2015/08/29 Foresters Arms / region Manzini

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

After the overnight stay in the southern part of the Kruger National Park, we went to another overnight stay to reduce the distance to our destination in St. Lucia at the Indian Ocean. Therefor we had to imigrate in the Kingdom of Swaziland.

We came from Malelane and crossed the border at Jeppes Reef. From there we followed the signs to Mbabane, the admnistrative capital and largest city of Swaziland, over the MR1 and MR3. From Mbabane we followed the MR19 for nearly 30 kilometers in the direction of Mhlambanyatsi. Few kilometers after Mhlambanyatsi you will see a sign to turn right to Foresters Arms. Between Mbabane and Mhlambanyatsi were also some signs from Foresters Arms.

The last 5-6 kilometers (I think it were 5-6) you have to drive more carefully, because there are many potholes.

The lodge

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

Foresters Arms is in the middle of a forest. Few hundred meters after leaving the main road you enter the gate to the lodge area. If you drive straight, you will come directly to the parking lot. Left from them you get to the reception.

After the check in we parked our car directly behind the living houses. The parking lot is roofed.

The main house and dining room is arranged in an interesting old-fashioned (we think) English style. The outside facilities were well-groomed: short grass, flowers, trees, a pool.

I guess there are 30 rooms available for guests, and during our stay it was good booked.

Based on the sign, you could do horse riding, play boules, walking, trout fishing, play croquet, play golf, train in the fittness room, relax in the sauna, play table tennis or go for mountain biking.

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

The complete property of the lodge is fenced, to enter or leave it you have to go to the gate.

The room

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

The room was good. We had a double bed (but just one big blanket for both), two chairs, 2 little tables, a chimney, a telephone and a TV. In front of every room were two extra chairs and a table, so you can also sit outside.

The bathroom was ok, but it is just offering a bathtube, no shower and also no shower curtain to have a shower in the bathtube. That was a bit pity, but not extremly problematic.

In the room was one free socket under one of the tables. In the bathroom was no socket for hairdryer.

The food

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

We had just an overnight stay, but there was dinner and breakfast in our booking included. We arrived the lodge at 1:30pm and the man at the reception offered us to have lunch if we want. We were hungry, so we accepted.

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

It was a buffet with different kinds of dishes for starter, main menu and desserts. They also offered 3 kinds of bread, which were all made by themself. We had some pieces of different food.

For dinner we were surpriced, because there was a table for every guest reserved with a name badge. On the backside stands another name, which was the name of the young woman who was responsible for us. An elder woman – the owner of the lodge – introduced us the waitress and also the menu for the evening. On one hand the part with the personal waitress was a bit weird and it felt uncomfortable, on the other hand it was interesting to got this kind of service.

 All portions are not big, but you can choose more than one of the meals.

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

We had a chicken soup for starter with the homemade bread, a main menu with salmon (me) and green thai chicken (Nadine) and for dessert two scoops of ice-cream (me) and apple cake with ice-cream and berrie topping (Nadine).

For breakfast was the same table for every guest reserved and the same waitress was responsible. In the middle of the room were a big round table with different kinds of cereals, bread, jam, fruits, juices, honey, sirup, yogurts, cakes, pancakes and tea. I’m not sure if there were also some savory things – for us was the sweet stuff more important. :)

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

South Africa - Swaziland - Foresters Arms

You could order some different kinds of eggs – I choosed the scrambled eggs with bacon.

All the food was very delicious and the service good.

In this vlog you can see a bit more of the room, the lodge and the area:

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Internet connection

We had 2 vodacom prepaid SIMs with data plans for South Africa. These cards didn’t work in Swaziland. Our Geman SIM cards are from o2, which has no contract with a network provider in Swaziland. So we had no connection.

The lodge offers a free wifi, so during our stay we had the possibility to check mails, Twitter etc. The connection was not really fast, but it was better than nothing.

Conclusion

We liked this place for the landscape, the service and the food. It was a good feeling to be there. It is a peaceful place to relax and enjoy the sounds and the smell of the nature.

For an overnight stay it was great, we would not have minded to stay a day longer.

More informations:

Website: forestersarms.co.za

trip advisor: tripadvisor.co.za

foursquare: foursquare.com

blogpost about our stay at Foresters Arms


All pictures in the article above are by Steve Rueckwardt under CC-BY-NC-SA licence. If you use one or more and it is technical possible, please link to this article. Thanks.

This text is posted in English. I’m not a native speaker and I know I have to improve my English as well. If you want to learn a language the best way is to use them as much as you can in your daily life. To publish tweets or blogposts in English it is a extra motivation for me. I’m sure I will do mistakes. Please give me a notice if you spot some of them. :) Mainly I create the most of them in grammar. :blush:

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