We decided to take a long weekend to tick another country off our list. The drive to the Eswatini border took about 5 hours and we managed to get to our AirB&B on the outskirts of the capital city, Mbabane, by late afternoon.

The areas of Eswatini that we saw felt similar to the surrounding rural areas of South Africa. Unlike Lesotho, there were no mountains or commuters on horseback, but rather rolling hills and clustered neighborhoods. Sadly, we never got to see the actual city of Mbabane or the majority of the country for that matter, but instead chose to spend our time exploring the beautiful landscape around our AirBnB.

The cottage we rented was located in a valley at the base of Sibebe Rock, world’s largest granite dome and the world’s second largest monolith. It was a rondavel with a thatched roof and a leaning staircase that made you question the structural integrity of the loft where we would sleep.

When we arrived, the host who had a daughter about the same age as Sonja greeted us. She commented how exciting it was to have us as guests as there are not many other babies around for her daughter to play with. They graciously took us on a tour of the land behind their house and pointed out different hiking routes up to the ridgeline.

After a chilly night’s sleep, we awoke the next morning and headed out to climb up the hillside for a better view of Sibebe rock. We were all excited to try out Sonja’s hiking pack and we were pleased that she enjoyed being carried around in it. The air was a little smokey as it was dry season and there were a number of small, contained bushfires around. Following a successful summit, we met up for lunch with a colleague who was currently working at the Embassy in Mbabane and toured his house.

That night, as we got ready for bed, our hosts warned us there was a strong wind advisory and suggested it could cause power outages throughout the night. We also noticed that the ridgeline we summited just a few hours ago was on fire. Tiny bits of ash were coming in through the loose window sills. Slightly concerned about the combination of wind and fire we checked in with the host who commented that these types of small bush fires happen often and assured us that the wind would be changing directions soon to take it away from us, and just in case there was a large fire break and river between the property and the hillside.

A little relieved, yet still a bit cautious we decided to load some of our bags in the car before heading to sleep. We were checking out tomorrow anyways and it would make heading out in the morning a little quicker. We set an alarm for 3 hours later to check on the status of the fire to make sure it wasn’t coming any closer. 2.5 hours later, at about 1 AM we were woken up by a phone call. It was the hosts, “you need to leave now.” Still half asleep, I didn’t want to risk misunderstanding her and unnecessarily wake a sleeping baby in the middle of the night, “What? You mean leave the property? And go where?” At this point, the smell of smoke had gotten much stronger and there appeared to be an orange hue behind the window blinds.

Peering behind the curtain, the flames were right on the edge of the property. How the heck did it move so quickly!?!? Sitting on the side of the road next to the property we debated driving back the 5 hours to Johannesburg. We decided to drop by my colleagues house to see if we could wake him and ask to sleep there. We also worried about Sonja’s new baby friend and, before leaving, decided to go back onto the property and offer to take their baby with us, away from the danger for the night. As we drove back on the property we were stopped by a huge tree that had just fallen across the driveway. Had we not left when we did, we would have been stuck there, surrounded by fire and under a thatched roof.

We returned the next morning to check on the hosts. Thankfully everyone was okay and none of their buildings were damaged.

What we expected to be a fairly low-key weekend away ended up being a trip that we will never forget.

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