XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX At the endsharp Encounters on foot and horseback in eSwatini, the small African kingdom where immense creatures come surprisingly close WORDS PETER GRUNERT @petervg73 PHOTOGRAPHS PHILIP LEE HARVEY @philip_lee_harvey_photographer A white rhino, known as Masalempini, and her calf in Mkhaya Game Reserve 54 December 2019 December 2019 55 GO WILD INXXXXXXXXX ESWATINI Left: Mkhaya nature guide Bongani Mbatha 30˚C at noon and zero at midnight. aimed like a medieval siege weapon. hills and fields of Mlilwane Wildlife stands before We creep in silence through the Fortunately, his ears indicate Sanctuary, they are shrouded from a pair of bush. Bongani is on high alert, feeling calm. Bongani grins and signals to harm – so long as they sidestep the white rhino. Right: Maja which direction the breeze carries move backward in a broad zigzag. crocodiles that lurk by the waterhole. Tsabedze and our scent in, and sniffing for the So we zig and we zag, and for some Ann grew up in this highveld Ann Reilly earthy richness of fresh rhino dung. reason the rhino keeps following. As country. In the shadow of Execution ride out at dawn Bongani’s hand rises. Before us is a we head more urgently sideways Rock – from which serious criminals in Mlilwane bull rhino: a whopper, longer and again, drowsiness brought on by the were once thrown – she played on the heavier than the Land Rover we’ve left escalating heat of day overwhelms land worked by her grandfather, behind. He chomps on grass and, as him. The rhino winds on to his knees Mickey Reilly. Family legend has it he turns towards us, a female almost and settles into a siesta, his partner that Mickey fled enrolment to the as gigantic is revealed. We close from joining him. Irish Catholic priesthood. He fought 25 to 20 to 15 metres, crouching low. in the Anglo-Boer War and, at the ‘Watch the ears,’ says Bongani, his The horse cousins turn of the 20th century, settled in voice a cautious murmur. ‘See them the southern African kingdom of starting to orientate in our direction? As Ann Reilly gives a flick of her boots Swaziland, as eSwatini was long The male is concentrating on you. If her horse, Troy, hurtles forward, called. He built a new life through tin one ear becomes cocked back, that plumes of iron-rich dust arcing out mining and farming. In 1960, Ann’s will be a first sign of aggression. If he behind him. Wildebeest stare father, Ted, gifted Mlilwane, the makes a “huff-huff” sound, that will through the haze. Muscular and family’s maize farm, to establish a be your clearest warning.’ shiny-coated, these aren’t the rangy reserve for creatures hunted out of The bull rhino continues chewing. creatures that struggle through existence in colonial times. Working He walks straight at us, his horn Africa’s Great Migration. Between the with the current King Mswati III’s The remaining rhinos into Mkhaya Game Reserve’s 10,000 First, the slightest nub of an infantile hectares of dense bush, and our Land horn emerges. Then eyes, timid Rover bounces onwards up a dirt and curious. Prodding the dust track. Antelopes are everywhere. with a stumpy foot, the calf gathers Towering kudu raise their necks confidence before skipping out above magic gwary trees laden with from behind his mother’s enormous sweet berries. Harems of impala barricade of a rump. circle in clearings, and tiger-striped The calf makes a gentle panting nyala flick their ears behind thickets sound – a contact call, to reassure his of acacia thorns. mother. Red-billed oxpeckers ride on A radio message, given in code to the rhinos’ backs, hopping off to confuse potential poachers, lets pluck ticks from around ears and Bongani know that more white undersides. Then the birds fuss and rhino are close. ‘Shall we walk?’ he chirrup away, sending their hosts a asks. ‘Just remember, if something signal that other creatures are nearby. happens, don’t try to run away. ‘The mother’s name is Masalempini You can never outrun a rhinoceros.’ – that means Remains of the War,’ White and black species of rhino whispers nature guide Bongani are abundant enough at Mkhaya to Mbatha. ‘She is a white rhino born just allow frequent sightings, as long as after a time of heavy poaching, from you search when they’re most active. 