Pick-up info: This tour/activity departs from the Swazi Trails office in Ezulwini. Free pick-up's are offered from nearby lodges and hotels, when logistically possible. Pick-up's and drop-off's further afield may attract an additional charge. All pick-up's must be specifically pre-arranged in advance by "Special Request".
Cancellation policy
Taste of Swaziland Tour (half day)
Instant booking available
The Taste of Swaziland tour is an unusual tour in that it is largely unstructured. Where you go and what you do is entirely up to you and your private driver-guide to decide. This tour is custom-designed to satisfy specific requests on a daily basis. It is the tour to book when needing guidance to visit once-off or annual occasions like national ceremonies, traditional weddings and public appearances by His Majesty the King.
So, those who have scanned all the tours and can't find one to suit their specific interests, book a Taste of Swaziland excursion! The Swazi Trails guides are resourceful and enthusiastic and love doing something a little different, so if you want to go bathing in a hot spring, track down a relative in a long-forgotten cemetery or simply explore photographic opportunities off-the-beaten track, the guides will try their best to ensure you get what you really want.
This booking tab is for a Half Day Tour, if you would prefer a Full Day Tour, then click here - Taste of Swaziland - Full Day Tour.
See the itinerary tab further below for more detail on the types of experiences that are targetted on this Swaziland tour.
The guide's brief is to provide as many interactive experiences as possible:
- buying fruit, muffin or mielie-bead snacks at a local market
- tasting Swazi food
- tasting Swazi beer or Maganu (Marula wine in season)
- visiting Swazi homesteads
- seeing how food is prepared in homesteads and lending a hand when possible to mill maize
- collecting water from the river, herding cattle or goats with Swazi kids
- tilling fields with oxen, weeding maize
- attending a church service (Sundays)
- watching a local soccer match
- listening in on a community meeting (mostly Saturdays)
- visiting a Swazi school
- watching the daily tasks of washing clothing in the river.
Obviously, not everything on this list is possible to do in half a day, but the intention is to make use of as many ad hoc opportunities for cultural interaction as possible. Experiences will vary from trip to trip as different homesteads are used. Experiences will also vary with the day of the week and the time of year. On Sundays, most people are attending church and there is little commercial or agricultural activity. In spring, fields are being ploughed, summer is planting and then weeding season and after harvesting in autumn there is little activity in the fields until the following spring. The guide will use his discretion on where to go and when. On cold or rainy days, he may choose options that are more suitable, whilst on hot summer days he will keep walking to a minimum.
Participant guidelines
This is a participative and interactive tour. The guide will need your input on what you are most interested in seeing. He, or she, will also require your understanding if in his or her opinion what you want to see or do is not possible or not appropriate.
This tour can be combined with stops at various highlights, however its focus is largely off-the-beaten track. If your time is limited and you don't want to miss Swaziland's famous attractions, then you'd be best advised to try one of the highlights tours:
Other disclosures
Although this tour runs largely as a private tour, on rare occasions separate groups may be asked to combine under the guidance of one guide.
Maximum group size per guide is limited to 13 persons.
| Tour | From |
| Swaziland Highlights Tour | ZAR 1,375 |
| Northern Highlights Tour | ZAR 975 |
| Swazi Local Host guide service (full day) | ZAR 650 |
| Hlane Royal National Park Safari | ZAR 1,450 |
| Swazi Cultural Experience | ZAR 1,150 |
| Taste of Swaziland Tour (full day) | ZAR 1,150 |
| Swazi Local Host guide service (half day) | ZAR 550 |
| Southern Highlights Tour | ZAR 795 |
| Safari Mkhaya Game Reserve | ZAR 1,450 |
| [more tours] | |
