Stepping Back in Time in Mbabane


Scenery in Mbabane

Swaziland felt different.

Within minutes of touching down at the airport in Manzini, I felt welcomed.

I felt at ease.

I felt safe.

That wasn’t what I had been expecting at all.

Swaziland airport
I was obsessed with this makeshift baggage reclaim at the airport

The Kingdom of eSwatini is squished up between Mozambique and South Africa, and is one of the smallest countries in Africa; similar in size to Slovenia. It makes exploring the country super-easy, as you can drive from one end of the country to the other in just a couple of hours.

It’s worth mentioning, too, that it’s one of the last absolute monarchies in the world, and that you should not, under any circumstances, insult the king or royal family of eSwatini while you’re in the country. Unless you want to be arrested. It’s even illegal to insult the king on Facebook or Twitter. I definitely resolved not to start any conversations about the royal family while I was within eSwatini, as the articles I’d read before arriving didn’t make him out to be anywhere near an awesome person.

eSwatini is also the fifth poorest country in the world and has the world’s highest prevalence rate of HIV-infected adults (almost a third of citizens aged 15-49.) eSwatini’s TB infection rate is also the highest in the world.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, as eSwatini will most likely be the first mainland country in Sub-Saharan Africa to completely eradicate malaria.

And the fact that had me most fascinated of all: eSwatini has one of the highest numbers of people struck by lightning per capita in the world, and several of the locals I spoke to knew of someone who had been hit by a bolt.

Views of Swaziland
Views of Swaziland on the way to Mbabane

I passed through immigration with only one a minor incident, where the woman behind the desk asked me where I would be staying while I was in the country.

Damn it. 

I was really hoping to have heard somebody say Mbabane before I had to say it aloud. I had no idea how to pronounce it. Even googling pronunciation tips online had brought up three different ways to say it.

“Em-bab-ay-nee?” I tried.

She smiled.

“Mmm-bah-bahn? Okay.”

“Mmm-bah-bahn,” I repeated after her, giggling at how strange it felt to start a word with mmmm.

Mbabane hills
Mbabane: hard to say but easy on the eyes. Lol, sorry, that was awful

I made my way through the glistening airport and into the arrivals hall, where a local woman was smiling at me while holding up an enormous sign with LAUREN JULIFF written across it.

I walked up her and was greeted with a huge smile and a noticeable sigh of relief.

“Lauren Juliff? Come with me.” She led me outside to a shuttle bus, and most of the people on my flight followed in our footsteps. Although, unlike me, they hadn’t required somebody to lead them twenty metres outside to the only minivan in the car park.

Back when I’d booked my guesthouse in Mbabane, I’d emailed the owner to ask about taking an airport transfer.

There’s no need to do that, she’d wrote back. It will be a lot cheaper for you to take a minivan from the airport to Mbabane, where I will meet you. Don’t worry — I have contacts at the airport and will make sure they take care of you. 

I guess that’s exactly what happened.

Scenery in Mbabane

It was less than $3 for the two-hour transfer to the centre of Mbabane, and as the minivan wound its way through the Swaziland scenery, I was struck by how beautiful the scenery was. Everywhere I looked, there were lush green mountains and hills, along with dusty red-dirt roads, and I could tell I was starting to fall in love. I gasped with excitement when I spotted a sign by the side of the road saying, “Pedestrians, beware of lion & elephant. Big game crossing.”

What was most surprising to me, though, was that this in no way felt like one of the poorest countries in the world.

The roads were well-paved with zero potholes, the cars on the road were neither old nor beaten-up, the minivan felt brand new, and when I later checked in to my guesthouse, I would learn there was completely drinkable tap water.

The rural parts of the country would tell a completely different story, I knew, but I guess I was surprised to discover this much development anywhere within the country.

We pulled up at a petrol station in the centre of town, which was my cue to hop out and meet my guesthouse owner.

“Are you okay?” the driver asked when it became clear that she had not yet arrived.

“Oh, yes!” I told him, “I’m supposed to met my guesthouse owner here, but I guess she’s running late.”

He looked concerned. “Which guesthouse? I can drive you there. I have no other passengers in my van.”

“Upperroom Guesthouse,” I told him. “But it’s fine — I have data on my phone, so if she doesn’t turn up, I can just walk there. It’s not far away.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“Can I wait with you until she arrives?”

“You don’t have to, but if you want to, yeah.”

“I want to.”

Main Street in Mbabane
The main street in Mbabane

Lauren, hello!

A beaming woman pulled up beside me and waved. “I’m sorry I’m late!”

I reassured her that it was totally fine and bundled myself and my backpack into the back of her car.

“Welcome to Swaziland,” she said with a grin.

