Swazi Culture & Scenery

Horses & Riding

Tack

Liversage enduro saddles (trail saddles) with simple snaffle bridles and rope halters. There are small saddle bags in the numnahs to carry water and snacks. They recommend that you bring your own water bottle to reduce waste. Riding Helmets are compulsory.

Horses

Your horses have been carefully selected and bred for comfort as well as easy and happy riding. The herd comprises mainly of crossbreeds from a foundation stock of Arab, Warmblood and Boerperd with some recent additions of Percheron, Friesian, Clydesdale, Appaloosa, Lusitano and Thoroughbred crosses. Most are 15-15.2hh as smaller horses are usually more agile in the mountains.

The rides take you across technical terrain where you will cross rivers on horseback and may have to dismount and lead your horse over tricky paths. You will be expected to tack up your own horse and mount independently from the ground (with the help of a mountain rock if required).

Riding

There are 2 itineraries:

• Mlilwane Ride (Centre Based) is a based ride
• Mlilwane Ride (Camp-Out) is a trail ride

Ages

Riders of 8 years or older can join the Mlilwane rides

Health

You need to be fit for long hours in the saddle and able to dismount and lead your horse on foot. Some of the camps are remote so you need to have good general health.

Weight

85 kg / 187 lbs / 13 stone 5 lbs

Food & Accommodation

Food

You dine in the restaurants at the two main lodges/camps. Hippo Haunt at Rest Camp and Trading Post at KaMsholo provide a buffet breakfast and dinner with a la carte lunches. Saddlebag lunches are provided on full day rides with snacks or sandwiches with fruit and juice.

If you opt for the two nights fly camping then meals are cooked over the open fire.

Vegetarians can be accommodated and some special diets but please check with us first as sourcing some food stuffs can be difficult. Vegans cannot be catered for.

Accommodation

You can stay in a diverse mixture of accommodation, depending on the itinerary chosen - please see individual itineraries for more details.

On the Mlilwane Ride (centre based) you stay on two different reserves and in two different sets of rondavels. The Beehive huts or Lontweni rondavels at Mlilwane Rest camp are en-suite - the camp is quite large so they choose the more private options where possible. At Kamsholo you stay at Tinsele camp which has just 8 rondavels with ensuite bathrooms, so has a smaller and more personal fee.

On the Mlilwane Ride (with sleep-out) you also spend two nights camping. Camp is fully supported with bell tents, bucket showers and long-drop toilets but has no electricity.

Single rooms are limited and extra cost.

Itineraries

Mlilwane Ride (Centre Based) Standard accommodation.

Mlilwane Ride (Camp-Out) Tented / Standard accommodation.

Other Activities

On the centre based Mlilwane Ride, non-riders are welcomed and you can opt to do as much or as little riding as you like. This is a much more flexible itinerary which is suited to families and mixed groups. The itinerary can be adapted to suit your groups needs.

Travel

Eswatini is less than 400km from Johannesburg airport, so we recommend a road shuttle which is more affordable and takes the same amount of time.

The daily shuttle departs 3 times a day from Johannesburg's OR Tambo airport at c. 08:30am, 11:00am and 14:00pm on your arrival day and departs Ezulwini at c. 07:00am, 10:30am and 13:30pm on your departure day. Your guides will transfer you the final 10km between Ezulwini and the reserve.

You MUST book flights which allow time for passport control and to collect your luggage before making your way to the shuttle, we recommend 2 hours. The journey to Eswatini takes c. 4 hours from the airport to the border, plus 30-60 mins for passport formalities and another c. 30mins to your destination. I can be a good idea to arrive in Johannesburg the day before and spend the night relaxing after your flight in an airport hotel.

Air Transfers are also available from Johannesburg into Eswatini with Eswatini Air and Airlink Eswatini.

Testimonials

Johanna F, May 16, 2025

It was so much fun. The country is small but it has an interesting culture and the people are sooo friendly and welcoming with their huge smiles. Ann was the perfect host, sometimes riding with us but always having lunch and dinner with her clients. And as she spent so much time with us, she also told us many stories and facts about Eswatini. She is extremely nice, perfect for this kind of thing. The same with the guides – not just guiding through the landscape but also sharing insights to their way of life. Very interesting, I loved it.

The horses – lovely, lovely, lovely. I rode 4 different ones and loved them all. Especially at the KamSholo we got to ride very forward-going horses with lots of wonderfully fast canters. I do not know why I was expecting slow rides, but I was definitely surprised in a good way. The horses were well-behaved, friendly, curious and taken well cared of.

The landscape was varied, and we didn’t have one day similar to the previous one. Always something different. The weather was also perfect as it was 20 plus some degrees during the day every day. Nights a bit chilly, but that was no problem with a good layer of clothes.

Oh, almost forgot the animals! At Mlilwane they are just THERE. Warthogs, zebras, all kind of antelopes... they are literally walking in the camp a couple of meters away from you. I have been on safaris, but this was quite unique as I have never been so close to them actually. You could almost touch them (not that I would really want to pat on a warthog 😃). They do not have lions or elephants, but it didn’t matter as there are other animals all over the place. In KamSholo there were a quite a bit of giraffes as well. They are indeed beautiful animals.

I am usually ok to go home when the trail ends, but I have to say, I would have loved to spend a few more days there and was kind of sad to be going home.

Martin and Suzanne, May 16, 2025

A fantastic opportunity to get to know a little about Eswatini - the people, the environment, the animals - all whilst riding wonderful horses and with superb hospitality.

The accommodation was luxurious and food excellent - including a couple of lovely surprises arranged by our host. We each rode 3 different horses - all were ideal for the job - fit, responsive and very well cared for. Saddles were comfortable and suited to trail riding. All our guides were very friendly and knowledgeable. They made sure that we were safe at all times and we were kept well- informed about the area in which we were travelling, about the local people and the wildlife we encountered.