to gaze up at it in wonder, however our day took a different direction when we stopped at the information centre to ask about the best viewpoint. A guide told us that we would be able to make it to the top of the rock in our rental 4X4 SUV.

This sounded like a fun adventure, so we all got back into the car and our guide directed us up the steep and rough road to the top. There were a couple of rocky parts where we thought we might have made a terrible mistake, but we made it to the top, and it was worth the effort. The views were spectacular.

Sibebe Rock – Swaziland

Sibebe Rock – Swaziland

We got out of the car and went for a walk amongst the huge boulders that looked like they had been tossed around like pebbles.

Sibebe Rock – Swaziland

Sibebe Rock – Swaziland

The highlight of our Sibebe Rock experience was climbing up to a secret cave (at least our guide claimed he is the only one who knows about it). As you can see it was quite a climb, then we scrambled trough the cave for the best views yet.

Walking to the secret cave, Sibebe Rock – Swaziland

Sibebe Rock – Swaziland

Ngwenya Glass

Our final Swaziland sightseeing stop was Ngwenya Glass. We stopped here on our way out of Swaziland heading to Johannesburg to catch our flight home. We watched some glass items being made, including some items being blown, which was fascinating. Even though the viewpoint was fairly high above the factory floor, we could really feel the heat from the furnace. It must be really hot work during the Swaziland summer.

Ngwenya Glass – Swaziland

Ngwenya Glass – Swaziland

Of course there was a showroom with all kinds of glass objects for purchase. Similar to Swazi Candles, the most interesting things were the objects shaped like African animals. The skill required to make these is impressive. with our limited luggage space we limited our purchases to one small rhino bottle stopper.

Summing up Swaziland

We were glad that we experienced Swaziland. Although we only had a few days there, we saw enough to get a good feel for the place. It’s quite interesting to be in a tiny country surrounded entirely by another country (South Africa). Swaziland is definitely worth a visit as an add-on to a South African journey.

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