“Thank you so much. I’m excited to be here.”

On the way to the guesthouse, I told her about my plans for my short time in the country — to spend one day exploring Mbabane and the next taking a game drive in Hlane National Park — one of the best places in the world to spot rhinos in the wild. Swaziland is such a small country, and one that so many travellers just pass through, that I didn’t have to feel guilty about only staying for three nights.

I’d originally planned to spend one of my days in the country with a reader of this site, but when that fell through, I asked her for recommendations on how to spend a day in Mbabane. When she came back to tell me all about the wonderful places outside of the capital city, I knew there would most likely be nothing to hold my attention.

And here’s what Wikitravel lists for things to see and do in Mbabane:

Things to see and do in Mbabane

I wasn’t expecting much, so I was surprised when I stepped outside my guesthouse and was met by a stunning view of the mountains.

Mbabane was so pretty.

In my head, I’d expected to spend my day scurrying around a city that looked like Maputo, in Mozambique, but Mbabane was the opposite. It was clean with very little trash; the locals were friendly and welcoming, not intimidating and aggressive; the roads and sidewalks were paved, with few pot holes; and the scenery was impressive.

It was also tiny.

Mbabane might just be the smallest capital city I’ve ever been to — you can walk down every street in the city in under a couple of hours.

And was there stuff to do there?

No.

Not unless you wanted to buy some groceries.

But it was surrounded by pretty hills and that was enough for me.

Religious sign in Mbabane
Swaziland is a deeply religious country, and as well as spotting signs like these, my room came with a copy of the Bible

And can I talk about how lovely the locals are in Swaziland?

I’d expected to feel similarly to how I had in Mozambique and South Africa. There, I had felt, for the most part, safe, but still very much on edge. I had been reluctant to get my phone or camera out, and nervous when in a large crowd of locals.

This wasn’t the case in Swaziland.

“I feel so safe here!” I exclaimed to my tour guide the following day. “I’ve just been in Mozambique and South Africa and I was expecting Swaziland to feel similar, but it really doesn’t.”

He let out a chuckle. “Oh yes, Swaziland is much safer. There isn’t a lot of crime. You are safe to walk around here. It’s a very safe country for tourists.”

Mbabane trash can
Keep Mbabane clean!

But the one thing I remember most from my time in Mbabane?

How much it felt like I’d stepped into a time machine and reemerged at some point in the 90s.

Allow me to share a couple of the photos I snapped from my walk around the city.

Cassettes in Mbabane
TV games machine and cassettes were for sale at this shop
And floppy discs and magnetic tapes were for sale here

It was definitely eye-opening to see that there are some parts of the world where you can buy floppy discs and cassette tapes in several of the stores, and especially because more recent technologies, like Wi-Fi, were widespread throughout the city.

City Council of Mbabane

After spending time in Mbabane, would I urge you to drop everything and book a flight there right now?

I think you already know the answer to that.

But it wasn’t a terrible place. It wasn’t as mediocre a place as I had been expecting.

What a glowing report! 

Ha.

In Mbabane, I liked that the locals would frequently stop to talk to me and welcome me to their country. I liked the surrounding scenery, that the city was walkable, and that it was peaceful for a capital city. I liked getting to travel to a place unlike anywhere else I’d been before.

So if you’re heading into Swaziland, I can recommend carving out a morning to have a wander around Mbabane. I can even recommend using it as a base while you explore the rest of the country. But I don’t recommend specifically heading there in search of things to do.

Unless you need to stock up on floppy discs.

Have you been to eSwatini before?

Related Articles on eSwatini/Swaziland

🇸🇿 Why You Need to Take a Game Drive in Swaziland

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About the author

Lauren Juliff

Lauren Juliff is a published author and travel expert who founded Never Ending Footsteps in 2011. She has spent over 12 years travelling the world, sharing in-depth advice from more than 100 countries across six continents.

Lauren's travel advice has been featured in publications like the BBC, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Cosmopolitan, and her work is read by 200,000 readers each month. Her travel memoir can be found in bookstores across the planet.

26 Comments

  1. Atanas
    March 12, 2017
    Reply

    I suppose Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, Windows 97, Titanic and Mortal Combat are still a big thing there :D

    • March 30, 2017
      Reply

      Hahaha, if only. I’m all about that 90s nostalgia.

  2. March 12, 2017
    Reply

    Oh man, I thought floppy discs were now extinct! Did you happen to find any Beanie Babies?! :)

    • March 13, 2017
      Reply

      I totally would have bought one if I had :-)

  3. I never thought Swaziland would be a worthwhile country to visit, but you make it sound really nice. Especially, the throwback to the 90s would be great to experience :-) If I go to the east of South Africa, I’ll make sure a visit to Swaziland is also on the cards!

