Got To Go There - Swaziland - One of the Last Remaining Absolute Monarchies
Swaziland is a small, landlocked monarchy in Southern Africa - best known for its wilderness reserves and festivals.
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The borders of delightful Swaziland are shared with Mozambique and South Africa. The Lebombo Moutains, Mlawula Nature Reserve and the Hlane Royal National park are all fascinating spots to visit. Diverse wildlife including lions, hippos and elephants can be spotted throughout Swaziland.
Swaziland is known for civility and peacefulness, making it a great place to begin to experience Africa.
Artifacts indicating human activity dating back to the early Stone Age
Artifacts indicating human activity dating back to the early Stone Age 200,000 years ago have been found in the Kingdom of Swaziland. Prehistoric rock art paintings date from c. 25,000 BC. The earliest inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers who were largely replaced by the Bantu tribes who hailed from the Great Lakes regions of Eastern Africa.
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Many interesting people were born in Swaziland. Noma Dumezweni is a Laurence Olivier Award winning actress who is now based in London. Noma played the role of Hermione Grainger in the stage production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and won a second Laurence Olivier Award for her performance. Luke Hall is a Swazi swimmer who competed at the 2008 an 2012 Summer Olympics. Leonard A. Payne was a British Flying Ace who was born in Swaziland and was credited with 11 confirmed aerial victories while piloting a Bristol F.2 Fighter.
There are almost too many nature reserves and animal sanctuaries in Swaziland to list! We've provided links to some of them (below) so you can view these amazing places.
Impala in Swaziland
Source: Creative Commons, Labeled for Reuse
Source: Creative Commons, Labeled for Reuse
Sadly, although Swaziland is home to many wildlife parks and reserves, Swaziland has been accused by one of the world’s leading conservationists of being a puppet of South Africa in a bid to open the floodgates to a potentially calamitous legal rhino horn trade. We hope this changes soon!Source: Creative Commons, Labeled for Reuse
As you can see, Swaziland is high on our list of "Got To Go There" places.
The Tsandza Collection Fine Handwoven Fashion & Home Décor
Handwoven or knit, these beautiful fashion scarves, shawls, wraps and home décor cushions, blankets and throws are the product of talented artisans from Swaziland. Using specially formulated dyes, they are able to achieve vivid, yet softly elegant colours.- Gorgeous products created by local women in Swaziland giving them employment opportunities.
- Handmade every step of the process.
- Minimum environmental impact using natural fibres and biodegradable dyes.
- Designed with 'slow fashion', ensuring longevity and quality, encouraging slower production, fair wages and lower carbon footprints.
- Flavour of Africa with contemporary influence.