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Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), is a country in Southern Africa lying between Mozambique and South Africa. The country is located at the geographic coordinates 26°30′S31°30′E / 26.500°S 31.500°E . Eswatini has an area of 17,363 square kilometres, of which 160 are water. The major regions of the country are Lowveld, Midveld and Highveld.
The climate varies from tropical to near temperate. The seasons are the reverse of those in the Northern Hemisphere with December being mid-summer and June mid-winter. Generally speaking, rain falls mostly during the summer months, often in the form of thunderstorms. Winter is the dry season. Annual rainfall is highest on the Highveld in the west, between 1,000 and 2,000 mm (39.4 and 78.7 in) depending on the year. The further east, the less rain, with the Lowveld recording 500 to 900 mm (19.7 to 35.4 in) per annum. Variations in temperature are also related to the altitude of the different regions. The Highveld temperature is temperate and seldom uncomfortably hot while the Lowveld may record temperatures around 40 °C (104 °F ) in summer.
| Climate data for Mbabane | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 24.9 (76.8) | 24.5 (76.1) | 24.1 (75.4) | 22.6 (72.7) | 21.4 (70.5) | 19.3 (66.7) | 19.8 (67.6) | 21.3 (70.3) | 23.2 (73.8) | 22.8 (73.0) | 22.5 (72.5) | 23.7 (74.7) | 22.5 (72.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.9 (58.8) | 14.5 (58.1) | 13.4 (56.1) | 11.0 (51.8) | 7.9 (46.2) | 4.7 (40.5) | 4.6 (40.3) | 6.6 (43.9) | 9.5 (49.1) | 11.3 (52.3) | 12.9 (55.2) | 14.2 (57.6) | 10.5 (50.9) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 253.2 (9.97) | 224.6 (8.84) | 151.6 (5.97) | 87.9 (3.46) | 33.8 (1.33) | 19.4 (0.76) | 20.1 (0.79) | 35.1 (1.38) | 69.4 (2.73) | 141.9 (5.59) | 197.8 (7.79) | 206.9 (8.15) | 1,441.7 (56.76) |
| Average rainy days | 16.9 | 14.3 | 13.8 | 9.8 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 6.5 | 9.2 | 14.9 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 129.9 |
| Source: World Meteorological Organization [1] | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Big Bend | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 32.2 (90.0) | 31.7 (89.1) | 30.6 (87.1) | 29.1 (84.4) | 27.0 (80.6) | 25.2 (77.4) | 25.2 (77.4) | 26.5 (79.7) | 28.4 (83.1) | 29.8 (85.6) | 30.2 (86.4) | 31.6 (88.9) | 29.0 (84.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 26.2 (79.2) | 26.0 (78.8) | 25.0 (77.0) | 22.8 (73.0) | 19.9 (67.8) | 17.3 (63.1) | 17.1 (62.8) | 19.0 (66.2) | 21.4 (70.5) | 23.4 (74.1) | 24.3 (75.7) | 25.6 (78.1) | 22.3 (72.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 20.3 (68.5) | 20.4 (68.7) | 19.5 (67.1) | 16.6 (61.9) | 12.8 (55.0) | 9.4 (48.9) | 9.1 (48.4) | 11.5 (52.7) | 14.5 (58.1) | 17.1 (62.8) | 18.5 (65.3) | 19.6 (67.3) | 15.8 (60.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 98 (3.9) | 75 (3.0) | 63 (2.5) | 32 (1.3) | 20 (0.8) | 9 (0.4) | 9 (0.4) | 12 (0.5) | 31 (1.2) | 51 (2.0) | 79 (3.1) | 82 (3.2) | 561 (22.3) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org [2] | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Manzini | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 28.2 (82.8) | 28.1 (82.6) | 27.3 (81.1) | 26.0 (78.8) | 24.0 (75.2) | 22.2 (72.0) | 22.0 (71.6) | 23.6 (74.5) | 25.3 (77.5) | 26.4 (79.5) | 26.8 (80.2) | 27.9 (82.2) | 25.6 (78.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 23.0 (73.4) | 23.0 (73.4) | 22.1 (71.8) | 20.1 (68.2) | 17.2 (63.0) | 15.0 (59.0) | 14.6 (58.3) | 16.6 (61.9) | 18.7 (65.7) | 20.5 (68.9) | 21.5 (70.7) | 22.6 (72.7) | 19.6 (67.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 17.9 (64.2) | 17.9 (64.2) | 16.9 (62.4) | 14.3 (57.7) | 10.5 (50.9) | 7.8 (46.0) | 7.3 (45.1) | 9.6 (49.3) | 12.2 (54.0) | 14.7 (58.5) | 16.2 (61.2) | 17.3 (63.1) | 13.6 (56.4) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 145 (5.7) | 133 (5.2) | 100 (3.9) | 54 (2.1) | 26 (1.0) | 15 (0.6) | 15 (0.6) | 19 (0.7) | 45 (1.8) | 84 (3.3) | 119 (4.7) | 126 (5.0) | 881 (34.6) |
| Source: Climate-Data.org [3] | |||||||||||||
The terrain largely consists of mountains and hills, with some moderately sloping plains. The lowest point is the Great Usutu River at 21 metres (69 ft), and the highest is Emlembe at 1,862 metres (6,109 ft).