1988 to 1992. Perhaps that explains In the dry southern-hemisphere why she is so aggressive. She has hit winter, the rhino feed now, in the vehicles many times in the past.’ morning, and at dusk, hunkering Masalempini and her calf disappear down against temperatures close to 56 December 2019 Month 2019 57 GO WILD IN ESWATINI late father, Ted Reilly also set up grass. ‘It’s easy to smile when you corners of eSwatini have few Hlane Royal National Park. enjoy riding out so much,’ she says. tarmacked roads to carry commerce ‘I think I’m one of the most blessed Along with her colleague Maja, she to them, and face high rates of people,’ says Ann. ‘Growing up here, demonstrates how the horses connect unemployment and HIV infection. I had such freedom. My mother had a with the wildlife, cantering in close ‘We do not always appreciate the rule: “So long as you come home formation with a herd of plains zebra. riches around us,’ says Nomsa, who covered in clean dirt, that will be fine.”’ ‘We once had a new horse here, studied community development, and Ann selects and trains the horses a nervous one,’ Ann says. ‘When that then made it her mission to push for ridden by visitors alongside Mlilwane’s horse saw a zebra, the zebra dropped progress. First she led the building of wildlife. ‘I look for a nice big, soft eye,’ its head before her, and she learnt to a successful community-managed she says. A sturdy, placid mare named relax. They’re both horses – they eco-camp and conservancy in nearby Granite has been chosen for me to understand one another’s language.’ Shewula – ‘after people thought I was ride today. As we trot out through the crazy for trying’. A similar experiment pinkish morning light, Granite spares The missing baboons is now underway at Mhlumeni. Then my knees by edging around thorny she campaigned for recognition of the scrub, and waits patiently as I stop to ‘I am from a rural place like this,’ unique biodiversity of her birthplace, watch meandering herds of impala, says Nomsa Mabila, warming her leading to Unesco naming the blesbok, hartebeest and roan. hands by the fire pit at Mhlumeni Lubombo region as eSwatini’s first Ann beams continuously as she Bush Camp. She looks out at the lights Biosphere Reserve. And now Nomsa rides through this rolling landscape of homesteads glowing between has helped establish a hiking route of eucalyptus trees and close-cropped layers of forested hills. Such remote into Mozambique, carving out another Community development officer Nomsa Mabila at Mhlumeni Bush Camp. Opposite: Male impala, distinguished by their gracefully twisted horns 58 December 2019 December 2019 59 GO WILD IN ESWATINI Petros Fakudze wearing a cloak with the red hand that symbolises his occupation as a sangoma, or traditional healer reason for visitors to come here. King and Queen Mother are known in eSwatini’s largest national park, the Above: Plains We take a walk along the start of the siSwati, the local language. 35,000-hectare habitat of lions and zebra – their trail. Every few steps reveal a plant We call on the sangoma – a job title elephants – creatures intertwined stripes make it with a use in traditional medicine, the that combines faith healer and with royal symbolism. In 2018, George difficult for descent of a butterfly or the scuttle fortune teller. Petros Fakudze survived a mauling by a lioness. She predators to pick out individuals of a lizard. Hornbills shriek overhead beckons me into his consultation hut, pounced while he was trying to among a herd as we reach the twin landmarks the atmosphere set by darkness, remove a tree that had fallen across of Leopard Cave and Baboon Cave Mozambican house music and a little the electric fence used to enclose the – homes to a predator and prey gone apprehension. Petros says he is a park’s apex predators. He shows me before anyone here can remember. specialist in back pain and erectile the deep scars where she bit his arms Our walk continues between the dysfunction. He closes his eyes, throws and legs as he defended himself. homesteads of Mhlumeni. Sibongile down a combination of seeds, shells, We drive out into the bush, Fakudze’s is a cluster of thatched huts bones, bullets, coins and dice, and dodging termite mounds and keeping where puppies scamper and Nokia asks my ancestors for a diagnosis. a watch for fresh lion tracks. The phones ring out. She shares a song ‘They are telling me your work needs lions and elephants live side by side, taught to her by her grandparents, energising,’ he says. I brace myself for in a landscape sculpted by the which she still practises with her six an expensive prescription from the elephants’ whims. The lowveld scrub children. ‘It was sung at my wedding,’ jars of herbs around him. But no. ‘You is more open than in Mkhaya, and she says. ‘It tells of a guy who proposed must go home and light incense. Cook the trees… deader. Their blackened love to a woman. He married her, lamb on a barbecue. And drink wine.