Weekend Getaway

Our second weekend in Mbabane, our new friends, Meredith and Dan (PAC Doctor) invited us to a game reserve 90 minutes from town called, Mbulzuni. This is one of their favorite retreats and since Meredith had a friend visiting from New York (Melissa), they were packing up their two kiddos and getting out of town for the weekend. We planned to leave at 4:00pm on Friday (the clinic is only open to patients on Friday morning, so after the doctor’s ‘all staff’ meeting on Friday afternoon we were going to bust out as to avoid driving in the dark (I haven’t asked too many questions about this because frankly, I don’t want to know, but everyone recommends not driving in the dark). Since I am currently a happy homemaker, I spent the majority of Friday running errands, packing, and cooking in preparation for the weekend. The plan was for Doug to go to Manzini to pick-up our car straight after work and then to swing by the house to grab me and then for everyone to meet at the clinic at 4:00pm to caravan. Obviously, this plan was a little too tight and seamless for Mbabane. So, insert Doug’s soon-to-be-told story about picking up the car and I’ll pick-up on Saturday morning when we actually left for Mbulzuni. Of course, we invited Matt, because he is our faithful sidekick and the three of us set-off for the 90 minute drive to Mbulzuni. I am pleasantly surprised, but happy to report that we did not encounter any problems while driving and besides looking out for the cows, goats, impala, etc. that might meander into the road (or in some cases, dart across) we made it to the game reserve just about 10:30am. The reserve is privately owned, and managed by two of Meredith and Dan’s friends, Matt and Stephanie. Matt is British, but was raised in Swaziland, and Stephanie is from Charlottesville, Virginia. They met while Stephanie was studying abroad in Botswana and I guess the rest is history. Anyways, the accommodations at the reserve were magical. There was a main house with a beautiful patio overlooking the river and then four bungalows each with bath and sleeping quarters.

Main house including kitchen and family room
Our bungalow
Patio, pool, and river view
One of the main reasons I refer to Mbulzuni as magical is because it is very remote, so our accommodations were 20 minutes down a dirt road, well into the park, and since there are no ‘predators’ at this private reserve, you are free to be out of your vehicle and to hike around. As we were driving in we encountered 10 giraffe in/alongside of the road.
We also saw a few impala. More affectionately known as a 'DLT' or a 'deer like thing.'
And, on Sunday morning when we went hiking, we felt the earth move as a heard of wildebeasts bounded through the clearing. Like I said, magical.