As a landlocked country, Eswatini has neither coastline nor maritime claims. In terms of land boundaries, Eswatini borders Mozambique for 105 kilometres (65 mi) and South Africa for 430 kilometres (270 mi), giving a total land boundary length of 535 kilometres (332 mi).
Eswatini's natural resources are asbestos, coal, clay, cassiterite, hydropower, forests, small gold and diamond deposits, quarry stone and talc.
670 square kilometres (260 sq mi) of the country's land is irrigated. The following table describes land use in Eswatini:
| Use | Percentage by area |
|---|---|
| Arable land | 9.77 |
| Permanent crops | 0.7 |
| Other | 89.53 |
Eswatini is prone to floods and drought. Soil erosion as a result of overgrazing is a growing problem.
Eswatini is part of the following international agreements: Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Nuclear Test Ban and Ozone Layer Protection. The country has signed, but not ratified the agreement on desertification and the law of the sea.
| |
This is a list of the extreme points of Eswatini, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
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Eswatini, officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and also known by its former official name Swaziland and formerly the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south, and southeast. At no more than 200 km (120 mi) north to south and 130 km (81 mi) east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld.
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Mauritania, a country in the Western Region of the continent of Africa, is generally flat, its 1,030,700 square kilometres forming vast, arid plains broken by occasional ridges and clifflike outcroppings. Mauritania is the world’s largest country lying entirely below an altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). It borders the North Atlantic Ocean, between Senegal and Western Sahara, Mali and Algeria. It is considered part of both the Sahel and the Maghreb. A series of scarps face southwest, longitudinally bisecting these plains in the center of the country. The scarps also separate a series of sandstone plateaus, the highest of which is the Adrar Plateau, reaching an elevation of 500 metres or 1,640 feet. Spring-fed oases lie at the foot of some of the scarps. Isolated peaks, often rich in minerals, rise above the plateaus; the smaller peaks are called Guelbs and the larger ones Kedias. The concentric Guelb er Richat is a prominent feature of the north-central region. Kediet ej Jill, near the city of Zouîrât, has an elevation of 915 metres or 3,002 feet and is the highest peak.
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Veld, also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape in Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana. A certain sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa has been officially defined as the Bushveld by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Trees are not abundant—frost, fire and grazing animals allow grass to grow, but prevent the build-up of dense foliage.
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Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and the physical geography definition based on the physical characteristics of the land.
Hhohho is a region of Eswatini, located in the north western part of the country. Hhohho was named after the capital of King Mswati II, who expanded the Swazi territory to the north and west, taking in the districts of Barberton, Nelspruit, Carolina and Piet Retief. These areas were later acquired by what was the Province of Transvaal and today they form part of the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. It has an area of 3,625.17 km², a population of 320,651 (2017), and is divided into 14 tinkhundla. The administrative center is the national capital of Mbabane. It borders Lubombo Region on the southeast and Manzini Region in the southwest.
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Lobamba is a city in Eswatini, and is one of the two capitals, serving as the legislative, traditional, spiritual, seat of government of the Parliament of Eswatini, and Ludzidzini Royal Village, the residence of Queen Ntfombi, the Queen Mother.
Eswatini Railways (ESR), formerly known as Swaziland Railway or Swazi Rail, is the national railway corporation of Eswatini.
The wildlife of South Africa consists of the flora and fauna of this country in Southern Africa. The country has a range of different habitat types and an ecologically rich and diverse wildlife, vascular plants being particularly abundant, many of them endemic to the country. There are few forested areas, much savanna grassland, semi-arid Karoo vegetation and the fynbos of the Cape Floristic Region. Famed for its national parks and big game, 297 species of mammal have been recorded in South Africa, as well as 849 species of bird and over 20,000 species of vascular plants.
Matsapha is a town in central Eswatini. The Matsapha urban boundary is defined in the Urban Government Act of 1969, as amended in 2012, and covers an area of approximately 2,000 hectares. Matsapha was established as an industrial park in 1965 and was officially gazetted as an urban area in 1969. Matsapha is located in the Upper Middleveld of Eswatini in the Manzini region, which is in the centre of the country. Matsapha is 11 km (7 mi) from the city of Manzini, the country's commercial capital, and 35 km (22 mi) from Mbabane, the administrative capital of the country. It is well located as it is on Eswatini's main east–west axis between South Africa and Mozambique, 16 km (10 mi) from the junction of the Lavumisa road that leads to Durban and KwaZulu Natal. It lies at an altitude of 625 m (2,051 ft) above sea level.
Inkomati WMA, or Inkomati Water Management Area , in South Africa is situated in the north-eastern part of South Africa in the Mpumalanga Province, with a small area in the Limpopo Province. It borders on Mozambique in the east and on Swaziland in the south-east. The water management area extends over several parallel river catchments which all drain in a general easterly direction, and flow together at the border with Mozambique or within Mozambique, to form the Incomati River which discharges into the Indian Ocean immediately north of Maputo. A special situation is presented by the Komati River, the most southern tributary of the Incomati River, which rises in South Africa and flows into Swaziland, then re-enters South Africa where it is joined by the Crocodile River at the border with Mozambique, before flowing into Mozambique as the Incomati River. The Sabie River is the other main river in the water management area and flows into Corumuna Dam in Mozambique just downstream of the border with South Africa, and upstream of its confluence with the Inkomati River.