Wanderings: Rhino at Hlane

August 12 to 14, 2025

Descending from the edge of the highveld at Mlilwane through the middleveld brought us to the flat lowveld country in northeast eSwatini (1).The road here, built at the behest of the sugarcane growers, bisects the conservation areas here.

The former royal hunting grounds, Hlane Royal National Park contains lions and elephants, important symbols of the Swazi Royal family. At the gate, I was greeted by name as if an old friend by the attendant (2).

A crash of White Rhino were gathered at the water hole visible from reception. Within a few minutes of our arrival, we decided to spend another night at the park (2). The Rhino walked into the bush with the setting sun (3).

Up early for a sunrise game drive offered more white rhino viewing. Poaching of rhino for their horns (4) has resulted in serious poaching problems; Hlane will not even reveal how many animals they have. While previously allowed the run of the park, lions are now in a separate (very large) area of the park, segregated from the rhino. The lions were not segregated due to predation of the rhino, but to permit anti-poaching patrols without fear of lions attacking the rangers. A break for coffee and tea in the bush was a nice touch.

After breakfast, we drove through the gate to a bird hide at a water hole deep in the park. Cautiously getting out of the car (5), we enjoyed watching a variety of animals come and go.

On the sunset game drive there was a British couple riding their bikes from Maputo through eSwatini and into South Africa as their honeymoon. The wife pointed into the bush and called out "A lion's mane." "No," replied the polite guide, "that's a termite mound," as her new husband laughed. After dinner, a local Swazi dance group entertained the guests by the firelight.

Our guide (6) for the (somewhat foggy) morning bush walk pointed out the various giraffe, elephant, lion and homo sapien tracks (our shoe prints) and how recent they were. Chittering oxpeckers pointed out where the rhinos were. The birds have a symbiotic relationship with the rhino, eating ticks off the rhinos back and raising a warning cry when humans (and other predators) approach. The rhino were inured to our presence, placidly munching and lying on the ground (7). We followed the rhino to the waterhole to end our walk.

Leaving Hlane, we watched baboons grabbing sugarcane from the adjacent fields which had fallen off trucks. We inadvertently drove into a company town (8) run by the sugar cane grower; even the church had the company logo.

(1) While a small country (slightly larger than Connecticut), eSwatini has 6 distinct climate zones due to its varying elevation and topography.

(2) Plan A for tomorrow had been to spend the night in nearby Mozambique. While possible to bring our rental car there 6 months ago when I booked, this is now prohibited due to deterioration in Mozambique's security situation.

(3) Our rondavel accomodations had en-suite bathrooms with hot and cold water, but no electricity. Lighting is provided in the units and on the path from the restaurant by paraffin lanterns.

(4) Used in traditional Asian medicine.

(5) While there are no predators in this part of the park, the impala have horns that look quite sharp when you're out of your car and walking by.

(6) To my surprise, the guide was unarmed. I hoped the rhinos were in a good mood.

(7) "When near rhino, always know where the nearest tree is, to climb if the rhino starts to charge."

(8) The town was shown on the map about 20 miles from its actual location. The only reasonably good map I have had of the country was a free map I picked up a number of years ago that precisely marked the location of every KFC (a) in the country with the company's logo.

(a) Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken.