NOVEMBER 2019 - eSWATINI
It's a damp welcome back to Hlane (the siSwati word for 'wilderness'). proclaimed a Royal National Park in 1967, under instruction of King Sobhuza ll. It's the country ’s largest protected area and hosts the traditional 'Butimba', or royal hunt (reintroduced to their former home: elephant, white rhi no and lion - the emblem of royal Eswatini ). Some residents appreciate the rainstorms After a damp night, it's a bright morning and, down by the water, everyone is building or nurturing And others leave the water A spot of lunch (buffalo - is that very bad taste?!) Next morning, a common, or variegated, spotted bush snake, a non-venomous (a passing guide assured us(!), distinguished from mambas or boomslangs by being heavily speckled with black spots ) insectivore colubrid. About two feet long but no fatter than my thumb. Beautiful. ...