snares at Mlilwane

Swaziland has at least 5 major nature reserves/parks. Some of them are run by the SNTC (the same organization that runs the museum), some by another organization called Big Game Parks. You can see the Big 5 in Swaziland, though Kruger National Park, the most well-known park in all of south Africa, is located only an hour north of Swaziland.

I visited one of these game parks yesterday -- Mlilwane. This park is the closest to Mbabane and the Ezulwini Valley, where I live and work and where the center of tourism is located. These photos show that kind of awful metal snares that would trap animals so that hunters/poachers could come and get them. Between the late 1800s and the 1950s, many animal species were extinct from Swaziland, including the elephant, lion and zebra. These animals have been re-introduced to the game parks, and you can see lots of excellent small game (such as spring bok) and birds, in addition to reptiles, insects and flowers.