    • March 14, 2017
      Reply

      Yes! It really is worth a visit and everyone is so lovely there!

  4. March 12, 2017
    Reply

    I’m struck by two things after reading this post: first, you ooze confidence. Okay, I know you probably don’t feel that way! Being content to wait for the guest house owner all by yourself in a brand new country, confident she will show is amazing. And that is after all the stories of people not showing up when they have said they would all over the world.

    Second, I really want to visit Swaziland now. This is a country that I’d heard of but have never really heard about. It sounds lovely.

    • March 13, 2017
      Reply

      Ha! That’s true. I haven’t had the best of luck with guesthouse owners turning up :-D In this case, I had data on my phone and the address of the guesthouse, so I knew that if she didn’t show, I could just walk there. Having a plan B always makes a huge difference to my confidence.

  5. It’s so nice to hear that some of these countries that we expect to be dirty and unsafe are so great!

    • March 12, 2017
      Reply

      Swaziland is the complete opposite of that! :-)

  6. March 12, 2017
    Reply

    I had a wonderful few days in Swaziland though it was a long time ago now. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but it’s so small even though I was travelling slowly I found myself at the border on the other side before I’d barely had time to blink. The people were lovely and I felt really looked after so it’s good to hear that hasn’t changed.

    • March 30, 2017
      Reply

      Yes! I agree. I loved so much about Swaziland, but Hlane was on the opposite side of the country and I was still able to see it as a day trip, so I can’t imagine there being too much to do there beyond three or four days or so.

  7. Samantha
    March 15, 2017
    Reply

    Where did you stay in Mbabane since you so much about the owners and everything? I’m heading to swaziland this summer :)

    • March 20, 2017
      Reply

      Ah, I didn’t end up loving the guesthouse, so didn’t want to recommend it in the post.

      The owners were super-super lovely, and it was probably the best option for Mbabane, but I did find trash under my pillow after I checked in, giving a pretty big indication that they hadn’t changed the sheets since the person who stayed there before me. So, yeah, not amazing. But regardless, it was called Upperroom Guesthouse.

  8. Priyanka
    March 20, 2017
    Reply

    Swaziland is a safe country for tourists and the natives are very friendly

  9. Shaz
    March 21, 2017
    Reply

    An apt description of Mbabane. I spent several days there in 2013 and it was nice but unexciting. I’m glad to hear the locals are just as kind as I remember, though.

    • March 21, 2017
      Reply

      The locals are lovely! :-) Glad to hear you agreed with my post.

  10. June 11, 2017
    Reply

    I laughed when I saw that screenshot of Wikitravel! I’m currently at Mendoza on a Sunday and it’s a ghost town here too! Everywhere’s closed on the weekends.

    I like how you can write so much about an empty town with nothing to do. Love your writing style!

    • June 12, 2017
      Reply

      Ha! Thanks so much! Hope you figure out something to do in Mendoza :-)

  11. Chris
    October 23, 2018
    Reply

    I`m planning to visit Mbabane soon & i find your article very interesting. Thank you for the insights!

  12. Mlungisi Cyprian Khumalo
    February 19, 2022
    Reply

    I really don’t think Swaziland still has the highest HIV number given the years off hard work they have put in,I totally disagree with it being the fifth most poorest country, honestly speaking the ppl in Swaziland not starving comparing it this these big countries in the sadc….there isnt much hunger there

    • February 21, 2022
      Reply

      Statements in my articles are based on researched facts rather than feelings. I get that you think they don’t have the highest number but they do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_HIV/AIDS_adult_prevalence_rate — they have a prevalence of 27% of the population in 2021, higher than any other country.

      • Siphesihle
        February 23, 2022
        Reply

        It’s all true actually. The highest number is not by total number of peeps with(za got that), but the number of peeps with per 1000. We are still high there.

        And the fifth poorest, it might have gotten worse. Again this is also based on per Capita figures. Number of people hungry per 1000, plenty.

        But I admire how you are defending the country. Big man.

  13. Siphesihle
    February 23, 2022
    Reply

    Glad you enjoyed your tour ma’am.
    ☺️ Small tips.
    Mbabane is not really a Tourist Town, On your next trip try staying at the Zulwini Valley, but if you have to stay in Mbabane, Mountain Inn would be a better option. They have quite good places for accomodation. On the exploration front, they aren’t any better than Mbabane, for that I’d recommend game/scenic drives.

    And the Airport, it’s not Manzini. Manzini was closed to the Public about 5 years before your trip. (It’s less than an hour away from Mbabane). That one is called Sikhuphe/Simply King Mswati.

    Glad you enjoyed your trip. We’d be happy to welcome you back. ✨

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