Manzini: the commercial heart of Africa's last absolute monarchy

The Manzini Market, among the largest and most vibrant in Eswatini, sells traditional Swazi handicrafts, including woven baskets and wooden sculptures.

Minutes away, the Ezulwini hills, known as the 'valley of heaven', host the royal palace and nature reserves with rhinoceros and antelope.

Moving inland one visits the Mlilwane Reserve, where it is possible to observe zebras and giraffes moving freely on foot or by bicycle.

Towards evening, craft villages around Manzini still produce hand-blown glass today according to traditional Swazi techniques.

Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, remains Africa's only absolute monarchy, governed by a king with full executive powers in a political system unique to the modern continent and observed with curiosity by historians and political scientists.

Mlilwane Wildlife Reserve, free of dangerous predators such as lions, remains one of Africa's few parks where visitors can safely move through wildlife on foot or by bicycle, a rare experience elsewhere on the continent.