The Bulembu Pass from the South African border post at Josefsdal to Pigg's Peak 18km away in Swaziland turned out to be a nightmare.
For the first quarter of the way only narrow strips of sharp-edged tar remained between the potholes, making it tricky to pick a way with my sedan.
It was clear that in rainy weather the road was not intended for anything but high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicles. Going downhill towards Pigg's Peak, I could slip and slide my way out of trouble.
Going the opposite direction, up the mountains towards Josefsdal and Barberton, would have been impossible.
The condition of that short connecting road between the fabulously beautiful and newly tarred Saddleback Pass on the South African side and the perfectly good and equally scenic road passing from the north through Pigg's Peak inside Swaziland's western boundary set me wondering seriously about the incongruities of bureaucratic thinking.
I mean, here is a tourist magnet inside a country whose mainstay is tourism, and it doesn't fix that short strip of road to provide all-weather access. But let's not dwell on that.
The locals in Barberton had, after all, warned me to take the Badplaas turn-off at the top of the Saddleback Pass to enter Swaziland at the Oshoek border post about 60km to the south.
Except they qualified their advice by saying it would be a pity to go that way because the Bulembu Pass to Pigg's Peak was something not to be missed.
As it turned out, I did miss it, as the landscape was all the way shrouded in heavy mist.
My wife, Erika, and I started our spring tour of the region at quaint Barberton, which has a cocopan at its entrance to remind visitors of its colourful mining history.
With several of its old buildings still intact, including some with the old-style curved corrugated iron roofs, it is an attraction in its own right, as borne out by the many hostelries dotting the town.
Being birders, we decided to stay at a guesthouse outside the town on the Kaapmuiden road.
It is called the Old Coach Road after the old stagecoach track that passes through a corner of the farm.
In attendance were Adriaan Nel, a retired diplomat, and his wife Lili.
They were standing in for their son, Pieter, and his Italian wife, Francesca, who had taken over the running of the establishment they bought 15 years ago.
Their company, as with the walking trails through the bush and the views across the valley from the veranda, was a delight. Lili did the rump steak to perfection, but Adriaan suspects the menu, under the new management, will start leaning increasingly to prosciutto and pasta.
The Saddleback Pass is worth a slow drive with regular stops at the drive-off viewing points.
The mist lifted briefly at times, allowing glimpses of the spectacular vistas, and of the oldest sedimentary rock formations in the world.
Swaziland is dotted with wonderful parks, but as our tour was primarily intended to view the country's prospective transfrontier-park projects with South Africa and Mozambique, the first stop was the kingdom's Malolotja Park, which is intended to be linked in a transfrontier arrangement with Mpumalanga's adjoining Songimvelo Reserve.
What a wonderful arrangement that would make.
The two parks share astonishingly beautiful mountain scenery and should likewise share tourists and ecological management.
It would not erase, but would at least temper, the incongruously straight boundary line cutting across the rugged terrain that holds some of the world's oldest surface rocks and in which, from evidence found in the region, about 50 000 years ago our early ancestors chipped their cutting and hunting tools from rocks and bone.
Three rivers, the Mtsoli, Lomati and Komati, cut deep gorges through the mountains and in places tumble down spectacular waterfalls.
With altitudes between 600 to 1 900 metres, and with rainfalls said to range from 800mm a year in the lowlands to 1 500mm in the high-lying areas, the parkland has an extraordinary array of plant and animal life.
For all its beauty, the 48 000ha Songimvelo Provincial Reserve offers only rustic accommodation and tracks passable by four-wheel-drive vehicles.
By contrast, Swaziland's 18 000ha Malolotja Park boasts excellent tourist facilities. It has a smart entrance gate off the Pigg's Peak road to Mbabane. Its main camp has 13 fully-equipped self-catering cabins and excellent camping facilities.
The scenery is its main attraction, however, especially during spring when its array of flower plants is in full bloom.
It is for the very purpose of getting close to nature that the park offers an extensive network of short and long hiking trails, said together to cover about 200km.
From there our tour took us across the country to the cluster of parks along the northern section of its boundary with Mozambique where another transfrontier project is slowly becoming a part of the patchwork Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area scheme between that country, South Africa and Mozambique.
The first call was Hlane Royal National Park, a 40 000ha reserve which was established in 1967 by King Sobhuza II and which is held in trust for the nation by the reigning monarch.
The first thing that strikes you when driving along the main road bisecting the park is the many dead trees across the veld in its western section. This, we came to learn, was the work of elephants which had ring-barked just about all the area's dominant knob-thorn trees.
Another disquieting sight consisted of walls of rusty wire draped around poles at the park's main entrance.
These were poachers' snares which the game rangers had collected over the years. The manner of their display is intended to show visitors what the park authorities have to put up with.
Elephants are magnificent creatures to watch as they move about in the wild, but Hlane serves as a textbook illustration of the sad consequences of trying to keep too many inside reserve boundaries.
We mistakenly chose Ndlovu camp right at the main entrance to stay in. There is nothing wrong with it. The chalets and rondavels have no electricity, and having to use paraffin lamps added pleasantly to the atmosphere. The restaurant is adequate, and a waterhole next to it makes for relaxing viewing of the comings and goings of the animals.
But for atmosphere and seclusion, the place to stay is Bhubesi Camp inside the non-elephant part. Set under enormous trees along a river bank, it has well-appointed self-catering chalets, with electricity.
My favourite park, though, is the 16 500ha Mlawula Park, which spans the mountainous terrain between Hlane and the Mozambique border.
It is a park made for hiking and for birders. Tented camps are hidden neatly away in the brush, and trails and roads meander through the bush.
We entered the camp through the main gate in the north-east and left it at a gate named Makadzevane in the south-east, not far from the Goba border post, whence the road continues to Maputo.
Over the final distance the dirt road led up a steep pass, with concrete slabs in places to make it possible for sedans to negotiate the inclines.
The scenery was breathtaking, but once more I found myself shaking my head at the quirks of bureaucracy.
There, high up the mountain, overlooking a magnificent valley, sat a striking lodge with a conference centre, a swimming pool and chalets linked to the lounge and dining area by neatly paved pathways.
But the only people in attendance were three cleaners.
We were told the lodge, named Makadzavane, had not yet been opened to the public, even though it had evidently been completed some while ago.
The only people said to be using it occasionally were "the elders", by which was probably meant the rulers.
This is a state park that is supposed to attract tourists and generate money for the people.
Still, Swaziland and its nature parks remain a delight.
The transfrontier link-ups with adjoining parks would contribute immensely to the whole region's reputation as an eco-tourism destination.
I'll be back.
If you go
- For the Old Coach Road guesthouse, contact [email protected] or phone 013 719 9755, fax 013 719 9637.
- For Malolotja Park reservations, email [email protected], or phone +268 416 1151.
- For Mlawula Park reservations, email [email protected], or phone +268 416 1151.
- For Hlane Royal National Park reservations, email [email protected], or phone +268 528 3943/4.
- The best way to travel to Swaziland from Johannesburg is via Badplaas to the Oshoek border post.
South African citizens only need passports, car registration documents and an RSA sticker.