Swaziland's largest game reserve, home to the largest game populations, Hlane is one of the top safari destinations in the Kingdom.
In 1967 King Sobhuza ll of the Kingdom of Swaziland ordered the establishment of Hlane Royal National Park. The area was a royal hunting ground prior to being declared a national park by the name of Hlane - meaning 'wilderness' in siSwati.
The reserve covers some 22 000 hectares of lowland bushveld in the north-east of Swaziland; a land-locked country which itself covers only 1.7 million hectares (smaller than the nearby Kruger National Park in South Africa). Hlane is located in the Big Game Parks region of Swaziland, forming part of the larger Lubombo Conservancy. This beautiful national park is less commercial than some of the bigger, more famous parks of Southern Africa.
Hlane Royal National Park hosts four of Africa's Big Five: lion, leopard, white rhino and elephant.
Other wildlife species include hippos, warthogs and giraffes, along with healthy populations of zebra, blue wildebeest, kudu, duiker, impala and waterbuck. Predators include jackals, Nile crocodiles and hyenas. Hlane is also home to all kinds of interesting and lesser known mammals, reptiles, insects and arachnids.
The national park also boasts diverse and abundant birdlife, amongst these one of the highest densities of nesting white-backed vultures in Africa and the most southerly nesting colony of marabou storks.
The terrain is largely flat and covered with old hardwood trees, as well as grasslands and pans. The park features large enclosures for the lions, the rhinos and the elephants.
Use the Google map to explore Hlane Royal National Park.